When I visited my besties Caraleigh and Jason before coming to New Zealand, Jason told me all about his travels here about ten years ago. The main thing he told me I must do was a visit to Hector and The Old Slaughterhouse (http://www.oldslaughterhouse.co.nz), which is a hostel there. (What a name!!) I wasn't sure at the time if it'd happen-- back then, I thought I'd spend the entire year in one or two cities!!-- but once I realized we'd be traveling the whole island, I became really excited to pass through Hector.
Hector is a remote place and The Old Slaughterhouse is even more remote. In order to get to the hostel, you park at the bottom of a large hill and then trek 10 minutes up the hill to the hostel. David, the owner, takes your bags up in his 4x4. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful place with an almost absurdly beautiful view of the ocean. There is a lounge building with the kitchens and bathrooms, and then a bit more up the hill there's another building for dorms, and a bit further is the building for double rooms.
We've been traveling so much that I was really, really, REALLY looking forward to finding a place to stay and just be a blob for a few days. The Old Slaughterhouse delivered! As soon as we walked in, two friendly young German women greeted us (very enthusiastically) and offered us a cup of tea. Both Christine and Saskia had stumbled across the hostel while looking for a place to settle for a bit, and David took them in as his helpers. We chatted a bit, got settled in our comfortable room, showered (oh, the glorious showers) and then vegged for the whole evening. I started a book and worked on my cross-stitch and it was sooooo nice. We talked a bit with David too; he built the hostel in an extremely eco-friendly manner, and it was interesting to hear about it. He's in the process of building hot springs at the bottom of the hill, so we talked a bit about his plans for that too! (I'll have to come back for that, obviously.)
The next day we went into Westport for a bit for groceries and internet, which cut into our relaxing time but not by much, and then just relaxed more. Kara and Jordan moved into a double room, and I had the dorm all to myself! We ate a delicious dinner of chicken and veggies. It was great.
Our third and last day was a pure do-nothing day! It rained, in a “I'm so happy to be inside” way, and I watched movies, cross-stitched more, and read more. David's cousin and his family showed up unexpectedly to stay and needed the dorm, so I even ended up getting moved into my own double room. A couple of nice women- one British and one American- traveling together showed up in the evening, and we had an excellent time talking together. You never know how rough Americans have it until you meet a European-- Rose, our new British friend, was telling us how she'd quit her job and wouldn't take another unless it offered at least 5 weeks of vacation time. (Like her old one.) And then we retired to bed with hot water bottles to keep warm (I swear, heating barely exists in NZ.)
All in all, a truly perfect day, and a perfect stay. I was very, very sad when it came time to leave!