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trixtahI'm in lovely sunny Wellington (no joke - 16 degrees - it's warmer than Canberra by a few degrees and it's amazing what a difference that makes), wandering around stuffing myself with food and coffee. Eee. Off to Auckland tomorrow evening. I got to catch up with my friend R and her new man - it's fab to see her looking so pleased with life.
On my way to NZ, I stayed a night at Sydney in the Mercure Hotel by the airport. If you should ever stay there, I suggest packing pot noodles. Firstly, there's no information on hotel amenities in the room (nice room otherwise, other than the crap pillows). There was a very glossy self-published hardbound magazine though. Well, while gratuitious advertising might be important to some, I'd rather find out the times for the airport shuttle (I happened to see the fact they provided one at reception) and what's on offer in the restaurant. Perhaps you were supposed to divine the fact there was wireless internet available, and check out the amenities that way. I certainly had no clue about the existence of most of that stuff (or where to find it, if it wasn't located in the room).
Since I was famished when I arrived at the hotel - and why is all the food in terminal 3 at Sydney airport after security? I wasn't going to go back through after collecting my bag - I went down to the restaurant for something to munch on. Alas and alack, it would have been better to order room service (that menu was in the room). There were 5 entrees and 6 main meals (and four sides). Each entree cost $14 and each main cost $28. It was attempting pretentious "fine dining". Hah. The so-called Caesar salad entree had very little discernable dressing, stalky parts of the lettuce with brown cut edges, about three shreds of cheese, literally three pieces of egg (I counted), and I'm-not-going-to-call-them-croutons which seemed to consist of the crusts left over from the morning breakfast crowd. I'm not kidding - there were about three or four kinds of bread crusts, the entire crust of a bread slice, vaguely toasted, but limp, and in no way crouton-like. The chat potatoes with rosemary were very ordinary, but at least it's hard to screw those up. The asparagus (there was no other green vegetable offered as a side dish) had about half fibrous old spears and some unadvertised oily and tasteless cheddar melted on top. I almost felt nostalgic for the kind of cheese sauce my mother used to drown such things in. So, in short, a vile and overpriced meal. Maybe the mains would have been better, but if you translated from the wank-speak, it was grilled chicken, grilled steak, some kind of pasta, and something else. For $27. Yeah right. And since I presume it was the only dining establishment in the place, absolutely crap in terms of catering for travellers. One would hope the room service menu is more edible - at least it was more reasonably priced and had a somewhat bigger range (as I checked on returning to my room).
If hadn't been so knackered that evening, I would have gone out in search of food from shops nearby (assuming there are any). Oh well. My dinner last night more than made up for it - delicious chicken and squid yakitori, and a nurturing, healthy and tasty grilled eel set... all for the same price of the crap I had the night before. I found gourmet chocolate, had some more of the best ginger beer anywhere in the world (Hardie Boys ginger beer - can't get it anywhere other than a couple of dozen places in Wgtn), and I'll be going out for another cheap n cheerful dinner with R and her bloke this evening.
The place I'm staying is groovy too. It's the Cambridge Hotel, which has had varying incarnations as a beer barn and lodging house (and it's a wee bit beer barny in the bar, still), but they've refurbished the accomodation and are promoting it as a nice backpackers. I've got an ensuite room, which is huge, although the wall height (4 metres) undoubtedly adds to the spacious effect. There are pretty wooden architraves (possibly kauri) and brass fittings and white tiling in the bathroom. I'll post pictures when I can. I haven't hung out in the bar, since it seems that it's still full of old farts who have nowhere else to go. I mean, oops, "the bistro and bar are host to a colourful mix of travellers and Wellingtonians, who prefer the familiarity and comfortable surroundings of a traditional bar environment as opposed to the huge variety and excitement of Courtenay Place bars and clubs..." (see, there's somewhere for everyone in this town, including old codgers). It's not a place to stay if traffic noise is bothersome, but since I haven't heard any ricers burning around or tosspots on Harleys, it's already ahead of the game for where I live (at least I knew that Friday night is dragracing night up that street - I certainly wasn't going to book then). So, cosy and central, suits me. Well, unless I can get swanky and central - I'll be staying in the Hyatt in Auckland from tomorrow night. I could have paid $100 at a backpackers for an en suite room... but what's another $40 bucks for 4½ star accomodations (yay Wotif)?
(Shh. Yes, I know it's 40% more. Heh.)
ETA: Oh, and this was my 42nd entry. Food - what a surprise!
On my way to NZ, I stayed a night at Sydney in the Mercure Hotel by the airport. If you should ever stay there, I suggest packing pot noodles. Firstly, there's no information on hotel amenities in the room (nice room otherwise, other than the crap pillows). There was a very glossy self-published hardbound magazine though. Well, while gratuitious advertising might be important to some, I'd rather find out the times for the airport shuttle (I happened to see the fact they provided one at reception) and what's on offer in the restaurant. Perhaps you were supposed to divine the fact there was wireless internet available, and check out the amenities that way. I certainly had no clue about the existence of most of that stuff (or where to find it, if it wasn't located in the room).
Since I was famished when I arrived at the hotel - and why is all the food in terminal 3 at Sydney airport after security? I wasn't going to go back through after collecting my bag - I went down to the restaurant for something to munch on. Alas and alack, it would have been better to order room service (that menu was in the room). There were 5 entrees and 6 main meals (and four sides). Each entree cost $14 and each main cost $28. It was attempting pretentious "fine dining". Hah. The so-called Caesar salad entree had very little discernable dressing, stalky parts of the lettuce with brown cut edges, about three shreds of cheese, literally three pieces of egg (I counted), and I'm-not-going-to-call-them-croutons which seemed to consist of the crusts left over from the morning breakfast crowd. I'm not kidding - there were about three or four kinds of bread crusts, the entire crust of a bread slice, vaguely toasted, but limp, and in no way crouton-like. The chat potatoes with rosemary were very ordinary, but at least it's hard to screw those up. The asparagus (there was no other green vegetable offered as a side dish) had about half fibrous old spears and some unadvertised oily and tasteless cheddar melted on top. I almost felt nostalgic for the kind of cheese sauce my mother used to drown such things in. So, in short, a vile and overpriced meal. Maybe the mains would have been better, but if you translated from the wank-speak, it was grilled chicken, grilled steak, some kind of pasta, and something else. For $27. Yeah right. And since I presume it was the only dining establishment in the place, absolutely crap in terms of catering for travellers. One would hope the room service menu is more edible - at least it was more reasonably priced and had a somewhat bigger range (as I checked on returning to my room).
If hadn't been so knackered that evening, I would have gone out in search of food from shops nearby (assuming there are any). Oh well. My dinner last night more than made up for it - delicious chicken and squid yakitori, and a nurturing, healthy and tasty grilled eel set... all for the same price of the crap I had the night before. I found gourmet chocolate, had some more of the best ginger beer anywhere in the world (Hardie Boys ginger beer - can't get it anywhere other than a couple of dozen places in Wgtn), and I'll be going out for another cheap n cheerful dinner with R and her bloke this evening.
The place I'm staying is groovy too. It's the Cambridge Hotel, which has had varying incarnations as a beer barn and lodging house (and it's a wee bit beer barny in the bar, still), but they've refurbished the accomodation and are promoting it as a nice backpackers. I've got an ensuite room, which is huge, although the wall height (4 metres) undoubtedly adds to the spacious effect. There are pretty wooden architraves (possibly kauri) and brass fittings and white tiling in the bathroom. I'll post pictures when I can. I haven't hung out in the bar, since it seems that it's still full of old farts who have nowhere else to go. I mean, oops, "the bistro and bar are host to a colourful mix of travellers and Wellingtonians, who prefer the familiarity and comfortable surroundings of a traditional bar environment as opposed to the huge variety and excitement of Courtenay Place bars and clubs..." (see, there's somewhere for everyone in this town, including old codgers). It's not a place to stay if traffic noise is bothersome, but since I haven't heard any ricers burning around or tosspots on Harleys, it's already ahead of the game for where I live (at least I knew that Friday night is dragracing night up that street - I certainly wasn't going to book then). So, cosy and central, suits me. Well, unless I can get swanky and central - I'll be staying in the Hyatt in Auckland from tomorrow night. I could have paid $100 at a backpackers for an en suite room... but what's another $40 bucks for 4½ star accomodations (yay Wotif)?
(Shh. Yes, I know it's 40% more. Heh.)
ETA: Oh, and this was my 42nd entry. Food - what a surprise!
