First week of work in Queenstown

As mentioned in the last report, an exciting week awaited us, which was supposed to bring a lot of new things.

Our van was finally in the workshop until Wednesday. During these days without a car, we relaxed a lot but also had our first video call with an employer and met Niklas, an exchange student, and a New Zealand friend from three years ago. We went to St. Kilda Beach and Cargills Castle with them. On Wednesday, we were able to pick up our van and went straight to shopping because we cooked for my former host mother and her son in the evening.

On Thursday, we headed to Queenstown to find work. We hadn't received any feedback from our Skype call yet but were invited for a personal interview after we called back. Snap Rentals, a car rental company, invited us. On the way to Queenstown, we also visited the small town of Karitane. I went there on vacation with my host family three years ago and wanted to visit this place again.

Later on, we even managed to go swimming between Alexandra and Cromwell. After our arrival in Queenstown, we went straight to Snap Rentals to talk to the employer. The conversation went very well for both sides and we were able to start working the next day. So Snap Rental was our first employer in New Zealand. For the night, we stayed at a free campsite on the Shotover River just outside of Queenstown.

The first day of work on Friday was still very chaotic. Snap Rentals had just opened the branch in Queenstown a few days ago, so not everything was running smoothly yet. Besides, Fridays are always very busy. As a result, we had a lot to do right away, which was positive because we quickly got into the routine. At the beginning, the tasks mostly consisted of cleaning cars and driving them back and forth. But the tasks changed quickly because on the second day, our boss wasn't there anymore and Niklas and I were alone with another German backpacker. However, he couldn't handle the office completely alone and also had to drive the shuttle service to the airport, so he showed us the procedures in the office right away. On the second day, we were already allowed to drive the shuttle service. So the jobs became more exciting, interesting, but also more stressful. On Sunday, we were already allowed to do everything and Monday was also interesting. But unfortunately, in the morning, we had the problem that our car wouldn't start on the way to work. We had it towed to the nearest workshop and were 2 hours late for work because of that. Thank goodness our boss was back, so the third employee wasn't alone. In the afternoon, we received a call from the workshop saying that our car started normally again and nothing needed to be done. So we paid $55 in labor costs for nothing...

At work on Tuesday, the other German backpacker took a day off. Our boss was still there, but mainly busy with other tasks. Therefore, Niklas and I had to manage the office almost on our own. A big and trustworthy task already on the fifth day of work. We probably joined the right company at the right time. We couldn't have found a better backpacker job.

I got Wednesday off. The last few days of work had been very stressful and we had already built up some overtime and had taken few breaks. Since our boss is still here right now, at least one of us can always take a day off. I used the day off for shopping, writing my blog, and many other small things that had accumulated in the last few days. If you usually work until around 6 p.m., all the stores are already closed afterwards. So you can't get anything anymore.

I will tell you what the next working days bring in the next report. For now, the plan is to work until the end of January but get time off for Christmas and go to Dunedin. All of this will be covered in the next report.

Until then,

Yours Luca

P.S.: The Christmas season is coming even if the feelings are not there yet...