The JaYmes Escape

Working in The Tap Room has been very interesting and I’ve learnt a lot. However, with only 2-3 nights a week behind the bar it’s just not paying so I’m finishing on Saturday night. After the Easter weekend I’m planning to do a bit of sightseeing before looking for a contract IT job on the North Island.

Last night, summer time ended in New Zealand and clocks went back one hour leaving us exactly 12 hours ahead of the UK. However, next sunday, Europe moves into summer time which will put New Zealand 11 hours ahead of the UK.

Just so you know.

A few days off work; a scenic flight up to Wellington, a visit to Pukerua bay and a stunning overland ferry and train journey back to Christchurch just in time for St Patrick’s night, Kiwi-style. It’s all in the gallery including some additions to the Christchurch and Wellington albums.

I’d never boarded a flight in my life without security and photo-id before I climbed onto a Turbo-prop at Christchurch airport on Monday for the 45 minute journey to the capital. Wellington greeted me with good weather but I headed further north by land to Pukerua Bay, hometown of the renowned film director Peter Jackson, and the location of his classic homemade splatter-flick ‘Bad Taste’. A quick tour of ‘Bad Taste’ locations the next day preceeded a visit to the public gallery of the New Zealand parliament where I watched MPs debate exciting questions like flu vaccines (cameras not allowed unfortunately). They’ve had Proportional Representation for about 15 years here, which leads to a broader mix of parties and opinions in the chamber than in the UK.

St Patrick’s day saw me travel several hundred miles back to Christchurch by ferry and train. Trains here aren’t so much for getting around as for enjoying the view, and the train company provides big windows and an open-sided viewing car for this purpose. The local Irish bar in Christchurch didn’t seem to be too fussed if their band played The Pogues, The Proclaimers or Bryan Adams, but wierdest of all were the songs that everyone except the foreign tourists seemed to know. It was like New Years’ in Bratislava and the crazy Slovakian rock songs all over again.

Big thanks to Hugh and Tim for keeping me entertained in Pukerua Bay, and Scott and Catherine for sharing St Patrick’s night in Christchurch. Don’t forget to check the gallery.

Being in one place for three weeks just doesn’t feel right after having been on the move for so long, and the bar here is very different to the bars I worked at in England. For a start this is a wine-producing country and The Tap Room sells about 90 different wines by the glass. As if getting to grips with all the Rieslings, Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs wasn’t tricky enough there are 20 or so house cocktails and the messy business of table service, food, and bills to deal with. Debit cards are also pretty de rigeur here and the Kiwis will happily pay for a glass of Coke with one, probably because the banks charge so much for cashpoint transactions.

Anyway, I have a few days off this coming week so I’m going to satisfy my wanderlust with a trip up North somewhere.

Somehow, since my last log entry on Tuesday I managed to get a job working in a bar here in Christchurch. It’s a place called The Tap Room and I start tomorrow night.

Now I’m busy trying to find somewhere to live, open a bank account, all that kind of thing. Banks here totally fleece everyone, making British banks look like charities. You have to pay for pretty much everything from ‘monthly account management’ to cashpoint transactions and card payments. When one of the staff in Christchurch offered me a savings account I laughed and described what I get from Nationwide, right down to unlimited free withdrawals from any cash machine anywhere in the world. They didn’t believe me.