A little history

In the beginning.... 

It was a German teacher, Richard Schirrmann, that came up with the idea of hostel accommodation. He used a school that had closed for the holidays and took city kids into nature for some fresh air. Everyone pitched in to help with meals and cleaning.

Cora Wilding

It was Cora Wilding that bought the concept to New Zealand in 1932. Membership was mostly through established tramping clubs. By 1935 there were 27 established YHA hostels in New Zealand. (Youth Hostel Association)

Over the 20 or so years I have been involved in accommodation - OMG has it been that long?- I've seen some changes.

Our booking system used to be on paper. Yip, a huge grid of rooms, pencils and erasers were our tools. No on-line booking or recording system.

Beds came with a bottom sheet and pillow.  That was it. You could pay extra for linen but hardly anyone did.

We didn't carry phones, let alone smart phones back then - OMG I sound old! But this is all only in the past 20 years!

I have been known to say,
I could remove all the 'extra's' that have crept into hostel life over the past 20 years and revert back to a sheet and pillow on the bed...but I could not remove wifi. 
We had a family holiday in Australia a few years back. Gareth would check his emails in the morning, deal to anything that needed his input, then throw his phone in his bag and not look at it again till the next morning. The first day had Jacob and I looking slightly perplexed! 

How will we find you? Where shall we meet?

Gareth's wise answer - You'll be where you say you're going to be when you say you're going to be there. Just like the good ol' days.

It's true. When Gareth and I first met in London we didn't have phones. Somehow, we got through life, festivals and countries - being where we said we'd be, when we said we'd be there.

Staying in touch with family back home was a low and slow priority. Mailed letters could take weeks and we moved around so it was difficult to receive anything.

From a public pay phone, 
we could make collect calls.
I don't even know if you can do this anymore - I suspect not. 

Dial 0 for the operator - there would be a real live person who answered within seconds

Operator: What number would you like to call?
Me: I'd like to make a collect call to New Zealand # xxxxx please.
Operator: Hold the line please caller.

OK - the thing here is that it's a collect call. That meant the person I was calling had to accept the charges.

Operator: We have a collect call from London. Will you accept the charges?
Mum: No. Thank you

And that's how we told our parents all was well and no need to worry.

If we actually needed to talk, we would get a bucket load of coins, dial home and keep feeding the phone.  

Modern travelers don't have this type of communication challenge. A video call with anyone, anytime is in their hand where ever they are. 

Transport, however has not moved on so much.

Traveling and sleeping in a van is popular in New Zealand. Dammit! 
Toadies generally see's van folk on laundry day!

Going back about 100 years...in London...Six friends and I bought a VW Kombie van together. Through a very clever design and probably breaking a truck load of safety rules (which wouldn't have existed then anyway), all seven of us could sleep inside the van!

I was the shortest. Surprise, surprise! So my bed in the van was a canvas stretcher strung between the drivers door and passenger door. Long solid wooden poles slotted into brackets. This did mean that if I laid with my feet at the drivers door end, rolling over, my hip would hit the horn. Head at the drivers end had to be remembered...and if I forgot (usually drinks were involved), the whole camp knew about it.

We traveled through Europe in that kombie. In four months we only had two nights in which we all slept inside. Mostly we set up tents and I had a hammock which I strung between trees. 

I slept well in that hammock. Never a care in the world. One early morning somewhere in Spain, a few local kids surprised us all with fire crackers - tom thumb style - lit and thrown under my hammock. The noise was Amazing.

I can only imagine how much fun they had watching as I jumped, legs and arms spinning and tangling in the hammock in an attempt to get up. I may have even spun a complete 360° before being dumped unceremoniously onto the ground! Some well scripted insults were yelled as the laughing kids ran off.


Our industry has changed but one thing remains
- the shared space concept.

It is what separates us from the motel model.  Common areas for social gathering, communal kitchen and shared bathrooms are the key difference. 

This allows us to get together much more than a motel model does. Weekends at Toadies usually involve at least one meal together. Gareth got the smoker going on Sunday and we enjoyed fabulous lamb and brisket - cooked low and slow. Put this together with a freshly baked focaccia, a salad, good company and watch magic happen. The phones disappear, the glasses get filled, the conversation is lively. It's what makes hostels special.



 The first of our wine makers left this week. Valeska, from Chile, came to us after a negative experience in a private rental boarding situation, just two days before Cyclone Gabrielle hit. 

On her final morning she thanked us for letting her stay, taking care of her during the cyclone and for making her first hostel life experience a positive one. 

Her friends back home had warned her that staying in a hostel would be bad - which is why she opted for private boarding. We all shed a few tears as she thanked us for making her stay such a positive one and she would be going home to tell them all how wrong they were. Maybe they are right about some hostels, but not Toad Hall!

So regardless of how much changes in the world, hostel's were and still are, a place to share and meet. To be welcomed and feel safe and sound.  

Without fire crackers!


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