After
a few days at The Pickled Frog in Hobart I managed to bag myself a job
in Cygnet on a strawberry farm. A quick conversation on the phone to the
farmer and I found myself googling “Little Devil Backpackers”, like he
had advised. I gave them a quick call to check there was space and then
hopped on the bus from the corner of Elizabeth and Brisbane Street to
Huonville. The ticket cost me a little over 10 bucks and the driver said
he would give me a shout when I needed to get off.
The
bus pulled up 40 minutes later next to a big yellow sign advertising
the hostel, which was tucked behind a car garage and a pizza takeaway.
David, the hostel manager, was there to greet me and show me to my dorm.
The hostel is made up of three sections; the camp site, the main
hostel, and the shared house. My room was in the shared house, and
because the season was drawing to an end there weren't many others in
there.
Now,
I feel before I go any further I should explain I arrived here at the
start of April, just as most of the fruit picking seasons are finishing.
Because of this the hostel was not full, but had a group of 30 or so
people across the three parts of accommodation. The weather was getting
colder, jobs were fewer and earnings were dropping. This is worth
keeping in mind as I never experienced queues for the shower or fighting
for space in the oven.
The
shared house was nice, 4 beds to a room, a large living room with
dining areas and a nice kitchen. There was one en suit room and one
shower for everyone else. I can imagine that could get busy at the hight
of season and the hot water for the house is mainly heated by solar
power. The room also had a big wardrobe that we were able to unpack into
as we were all going to be there for a while.
The
camp site was pretty basic. The main site was in the garden of the
shared house and there was a shed for the campers to cook in and store
food, as well as having dining areas and some sofas. When I was there is
was getting really cold and the campers tended to go through to the
hostel on an evening rather than staying in the shed. I'm sure that its
nice in summer, but when you could see your own breath as you breath, I
found it a little depressing!
The
main hostel had the reception desk in and a few computers. The kitchen
was pretty basic, it worked well when I was there, but again I can
imagine it got pretty busy in summer. There was a great island in the
middle of the kitchen that made for a great socialising centre, there
was always people sat around here enjoying a drink, preparing food,
playing poker or just chatting. Off the kitchen was a living space with
some couches, bean bags and a big TV.
The
camp site shed didn't have any hot water to wash dishes in and they
main hostel and the campers had shared showering facilities where you
had to pay to get hot water.
This
is a working hostel so everyone there were out on farms through the
day. Little Devils provide a small fleet of vehicles made of utes, mini
buses and cars to ferry workers to and from farms. These can be used on days off as well, by special arrangement with either Val or David, and at a cost per head.
I
really enjoyed staying there for a month, it was great fun and I met
loads of lovely people. Would I stay there again? Honestly, don't know.
It is nice, lovely even. Full of great people and comfy rooms, the staff
were nice and the there was always plenty going on. I suppose the
question should really be would I ever want to stay in Huonville again?
And the answer to that is no.
