Working at Base Backpackers Hostels

“What is it about this job…?

I work at Base Backpackers hostel in Stkilda Melbourne, and I LOVE MY JOB!!

I’m pretty sure that most people have had those same aspirations in life.  Finish school, get a job, meet that girl, ‘settle down’, grow a beer belly and spend every second day talking about how next week you plan on going for a jog, spending more time with the dog …lest you actually enjoy that 35 hour a week job.

Somewhere along the way though you took a few months off and went to a South East Asian temple, you sun-baked on a tropical North Queensland beach, went an impossibly long time without showering in India, climbed a Mexican pyramid…and just generally basked in life. You lament….those really were the days.

No suits, No ties, no responsibilities, and just the promise of waking up and actually enjoying yourself, each and every day!

I have now worked at Base Hostel for over a year and reflecting back…I don’t really know exactly what makes this place so special.  Maybe its confiscating the 12 bottles of wine off of one lone Irish lad at 8am who was yet to head to bed (“sorry boss, sorry, never again boss”), or the  chirpy Dutch boys who seemed that touch queer if they weren’t so sleazy the entire time.  Maybe its  the  beautiful kiwi girl giving you that half a smile in the morning on her way to work, or the remarkably unintelligible accent of that Scottish man giving me advice on my air-conditioning at 3am in the morning??

Somewhere along the way I realised I really enjoy this life, this job. Base, and the people within it. Not buildings or facades, but the living breathing 250 beds a few metres above me. The short termers, the long termers, the friends becoming almost like family. The faces often changing, but so many staying the same. Welcoming hellos and teary good byes.

No suits, no ties, and just actually enjoying myself each and every day…

Happy Travels

Raph

Reception Pumper!

Travelling to Airlie Beach..

We have given one of our superstar crew members 3 weeks off to explore the East Coast of Australia. Stuart John from Base Backpackers Brisbane will be tweeting and blogging his experiences up the East Coast. This is an update of his travels.

UP  TO BASE AIRLIE BEACH HOSTEL…

 WORD of warning for those driving through Queensland. Before you go any further into this blog, I want you to go to Google Maps. Now find directions from Brisbane to Airlie Beach. Now have a look at the direction the road goes either side of Rockhampton (about the middle of the map). This is pretty much north-west, which by coincidence is the exact direction the sun sets in, making driving at the exact time I was somewhat of a dangerous task…

 It’s a little over 1100km from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and takes you past some of Queensland’s major attractions, including the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island. The Bruce Highway also takes you past some historic old towns that are well worth a look, including Childers, my first sight-seeing stop.

Childers itself is an attractive, old-style country town located on the Bruce Highway south-west of Bundaberg. Walking down the highway you get a glimpse of what Australian towns must have been like over 50 years ago (at least until you see the multi-national takeaway store); my destination was one such building.

Back in 2000 a deranged man set fire to the old Palace Backpackers Hostel, killing 15 people. Today it is rebuilt, with an art gallery and memorial open to the public. The memorial itself is extremely well done, with a large painting showing the victims in poses from photographs provided by the families, while on the back wall are small collages containing photos of all 15 victims. To see those photos, of people enjoying their Australian experience – including cuddling a koala at Lone Pine, something we encourage down in Brisbane – then realising these people would never make it home to share their experiences with friends and family was somewhat jolting. The lady at the desk was very informative about what exactly happened, and if you are travelling through Childers I highly recommend stopping in.

THE rest of the journey was a little less memorable. Driving through country Australia you realise a couple of things:

1) service station food is terrible; and 2) some people should not be allowed out on the road. Overtaking lanes are few and far between, so just north of Gympie I took the chance to fly past a truck that had been holding me up. Problem was a woman in a 4wd decided to jump into the right-hand lane for no reason and hold me up, which meant the truck zoomed back past me on my left before it went back to one lane each way. Seriously.

At Rockhampton I’d planned on stopping at the Tropic of Capricorn, but as the sun was shining directly in my face pretty much the last 50kms into town, I missed it completely. Oops.

After Rockhampton I kept driving north towards a very small town called Marlborough for possibly the worst chicken and chips at the local service station, before pulling into a rest area 66km up the road for some much-needed sleep.

MADE IT TO AIRLIE…

We resume our story at a rest stop some 170km south of Mackay, Queensland. Our hero has managed to set off his car alarm and try sleeping in about 30 different positions before the sun comes up and awakens him for the last time…

 WITH just over 300km to go until Airlie Beach, I decided to try and push straight through in the hope there was already a spare bed waiting for me. This was naturally foiled by my stomach wondering just where the hell breakfast was, and with that threatening to bring other parts of my body on strike, it was into another little service station for what was actually a half-decent bacon and egg roll.

This part of the Bruce Highway is dominated by sugar cane: all around were signs warning of cane trucks and train crossings. Eventually though I got through Sarina, Mackay and Proserpine without any problems before taking the turn-off to Airlie Beach itself, only to discover that a) the main road was closed and we had to detour; and b) I was stuck behind a large camper van whose driver had apparently forgotten the accelerator was the pedal on the right…

The scenery made up for Captain Slow though. Tree-covered hills rise over the town itself as you drive in while the blue waters of the Coral Sea tease you on the left. Even better than the view though was the available bed at Base Airlie Beach, complete with bath! One relaxing soak later and it was off to Whitsunday Sailing Adventures to check in for my cruise the next day.

The rest of the day was pretty chilled. I’m staying in Airlie Beach again after the cruise, so after a quick mission out to the docks to see where I leave from it was back to Base for a snooze before heading to their very own Down Under Bar for a $10 meal and pint deal, a few beers – and most importantly of all a few cracks at the pinball machine.

Next stop: Great Barrier Reef!!!

Stuart John (Base Brisbane)

Island Backpacking

On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of nowhere,

the following Backpackers were shipwrecked and stranded.

 

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman

2 French men and 1 French woman

2 German men and 1 German woman

2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman

2 English men and 1 English woman

2 Bulgarian men and 1 Bulgarian woman

2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman

2 American men and 1 American woman

2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman

One month later , the following had occurred.

One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in

a menage a trois.

The 2 German men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with

the German woman.

The 2 Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman

is cleaning and cooking for them.

The 2 English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the

English woman.

The Bulgarian men took a long look at the endless ocean and

one look at the Bulgarian woman and they started swimming.

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide as they

listen to the American woman bitching about her body being her own,

and on the true nature of  feminism and how she can do everything that

they can do, about the necessity of fulfilment, the equal division of

household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and

treated her much nicer, how all men except her father are pigs, and how her

relationship with her mother is improving. But at least the taxes are

low and it is not raining.

The two Japanese men have faxed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

The Irish began by dividing the island into North and South and by

setting up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in the picture

because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut

whiskey, but they are satisfied in that at least the English are not

getting any so what the hell!!!

 

If you want to experience  Island life, check out Base Magnetic Island!!

David Fitzpatrick (Base Melbourne Stkilda)

 

Queenstown – The Wonders of Winterfest….

The Crew at Base Backpackers hostel Queenstown love this time of year!

Winterfest is in full swing,  It’s a great time to be traveling in New Zealand.

We started Winterfest with an epic fireworks display down at the lake, everyone turned out for it. The atmosphere was electric, and the town really came alive. From holiday makers, to snow seekers. From families, groups of friends, to travellers searching for work, everyone is loving Queenstown.

Each day there has been something to keep every age of Queenie’s guests entertained and excited. We’ve had the parades, the live music which is going all day and all night, the bird man comp (locals dressing up and making crazy outfits, jumping into the freezing cold lake )

There were  a few cold people that day,  including one of our very own Base crew who was out on the lake in his boat (which is called The Clap, no joke) when it started to sink, him and his boat were dragged to shore by a jet boat. The Jet boat races,  masquerade balls, charity boxing events, stars on ice, Mardi Gras parade, almost everything you can think of is bundled into this little town, full of excitement!

News flash we are starting to see a little bit of snow on the mountains now, and the nights are getting a heap colder. So everyone keep your fingers crossed for snow. We need you to pray, wish and beg for that first big dump of snow to happen….

see you again soon.

Base Queenstown Reception Team 🙂

Backpacking – “The Taupo Trap”

Nau mai haere mai ki

TAUPO-NUI- A-TIA

 Welcome to “The great cloak of Tia” or as you know it Taupo, rated as the Mecca Backpacking tourism destination of the North Island. We are home to some of the worlds “must do activities” and places to stay, Including Base backpackers hostel Taupo 😉

As you drive into “Taupo” you are greeted with beautiful snow-capped picturesque mountains reflecting calm blue skies off the cleanest blue waters you can ever imagine.

Your Kiwi Bus driver hands around a list of hostels, and obviously recommends BASE BACKPACKERS TAUPO .

First a quick stop to take photo’s of  the mighty Huka Falls.  The boys at HUKA JET do a spin right before our eyes, as a teaser for those undecided on what to do.

We then board the bus to Spa Park, and go for a soak in the free hot water stream.

Nowhere in the world can you stand in water and have both HOT and COLD hitting at the same time –  a once in a lifetime experience.

 Just a hop skip and a jump away we hear the Bungy Team throwing their next victim off the bridge “God Help them I say”.

 Skydive Taupo’s Limo pulls up to collect the group of brave souls who choose to get in an extreme adrenalin fix.

TIME TO PARTY

Element bar opens the night with a pool comp, followed by some of the craziest Backpacker Parties you will ever go to. You drag yourself away, as you have an early start with  the Tongariro crossing( it’s rated right up there as one of the world’s top one day walks).

After conquering Tongariro or Mt Doom known to many, it’s down to business, the real reason we get on these buses, we start with a free BBQ thanks to our Element barstaff.  Resident DJ’s Scribble and Mana get us up on the bar for FREE body shots, or line us up with the cheapest Jagger bombs you can find. We of course guarantee a free hangover every night !! .

 

 

Taupo is notorious for getting backpackers stuck in what has been coined “The Taupo Trap” once you arrive you never want to leave.  It says a lot about the people and the place.

 

Written By Tessa Atutahi

Life is a Highway…

… AND for the next three weeks I’ll be riding it all night long!

We have given one of our superstar crew members 3 weeks off to explore the East Coast of Australia.

Stuart John from Base Backpackers Brisbane will be tweeting and blogging his experiences up the East Coast.

If you see Stuart at a Backpackers hostel on the East Coast, make him buy you a drink 😉

 

 This trip is a little different to just about every other one I’ve done in the last seven years though. Those trips have been around Europe, Asia, South Africa and the USA; this time around though it’s my home state of Queensland.

In many ways it’s a bit of a homecoming for me. My first road trip was at the grand old age of one month old, as we headed south from Townsville to Mum’s family in Brisbane. Since leaving Townsville at age 2 I’ve been back a total of once, with most family trips being down south to visit Dad’s family in Victoria.

What a trip it is too! Two days of leisurely tootling up the Bruce Highway to Airlie Beach before four days on a cruise around the Whitsundays before four nights relaxing just off the coast of Townsville on Magnetic Island. After that it’s up to Cairns and Cooktown for a couple of nights each, before taking a week to get back to Brisbane – quite possibly looking at going through Atherton, Charters Towers and Emerald to change things up.

Three weeks off, the iPod at the ready, Great Barrier Reef and some beautiful tropical winter weather: what more can you ask for?

 

Time to hit the highway…

Sunshine sunhine, go away come again another day…..

Day 19 of no snow in Queenstown 😦 ……..

 The Crew and guests at Base Backpackers hostel Queenstown have their fingers and toes crossed for that first big dump to come. 

 

Everyone is getting excited to venture up Coronet and The Remarkables and be the first to ride through the fresh crisp snow. We’re all waiting for that buzz of cruising down the mountain listening to Glee, ummm I mean Shapeshifter album on our Ipod.

Even though we have no snow, the general buzz of Queenstown is keeping the smiles on people’s faces. With the vast amount of activities (over 600) we’re all managing to keep ourselves busy and entertained.  Lets be honest, with the Queenstown night life, which goes off every night, no sane person can get bored.  The Altitude Bar is the best value, with  crazy games and prizes 7 nights a week.

Plus the sun isn’t always a pain, secretly I think we’re all enjoying being able to sit outside with a beer on the sunny but chilly afternoons, and play around of Frisbee Golf or two. And we have got Winterfest starting on the 24th June (although I think it’ll be getting named Springfest this year!!) Winter/Springfest will be EPIC!!!! 10days of packed to the rafters of activities. From a Masquerade Ball to the Festival street parade to the Qtown Mardi Gras, Coronet night concert (party up in the mountains), Dodgeball championship are just to name a few, it’s going to go off!!!

Happy Travels

Hels (Superstar at Base Queenstown)

Base Bay of Islands Environmental Statement

Base Backpackers Hostel in Bay Of Island’s Goes Green.

BASE Bay of Islands understands it plays a role in the global community’s stance on reducing environmental impacts and we’re taking our role seriously! We appointed a Sustainability Manager (that’s serious!) their job is to assess and improve the property’s environmental footprint.

Join the Base Bay of Islands crew in being stewards in preserving the environment, for us and future generations. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jess Ivess

Base Bay of Islands General Manager

Rotorua – Feel the spirit!

Some Dreams may just come true..

You are visiting New Zealand, you jump on your bus and hear your next stop will be Rotorua – New Zealand’s number one Maori Cultural Destination.  Your heading to Base Backpackers Hostel for the some accommodation and Fun.

 

Your driver starts by telling you about thick bubbling mud, huge boiling hot pools filled with rainbows of colours and water that shoots sky-high, WOW! You wonder whether you might just fall straight through the ground into the volcano that once was and still is Rotorua.

As you get closer to this ‘Tourism destination’ the Bus turns into a long hand-carved waka (a canoe) and you row over the great Pink and White terraces and see where they once stood.  You float past a village buried deep below the lake, and come to rest where hot and cold streams burst out of the ground mixing to that just right temperature.

While you bathe and gaze up through the dewy trees at the starry filled sky, you suddenly find yourself being thrown down raging white water rapids and fly over a seven meter waterfall. Ahhhhhhh!

You are now being greeted by the beautiful sound of a karanga and haka powhiti (welcome song and dance) from an indigenous tribe of locals who have never seen nor known any other language, world or people. You’ve heard stories that if you put your foot out of line you maybe beheaded and eaten by huge dark warriors.  Their  faces are covered in moko (tattoos) and topped from head to toe in amazing intricate koru designs that tell their stories. They chant and dance their haka (war dance) with their eyes bulging out of their heads, and their tongues protruding from their mouths.

 You are now being challenged as you enter the gates of tall moss-covered trees and silver ferns by the ariki (great chief) with a taiaha (long wooden weapon) surrounded by his tribe armed with hand-made weapons and conch shells. To your Luck,  you are now being  offered  a green leaf and a hongi (sharing the breath of life) in exchange for a peaceful, friendly visit…

..You wake to hear the driver still talking…… “And lastly, the food, ah the food is just Amazing. Their traditional Hangi (ground oven) Smoked for hours deep underground with huge amounts of meat; lamb, chicken and pork with delicious, tasty vegetables and soft herb stuffing topped off with a warm golden steamed pudding.” Suddenly your bus stops; the door flies open the first thing you hear is

“KIA ORA. (Greetings to you) Welcome to Rotorua.”

 Rotorua, feel the spirit.

Written by Jessamine Bradley.

BASE Backpackers Magnetic island is truly Magnetic

One of our favourite Guests, Mike Trujillo, shares his Story on Base Magnetic Island.

 Two Days. That was the planned length of stay at Base backpackers Hostel on Magnetic Island. We are now on day 45, and counting.

This island truly is Magnetic.

After doing some research on accommodation on Magentic Island, we decided BASE hostel sounded like the place to be for the weekend. We couldn’t find another hostel on the island that was literally on the beach, like BASE is. We booked our Steal Deal package, which included breakfast, dinner, welcome drinks, snorkel hire, two nights accommodation, and a return ferry ticket all at a great price. The staff were very welcoming, and happy to point us in the right direction for activities. Without even leaving BASE, you can easily fill a weekend full of fun and events. Each day of the week offers different games/competitions at the bar, with many prizes to be won. If you don’t want to participate in the games, they are  fun to watch.

If you  need a place to revive, the beach and turquoise waters are waiting to help you relax. Grab a book, and lay out in the sand, listening to a combination of the music and ocean.

BASE Magnetic Island has been the perfect place for us to stop and enjoy during our journey down Australia’s coast. After 45 days, we have yet to run out of things to do on the island.

Michael Trujillo

Base Guest