The New Zealand Chapters. II: Of Banks and Climbing up Walls

2 questions I got asked all the time in Ohakune were, “What are you doing in NZ?” followed by “Why Ohakune?” The answer to the first is in Chapter 1, and it's that I’m here on working holiday. The second question, funnily enough, is also in chapter 1. Because I wanted to do a winter season, and Sean was based near Ruapehu. It’s always nice to have someone you know when you’re finding your feet.

So, Chapter 2. My time in Ohakune, which is actually the most time I spent in 1 area in New Zealand. It’s a really laid back small town made up of mostly restaurants and bars catering to tourists passing through and skiing in the winter or hiking/cycling/doing the Tongariro crossing/rafting in the summer. I ended chapter 1 with needing to find job and a place to stay.

First off, because I actually intend this to be a guide in some form, let’s start with some boring bits. Banking and IRD. IRD was fairly straightforward for me. It’s different now (I advise you to sort it out before you get here because it takes awhile), but when I did it, I basically walked into the post office, presented my documents, paid an admin fee, and got my IRD number a week later.

Banking was slightly stranger. For some unknown reason, even being in a small, laid back town, the local bank, BNZ, requires you to make an appointment to open a simple savings account. I walked in there, nary a soul in sight, but was asked to come back the following Tuesday at 10. So I came back at 9.50 the following Tuesday. The same teller that set up my appointment told me I was a little early and offered me a seat to wait. Again, I was the only person in sight so I naturally thought the accounts opening executive or something was scheduled to come in at 10.

Nope. I shit you not, after 10 minutes of sitting and waiting, nobody else came in during this time, she got up, walked over to me and we started to open my savings account. Suppressing my urge to scream “Are you serious right now?!”, we got it done. So I now had my IRD number and a BNZ savings account. It was a slight worry for me so I’ll include this. Yes, you can do international cash withdrawals at most ATMs in New Zealand. As long as your bank/card has been approved to do so back home.

Here, have a pic of a campfire.

So, the job. Remember how I said in Chapter 1, none of my plans worked and everything happened by chance? This was the first big one. I applied to the biggest bar and hotel in town, the Powderkeg. An interview later and I did my trial on a not so busy Friday. Things went well and I was told I would be called in for my shifts soon. 2 weeks went by, my questions about work deflected, and I still had not started proper work. Then the owner called me in to apologise about the situation but started interviewing me again! What a complete shitshow. I noped out of there as soon as she started blaming her managers for not keeping each other up to date.

This whole time, I had moved out of Seans’ into a charming A-Frame home in Ohakune with 2 other really nice Brits (can’t seem to escape them). Tip: wherever you’re going, try and join the local FB group. That’s how I found my room and eventually, a job. So anyway, the whole time this farce was taking place, I was bleeding cash for rent. My monetary situation was getting even worse. Eventually though, when all looked lost and gloomy, I found a job at the Cypress Tree as a bartender and things got a lot better from there. Good crew, best food in town (seriously if you're passing through, have the steak and kumara mash here, thank me later), and bartending there was fun. Also, I skated to work daily. Not sure when I’ll ever be able to do that again.

The Cypress Tree

The view from work. Not too shabby.

That was the gist of my winter in Ohakune. I picked up a season pass for cheap and rode whenever Sean went up. You need a car here if you want to ride cause of how there is a 15 minute drive up the mountain to get to the lifts. I will just say this. The terrain in Turoa is great. Steep and challenging enough but it’s definitely a skiers’ mountain. To get to the good stuff, as a snowboarder, you’ll do a heap of traversing and then skating to get back into the lifts. But shredding is shredding and it’s all good fun in the end.

For the down days, and there were a few due to the volatile weather on the mountain, I picked up indoor rock climbing. It would become a weekly affair for us that honestly, I looked forward to as much as riding. There is also a plethora of running and hiking trails in Ohakune and Turoa and I sampled quite a few of them. Again, with New Zealand, the beauty and sparseness of the land makes your routine evening jog an event. Just 2 minutes from where I lived, a trail I regularly ran started in light bush along a stream, before crossing it on a suspension bridge then running on a dirt track through farmland into the sunset. And that’s the charm of New Zealand. The simple beauty and pleasures of the everyday.

Jogging views

Hiking Waitonga Falls

Hanging in a cave on Turoa

In the next chapter, I'll go slightly more in-depth about the attractions within reasonable driving distance of Ohakune, my departure, and the resulting road trip.

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