Youth on the move

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 24

Youth on the move

Gloria Curin has been ' warden of the Greymouth Youth Hostel for three years, and finds it a life full of interest. With her husband Barry doing shift-work on the Kaniere gold dredge, |and two young children at foot, it is also a very busy life. The hostel was opened in 1964, and is off Cowper : Street, overlooking Sawyers : Creek and the playing-fields of Anzac Park. Large windows make the most of a sunny aspect,, and the hostel has a pleasant welcoming air. The Curin family have a small flat at one end of the building with a fenced garden. The whole complex is attractively designed and I built on three levels. . Grateful letters The young people who use the hostel come from all over the world, from the ! Commonwealth countries, Europe, Scandanavia and even Russia. The visitors’ book is full of far-away addresses, and enthusiastic (comments, (and some not so enthusiastic if weather and travelling conditions have not been good.) Gloria Curin often receives letters of I thanks from her overseas visitors. A recent one from a girl in West Germany (read, “You have been so nice since I stayed at your | hostel in June,” (last year), I “in particular when I asked ■ for a dormitory on my own, I when I came back from the Heaphy Track ... I wish I could come back tomorrow. Kindest regards from Ingrid.” Many hostellers come hack several times during their West Coast travels. The hostel is a fifteenminute walk from the main Greymouth railway station and five minutes from a bus-stop. Hostel-users can pre-book through P.O. Box

299, Greymouth, and during the Christmas holiday period I the 60-bed hostel is booked out every night. During the winter things are quieter and average occupancy is 12. Music-making Gloria Curin enjoys the

quieter winter period as being a good time to get to know her temporary guests. In summer the pace is too hectic to do much more than book them in, see they do their fair share of cleaning up and check them out. Winter can be a good time for sitting over the open fire in the living-room listening, to travel tales and perhaps a bit of music-making. All the residents of the hostel must leave by 10 a.m. each day, but they can leave their gear and come back again in the evening. Some go on local trips such as the train trip to Rewanui, or to Shantytown. One keen group recently got as far as the Punakaiki pancake rocks on a hired bikes. Mostly though ' they check out and go north, or continue on to the glaciers. Mrs Curin is on duty mornings and evenings, booking in new hostellers between 5-6 p.m. Lights out is at 11 p.m. Members of the Y.H.A. in New Zealand pay a yearly subscription of $lO, and at

i■ ■ ' I the Greymouth hostel the daily rate is.s2 per head. All 3 hostellers are required to show their membership cards with photo attached, and valid membership cards 3 from overseas hostelling organisations are accepted. (New Zealand members travelling overseas are entitled ■ to use the hostels in 50 i member countries). Hostellers provide their own sleep-ing-bags and food. Anyone lover five years of age is eligible for membership. Recreational The focal point of Grey* mouth’s youth hostel is the large comfortable liv-ing-room. There is a scatter of padded chairs in front of the stone fireplace, and a Coca-Cola machine in a corner. A notice-board has details of local scenic trips, maps, and mail waiting for incoming hostellers. An advertisement says, “Packs I and parkas repaired while | you wait,” and gives a 1 local address. For recreation there is a | I pool table, a window-seat I stacked with magazines, j end an uncompleted jigsaw puzzle on the large i table.

The dining-room seats hirt.y at several small j

tables, and opening off it is a large kitchen with four stainless steel sinks, extensive facilities for cooking with gas and electricity, and a fridge. Smoking is forbidden in this area and the dormitories. Surely amongst the best basic accommodation in the town, Greymouth’s hostel has sponge rubber mattresses throughout its eight dormitories. There are spacious ablution blocks for men and women. Two of the most frequent'.• used rooms are the laundry and the dry-ing-room, Volunteers Gloria Curin says that most of her guests are good at helping around the hostel. “Some even volunteer,” she says. She feels it pays to be diplomatic when organising people into doing chores. “It all depends on the way you ask, and I try to treat the young people in the

hostel as I like to be treated.” She obviously has the knack. The hostel is immaculate. Maintenance work on the hostel is not within Mrs Curin’s province. The association recently arranged for a painter to redecorate the kitchen and do other repairs. She also has the support of two local committee members of the Youth Hostel Association.

Gloria Curin has erne day off- each week and most Saturday evenings, when a group of Greymouth High School girls take it in turn to be temporary wardens. A stands in is also needed for four weeks a year, when she has a well-earned holiday. As the Y.H.A. Handbook says, “The position of warden is a very demanding one, and the pleasant co-operation and willing performance of duties is of great assistance in ensuring the happy and efficient running of a hostel.”