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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The New Zealand Chapters. I: Kia Ora Aotearoa

"The universe has a way of taking you where your feet need to go."

That's what I wake up to every morning now, scrawled in black sharpie on the back of my door. As much as it's probably the ramblings of the hippie who stayed in this room before me, it's scary how much it rings true for much of my journey here in New Zealand so far.

I'll be splitting this into several chapters, so let's start with Chapter I: the beginning. Saying Kia Ora Aotearoa, Hello New Zealand in Maori, was never something that was really on the cards for me. But like almost everything after, it happened by chance. I had never planned to come here after my last winter in Niseko but by chance, I had the day off to spend 3 hours from 5am to furiously click away at the Working Holiday Application web page. I only decided to throw my hat in the ring after chatting with a friend just to see what happened. Chance dictated that I got it and she unfortunately did not.

One big carrot.

So, phase 1, planning. Hah! Planning. All along the way, any plans I've had were blurry visions and outlines at best, which you will see as the blog continues. Anyways, the original plan for a long time was to head to Wanaka for the winter and work my way up from there. I ended up doing almost the complete opposite and started up in the North Island after those plans fell through. Sean, who I worked with in Japan, lives in the shadow of the volcano, Mt. Ruapehu, the highest peak in the North Island, and that's where I decided I would go after he graciously offered to host me whilst I found my feet.

So I booked my flight for August, smack in the middle of winter, and off I went. My arrival in New Zealand was pretty uneventful. After being mistaken for being Japanese on the bus from the airport (I knew just enough to answer in Japanese for some reason), I stayed at The Attic, in Auckland's CBD for a night. It's a cool little backpackers which I would recommend to anyone needing a place in Auckland. From there, I bought a ticket for the Intercity Bus to Raetihi. Tip 1: Buy a travel sim at the airport when you arrive. They're pretty cheap and travelling with data is fantastic for booking a bed or using Google Maps on the fly.

The Attic

Raetihi. With a population of just under 1000, it is definitely the smallest town I've ever stayed in. Made up of mostly farms and abandoned stores, Raetihi has 1 main street and that's it. On that main street you could almost imagine a tumbleweed rolling through, passing the half open shop fronts. The great thing about New Zealand though, is that it is so vast and green that it doesn't matter. Everywhere and everything is in some form beautiful, or charming, or rustic. And if you look hard enough, Raetihi definitely has shades of all 3.

After a bus ride of close to 7 hours, I arrived in Raetihi at the gas station which also doubles as the town's bus stop. A beaming Sean picked me up and we headed to his house, The Olde Courthouse. No, that's not just some gimmicky name. It is actually a B&B run by his mom and the building used to be the courthouse in Raetihi with the courtroom now serving as their kitchen, dining and living area. It is really quite surreal and very cool. If you are ever passing through, spend the night there and say hello for me. They were the most gracious hosts when I was there and Sean's mom is a brilliant chef. Not to mention, the house is also the base of C6 skis, which Sean and his dad craft in their backyard.

Ohakune. Another sleepy little town about 10 minutes from Raetihi. This one has 3 main streets though and a junction area at the other end of town with all the bars. Like Raetihi, it has a population of under 1000. The difference is this number balloons in the winter when all the seasonal staff pile in. The other big difference, is that Ohakune is the entrance to Turoa. That's the ski field on the south western side of Ruapehu and was to become my local mountain for the next 3 months.

Things started off with a bang and a cracker of a first weekend. We rode ATVs, visited the hot pools in Taupo, and then rode some of the best snow Turoa has seen in 4 years or so. Great introduction to riding in New Zealand as the ice caught me off guard and I went off a cliff face-first on my very first run. As you can see in the accompanying video, the rest of the day was great blower snow and fortunately, or unfortunately, that first day was my best one on the mountain.

Turoa looking mean.

You know it's been a good day when you look back
and know which line is yours.

To close off the first chapter, I had come to realise a few things. After the excellent weekend, I needed money. That was going to be in Ohakune and having no car meant that Ohakune was where I needed to move to. The house and job hunt began.

Videos of the first weekend:

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