Standing
close to the top of the hill on Liverpool Street is a large green
building, impossible to walk passed without giving it a second glance.
This is The Pickled Frog Hostel. Walk in through the main entrance and
you will be greeted by a cosy reception room with communal computers,
comfy sofas, a small bar, the reception desk and, in winter, a roaring
open fire. This is where I found myself after 10 days working on a dairy
farm in Wodonga, torn between wanting to spend some time not working
and needing to find a job before winter crept in.
I
was greeted by a chirpy Tasmanian girl, who gave me my key and sheets
to set up my bed for the night and pointed me in the direction of the
local farmers market. If you are confronted by a very large husky with
dark brows and an grumpy face, don't worry, that's Blue. He is the
hostels dog and is very friendly!
Moving
from the reception space through to the communal area, there are sofas
and tabled booths offering plenty of space to sit with friends or on
your own and offers more warming fires. There is also a pool table and a
large TV with a great collection of DVDs, there's almost always a group
sat round enjoying a movie or two. The room is filled with charming cubby holes and comfy furniture to offer enough space for everyone.
The kitchen is just off of the
communal area. It's not huge, but it does have enough pots, pans,
plates, bowls, knifes and forks to go around. The hobs are a little,
erm, quirky, but they get the job done and there's always someone around
to help you out if you're struggling. The trick is that the hobs work
using magnets, if it doesn't detect a pan on top it won't turn on,
unfortunately it doesn't detect all of them. Most importantly, the
kitchen is always clean. I don't think I sore any dirty plates left out
at all.
The
rooms were nice, standard hostel rooms; bunk beds, a couple of tables,
one of the rooms I stayed in had a big wardrobe and full length mirror,
which was a real treat! They also get cleaned daily, which is nice.
The
bathroom may be the only negative thing I have to say about this place.
There were only 5 showers for all the girls in the hostel, which meant
there were often queues in the morning. Trying to avoid the queues I
decided to have an afternoon shower instead but left the bathroom still
dirty and now shivering, thanks to freezing cold water. I'm sure this
isn't usually a problem, but you might want to consider getting up a
little early instead. The toilets were clean though, so ups and downs
there!
One
of the really nice things about the hostel is they offer a number of
free trips on different days. I took the free shuttle to the top of Mt.
Wellington on Monday morning, which gave you a guided tour to the top
and then the option to walk back or stay on the bus. I was on quite a
budget so being able to go for a free day out was great – I chose to
walk down so it took until early afternoon to get back into town. There
are also yoga classes available and a few other bits and pieces.
I
really enjoyed my stay here: the place was clean, the staff friendly,
and the bar's pretty cheap. Located just a short walk from Hobart centre
this is a great place to stay when exploring the city.
