Kindness of Strangers

You may have noticed that I’m looking a little tired these days. In fact, the deep, purple bags under my eyes have taken up permanent residence. Simply put, I am tired. Given this compounding factor, nothing seemed to be going my way today, from debating whether to stay in Dunedin another day to receiving the wrong sandwich at lunch. After a crying jag at lunch, I stuffed myself into the backseat of the car and spent the next six hours in an iPod-induced daze. By the time we arrived in Christchurch this evening, all I wanted was a real hotel with a bathtub, a hip bar, and free wireless Internet access, all of which was promised to me at Hotel SO.

When we arrived to discover the Hotel was entirely booked, I crumbled. We quickly moved onto the Lonely Planet’s top pick for the city, Jailhouse. I sulked in the car while Maikael and Tim inspected the premises. They enthusiastically returned to the car, promising me a cool night of accommodations. The sky was grey, the buildings were grey; it was pretty much perfect. I stepped through the bars and into a real jail, which was decommissioned in 1999. This is hands down the best hostel we’ve stayed at on this trip. We ran up the stairs, looking sufficiently institutional. The doors to our rooms are heavy metal things, and our bed linens are jail-striped. Everything is brushed metal and industrial. The toilet/water fountain combos from the former cells, great metal behemoths, now serve as planters. Even the toilet seats are clear resin embedded with barbed wire; someone had fun designing this place. We took a walk through solitary confinement, and the room next door was left intact, boasting colorful art and inscriptions from the previous occupants (read: lots of naked ladies). The only creepy thing is when the door to my room slams shut; it echoes throughout the corridor, as I await for the warden to shout, “Lights out!”

I even got my Internet access and was finally able to finish uploading our photos to the South Island New Zealand and Milford Track albums. Who would have thought that access to the outside world would have been so easy in lock-down?