It’s always a little odd to me when a place does check-out on the honour system. Stayed in plenty of places where that’s how it works, mostly hostels but also some hotels, but it feels odd, like I’m sneaking away or something.
Chalet Backpackers has this little wooden bucket by the door to collect the keys, which I guess is a more definitive option than “leave it in the lock” or “leave it on the counter”.
I had to leave a place in Nelson (years ago) very early, and the made up on the spot process there was to just leave the keys on the table and the front door unlocked, because it could only be locked from the outside with a key.
I wandered back through the railway station, mostly to kill time before the bus to Invercargill, and spotted the (to me) horrific notion of a pub quiz you can’t escape from.
The bus to Invercargill did eventually happen. I’ll note that it’s tricky to get “sweeping vistas of landscape” shots from halfway down the bus, so after a while I gave up & took a “looking out the window” shot instead.
I was glad of the noise cancelling headphones. Not only do they cut out the bus & road noise, but with something playing they also cut out the other passengers noise, which in this case was sorely needed;
- Two people at the front with very carrying voices having the most repetitive conversation about absolutely nothing. Endlessly.
- Someone who knew them, who also had a very loud voice, and who was either very anxious about the bus trip, or had some special needs, or both. One of those bus situations where you can feel everyone thinking “please don’t sit next to me” because it was clear in the first few seconds that he’d be talking at you for the whole trip.
- After an initial period where loud+nervous roamed up & down the bus before deciding that there were no seats and he’d have to walk to Gore (there were seats, just not ones without a seatmate, which I’m assuming he was looking for), the driver got him situated up the front & the three of them kept each other entertained.
There were a fair few unaccompanied minors on the trip, all of whom got off at the same stop, which makes me wonder if it was a boarding school situation or something. They didn’t seem to be interacting much.