My time at Furneaux
(known thoughtlessly as firno by the
water taxis and boating community) has taught me a great deal about the
infinite inhabitants that this isolated residence draws. The lodge sits on
about a hectare of beach front land in the Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand.
It is surrounded by thick forest and mountains on three sides, and the forth is
complete beach front, as we are in the Sounds though, about a k in front of us
are more mountains.
The lodge has the capacity to sleep about a hundred guests
on any given night throughout the year. However leading up to Christmas we only
had about 40 in house, about 60 over Christmas and New Year and back to about
40 after. During the day however, we receive hundreds of walkers during the day
off the track. There is a fully licenced bar, a restaurant, plenty of outdoor
seating, kayaks available and, of course, the Queen Charlotte Track only a few
meters from the back fence. To the left of the main residence, bar and
restaurant, there are the chalets and hikers cabins, about 10 chalets and 5 hikers
(dorm style) cabins, to the right is the suites, which were built by the
general manager, they are beautiful, very modern with spectacular sea views.
Many staff are
needed in order to run such a busy, secluded establishment, especially over the
summer months. There are currently 21 staff members, plus the owners who are
rarely (never) here. The general managers run the joint, they live about a
15minute walk back towards the beginning of the Queen Charlotte Track. They are
the only staff who don’t live on site. Of the 19 remaining staff, we have 2
kiwis, 1 Fijian, 2 Scottish girls although one grew up in New Zealand, a
Canadian couple, 3 mates from Sweden who are woofing (working in exchange for
accommodation, 3 Czechs – including Adam, an Australian - me, a Brit, and an
Argentinian girl. We are a family of sorts, as we live and work onsite, there
are some basic rules we all have to follow, be like in most cases, the rules
wouldn’t be there if everyone used their common sense.
For example, about
a week in, Adam and I were sleeping in the owners room, as we didn’t have a permanent
room yet, he was away as he usually is, and we hadn’t moved into our room for
the summer. I’d say it was about 11:30pm when the music started in the staff
lounge in the next room. We could hear different voices; we had a fair idea of
who was out there. They went on and on for hours, with no respect for anyone.
Up until this point
we were really enjoying our time here. We were, for the first week living in
one of the chalets. We had our own bedroom, private bathroom and tea/ coffee making
facilities, we were self-sufficient, we hung out with the other staff from time
to time, but we didn’t make much of an effort. We were moved out of the chalet
on Friday night, and moved into the owners room. I finished work at 2am and
started again at 7 the next morning. So that night when the party kicked off,
and the music was turned up loud, and people we trying to talk over the music
as loud as they could, Adam and I decided maybe staying here wasn’t ideal for
the summer. We have grown out of that disrespectful party mentality. We’re
happy to have a few drinks and hang out but we were not impressed.
Somewhat luckily,
guests staying at the lodge complained to the general managers the following
morning. They were kept up, along with other staff while the party continued.
Subsequently a staff meeting was called, everyone was sat down and it was
explained that we were not to have loud music after a certain hour, drinking
was allowed, but no loud music. The actual hour of the curfew was not specified.
The owner arrived the
next night, a bunch of us were sitting in the common room, having just finished
dinner, we were chatting, I thought he would come and introduce himself. He had
to walk past us to get to his room, and then again to get back down to the bar.
I met him about 5 weeks into my time here. I don’t mind.
Instead of starring
mindlessly at the TV last night, we didn’t turn it on when we walked into the
common room for dinner. As more people arrived, they sat and ate their dinner
without turning it on, at one point all the couches and chairs we’re taken with
staff chatting and enjoying the evening, it was floor space only. It was
profound to have an evening chatting without any media prompting or controlling
our discussion. We were all drinking Tui, a local fairly generic IPA which has
a question under the lid. As a new beer was opened and the question read, we
actually learnt something. We talked about education, world history, politics,
social media, and cultural differences. The evening, the situation was
refreshing.
Of the staff
currently living at Furneaux 11 are native English speakers and the remaining
10 have English as a second language. Most of the staff are about my age, from
what I know, not including the General Manager couple who are probably in their
60s, 6 of the staff are older than me, maybe 2 or 3 are about the same age and
the rest are in their late teens early 20s. The Swedish boys are about 20 and
as they are only staying a few weeks they are woofing, whereas the rest of us
are getting paid. From what I have heard most staff have spent their first few
weeks woofing also, as Adam and I did, before being put on the books. ‘
Woofing stands for
Work on Organic Farms, the idea is you work in exchange for accommodation and
sometimes food as well, depending on the place you work, and the amount of
hours. Done properly woofing can be incredibly beneficial for both the
organisation and the staff. It can be the best way to travel and experience new
cultures on a budget. Adam and I are part of an organisation called Workaway
which follows the same principles as woofing, but is open to all kinds of work,
which essentially woofing is too now. As part of the organisation you can work
as anything from au pair, on farms, business help, language exchange, with
tourists, with kids in underdeveloped nations, in hospitality, on boats,
anything you can think of where a few hours of help would really benefit the
organisation.
Here, the guys are
helping with gardening, maintenance, anything really that needs doing, that is
outside the everyday work of the staff, however, this is not always strictly
the case. Adam and I spent our week woofing by doing the work we would normally
be doing, me behind the bar and Adam in housekeeping and maintenance, for only
5 hours a day. I ended up working more than required of me as we were quite
busy and understaffed, so apparently we will be paid for the extra hours. Or I
will get time off in lieu.
(This
never happened).
The staff
accommodation is nice, only a few people per room, as we get busier over the
summer, and more staff arrive the accommodation will become more cramped, but
for now it works well.
(This
also never happened, we ended up doing the bulk of the busy period with very
little staff- to the point where they put a sign on the door STAFF WANTED- who
were they hoping to attract- people walking around handing out CVs? This is the
middle of nowhere)!!
The couples, there
are 4 of us, we have their own rooms with double beds. Essentially the couples
live in the main building, where the bar and restaurant is, and the people who
have travelled here together have their own rooms in The Croft, one of the
chefs is dating one of the receptionists and they live in a separate house with
the head chef.
The bottom storey
of the main building houses the kitchen, the staff kitchen, the bar, restaurant
and reception. Upstairs there are 2 bathrooms, the owners room, the common
room, Adam and my room which is right at the top of the stairs, 2 other couples
live up here as well as the sous chef/ kitchen hand and one of the maintenance
guys, I think the head receptionist will move up here as well, she has been
living in chalet 9 for the off peak season.
From our room we
can pretty much hear everything. We can hear the wait staff making coffee and
polishing cutlery, we can hear the music in the bar, people walking up and down
the stairs, people watching TV in the next room, the chefs smoking (we smell
this too) and having a chat out the back. Adam and I have made a habit of
playing our music, all the time, so as to drown out the sounds of work, when we’re
not working. If our music is playing, we don’t need to worry about anything
else that’s going on, we can almost imagine that we are not living where we
work.
Often when you live
at work there is an expectation that you will pick up/ change shifts at the
drop of a hat, maybe a large group has unexpectedly booked in and they expect
you to cancel any plans already made and come into work. That doesn’t (usually)
bother me here, there is nothing pressing that can’t be done tomorrow. When we
lived and worked at the Regent in Rotorua, we were in the middle of a town, we
could go out for dinner or to the movies, sit by the lake. Here, there is no
road access, only helicopter or boat access. There is nowhere to go, nothing to
see, that can’t be seen tomorrow. Having said this however, we will be here for
the summer, another 9 or 10 weeks, and I don’t want it expected that I have
nothing better to do.
(This
changed in my mind- the roster is quiet unthoughtfully written to the point
where the one who writes it, is not the one who actually sends you home at the
end of the shift. And many hours over many days have been worked on top of what
is rostered. I never thought I would work 118 hours in a fortnight. For $13.75
an hour.- but we are in paradise here.)
