Furneaux Lodge, Queen Charlotte Sound

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.)