Karangahake Gorge, New Zealand
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Paeroa is far from what you would consider a tourist town. There isn't much to see here and the only thing it is known for is its L&P. Having said that, we didn't have any luck finding any hostels in Paeroa. Instead, we were able to find a place about six km outside of town called the Golden Owl. The hostel is located in a place called the Karangahake Gorge. It isn't even a town really. There is a café and a winery, and of course the hostel. Years ago this part of NZ was developed in order to mine for gold. Across the street there is actually a very popular spot to stop where you can walk around the old mines. There is still a ton of rusting metal from the buildings that used to be there. Either way, I still hadn't heard anything from the barn I e-mailed, so I was once again getting discouraged. I gave it a few days to see what would happen, then decided I would go ahead and call. When I did they told me that they had been meaning to call me and were interested in talking to me. So we arranged some time to meet and would see what would happen. I drove about an hour away to see the barn. It really was kind of in the middle of no where. The place itself seemed really nice at first glance. It was laid out really nicely and the barn looked nice and organised. The horses also looked nice and in good condition. They told me what the job was about and it sounded manageable. All I had to do was clean stalls and help tack up, and I could even ride sometimes. Oh yeah, I also could use the car as long as I put gas in it. The job wasn't going to pay a lot, just $150 per week, but they would also feed me and give me free accommodation. Sounds pretty nice, and it is with horses, and if nothing else, they also have to Labs. So I go ahead and tell them it sounds good and we arrange a time for me to be there next week. They have a horse show during the weekend and I have paid for the hostel through the weekend. Therefore, I decide that the soonest I can be there is the following Tuesday, they say that is fine and I will see them next week.
