Tuesday 30 July 2013

Leaving Rotovegas

It's been a whole month.  4 weeks or so of living in Rotorua ( nicknamed Rotovegas) and helping my uncle at his motel.
It's been an excellent adventure, a great learning experience.  I have learnt that I can interact with people, I can make small talk and that I actually like talking to different people.  I have also learnt that I am good at running a motel.
It's a been a dream of mine to do something like this for a long time and I am glad that I took this opportunity to come help my uncle and to see if I liked this life.  And I do, I love it!

New Zealand is a  country I could live in, it's got lots of open spaces, small towns, walks and treks, scenery to die for.  I like solitude and quiet and actually have had enough of a big city with the noise and fast pace.

So I have decisions to make when I get home next week,  on where i see myself living and what I want to do.......
But before that,  it's off to Wellington..........

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Hamurana springs.....the wonder of nature

So we went walking again, this time to Hamurana Spring.  Its close enough to the town of Rotorua, which the locals pronounce differently and sounds so much better than when we say the name of the town.....  But anyway, like everything around lake rotorua, Hamurana Spring is just another lovely nature walk with a spring where people go to make wishes.  The picture below is of the spring, it doesn't look like it but that is all under water, a clear softly rippling spring and stream...... Coming from polluted Singapore where we don't get nature walks like this, no clear streams, no pure oxygen in the air, this has been a real treat!
The spring....that black hole on the right...




sunset at hamurana spring, with the moon in the background
couldn't resist a black & white of the trees
looking up through the trees
redwood trees in New Zealand
the water is so clear!

one week to go

Its been three weeks, that I have been here at the motel.  I still love it, I still can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.
I still love New Zealand and I still want to be able to stay here (even knowing that this country has a very thin earth crust and prone to earthquakes) but who knows where my future lies.

Next week, my friend (female and someone i used to work with....just saying) and I go to Wellington, which has just had an earthquake off its coast and is assessing the damage done, then we take a rail journey up to Auckland and then up to the Bay of Islands.  Our little trip around NZ before we fly home to Singapore on the 7th of August.

One week left to deal with people, who I have found to be nice, nasty, sweet ( like the old couple from the South Island that take off every year in July to drive around and see where the car takes them) honest and yes the dishonest (people who turn up with likely stories of the ridiculous prices we quoted them) but generally I have found that people are pretty decent.  I have realised that I can interact with people and I can make small talk......if I want to.  One week left to enjoy Rotorua. 


Friday 19 July 2013

Master key

I have a master key, it unlocks everything on the property including all the guest rooms, the linen room, the laundry and any padlock.  As long as its locked, the master key can open it.

I have established my daily routine of setting up the linen changes for the checkouts and the room cleaning/service the night before and in the morning its folding towels that are in the drying room, opening the staff kitchen, the laundry room and the linen room, then its feed the cat, and the birds ( my uncle feeds the wild birds in the garden) and check the mineral pool temperature.  message the housekeepers that we need for the day, Then it's the recording of room and guest numbers for statistics,  then it's getting out the registration forms for the checkouts for the day.  All this i do only if my uncle isn't in, if he is around the work is shared.

Checkouts are easy but the mornings are usually hectic with laundry, we wash towels in house only, and there can be lots depending on the number we have in each unit.  It's washing, hanging  the towels which include, floor mats, hand towels, pool towels, dish cloths and tea towels. It's a good thing the sheets and pillow cases are outsourced! 

All that and man the reception,  answer the phone and take bookings, again, chores are shared if my uncle is around.
It's quite an interesting job/vocation/living but it takes a couple of people to run it.  It's a 7 days non stop till night time work and you need to have a partner you trust and can depend on.

One good thing has come out of this though apart from the fact that I love this and can see myself doing it, is the fact that the running around and hanging towels has been good, I have lost weight and my bye bye arms have firmed up........and of course having the master key that opens all doors!


Sunday 14 July 2013

flirting with the man on a harley

one of the Hot rods
So this weekend we had a few motoring enthusiasts stay at the motel.
the Hot Rod club, the vintage car club and a group on their Harleys.

The harley men and one woman rider, had stayed here before and they knew we had an old shed where they could park the bikes at night.  So this morning  I opened the shed for them to get their bikes and as I have embraced the open and chatty way of life, I got talking to one of the guys and I dont know what it is but a man with a Bike between his legs, in leathers ......well what can I say, the need to flirt instinctively appears....

another Hod rod club member
Its a pity the vintage club didnt bring their cars into our lot and I only managed to get a couple of pictures of the Hot rod club members cars.



the Harleys leaving

Friday 12 July 2013

it takes all sorts

I always prided myself on being fair and non discrimitory (is that even a word?)
but is it discrimination if I discriminate against people who are of the same race as me?

Well I had a bit of a scene this morning with the Indian family that checked in yesterday.  we charge by the number of people and this family blatantly lied when they said only 4, when there were 8 of them (four were hiding in the van) .  On my lock up walk around the property checks last night, I found 8 of them in the pool with the two men having their beers in bottles.  Now we all know no glass by the pool as once glass breaks in the water, someone will get hurt and we have to fucking drain the whole pool.
So very politely I informed them that
1.  No visitors were allowed in our pool only motel guests ( i was assuming that the other 4 were their visitors, giving them the benefit of the doubt)
2.  No glass bottles, no food or drinks by the pool, they obviously missed the sign on the pool gates.

They did get a little annoyed but I 'helped' them by moving the beer bottles back to their room patio and they then vacated the pool.

Now we all knew that 8 people were staying in the unit so this morning I approached them as they were packing the car and politely, seriously, I was polite, informed them that they needed to pay for the extra 4 guests.  Well lets just say that the woman was very rude, I was told off about bad service, no kettle in the unit and they were going to inform the owners (my uncle & aunt, who are away on a long overdue holiday) how rude I was and they werent going to pay, and were never coming back to the motel again( good riddance I say)

well what was I to do...... I told them to vacate immediately (it was 9am) if not I was going to call the police and I was going to send a circular to all the motels about them..........

On the other hand, one of the other families that checked out left our feedback form with an excellent rating for service, room, cleanliness, and us being so nice........

I have lots to learn about people and how to deal with the nasty ones but it certainly takes all sorts.............

Thursday 11 July 2013

The people, the accents, the idiots

So one thing in New Zealand that I have to get used to is the accent.  They pronounce words differently.
Six is Sux and this is thus .....


what makes it worse is that I have to talk numbers often with room rates and credit card numbers (its a wonder how people happily give out credit card details!!) and sometimes I have to listen really hard to understand the numbers they are giving me.
oh and they call an electrician,  sparky, postman is a postie, bricklayer a chippie! 

Anyway
I have met alot of different people here while sitting at the front desk of the motel.  families, truckies, couples from the US, Australia, a group of giggling girls from South Korea, a whole bunch of interesting people.
I checked in a man who wanted a room for the night and when he filled up the registration form I realised he lived in Rotorua, ah a secret assignation.... my uncle said that he was a regular and he and his girlfriend would check out later that night....well at least someone was getting laid.

Then there were the family of Indians, 4 people they said, in a 2 bedroom unit......they pulled up in a van and later I saw 4 more people climb out of it......we charge extra for more people.  and yes it had to be the Indians doing this. and to top it all off all 8 went into the lovely heated pool......why!!  why did it have to be the indians!!
So its been interesting and this weekend is going to be full with new guests....lets hope no more stupid sorts check in...

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Too tired to blog

So the whole idea about this New Zealand holiday was well not quite a holiday but more of a discovery exercise.

My uncle runs a 30 room motel in Rotorua and my retirement plan was to do something similar so I took this opportunity to come down to NZ to see if I liked  or had the brains to run a motel.
I am glad to report that brains are functioning well and more importantly I actually like it.! It's something I could easily do.  I am damn good at the admin side of things, lets not get into false modesty and just call it as it is, But I do however feel that my people skills are not as good as they should be when welcoming guests.  

I tend to be shy and don't engage people in conversation that easily, but here in beautiful New Zealand with the friendly people I have let my guard down and actually  enjoy chatting with all the different people that walk through the door.....  I am partial of course to the gorgeous men that do walk through the doors..... Perfect opportunity to find a new boyfriend!

Anyway
It's hard work and the hours are long, and it's not something  you do on your own. But it is something I know I would love to do!

Picture of Happy the cat at the Cleveland Motel Rotorua 

Friday 5 July 2013

Walking through the redwood forest

So my Uncle that lives in New Zealand is and has been as long as I can remember, always inclined towards the outdoors, healthy living and exercise.

In New Zealand what does one do, one embraces nature and does activities based on the stunning landscape that is New Zealand.   A five minute drive from Rotorua centre is a red wood forest, which is where we ended up yesterday evening.

The air was so clean and crisp that my lungs were in shock for a full minute as they couldn't understand that what was being breathed in to them was just pure clean air.....oxygen overdose!
I probably will get really healthy here and expire on return to the smog that is Singapore!





Tuesday 2 July 2013

Terminal 1 Sydney airport

So the flight wasn't so bad, well technically I am 3/4 of the way done so lets not jinx it but.......
The flight was pretty smooth and service was good.  Food not so good, I swear it was the same  meal that I had the last time I flew from Singapore to Australia on qantas. Cardboard chicken with some cranberry sauce and rice crispie crackers.  Breakfast was orange juice and rice crispie crackers again......thank goodness I brought my GF muffins with me.

What is interesting though is the security checks that we have to go through as we get off the flight and make our way to the gates for our next flight.  What do they think we managed to pick up or hide in our bags as we walked off one plane and into the departure area for the next flight?
We left from a secure area, enter into another one and are still put through the scanners (this scanner was like a pod where you stand in and put your hands up....a first for me and yes not all the passengers had to go through this, I as usual was randomly selected)

Another interesting thing was the A$3.25 I paid for a bottle of water.....

Free wifi in the airport is a blessing so I shan't complain further, but will sit back and relax and surf the net, eat my muffin and drink expensive water......