Nil desperandum! There are still
hotels and accommodations in New Zealand that don’t charge for internet access.
Staggered? Bewildered? Completely lost for words? Of course you are and that is
because so many of the bloodsuckers in the beds for rent industry seem to have
no compassion, no desire to acknowledge
our essential need to fire up our little notebooks in our hotel rooms;
for me it was a case of pausing
momentarily to limbeck with furrowed
brow and then pound away at the keys
(can we use ‘keys’ these days or should it simply be keypad or keyboard?). I
mean, who travels without a Smartphone, notebook computer or Ipad these days?
The Hotel D’Urville, Blenheim’s
landmark & former Public Trust building, home to one of the region’s best restaurants,
proudly located in the very heart of this pleasant little vineyard-surrounded
village offers free wireless internet in all it’s 9 luxurious rooms. Methinks
I’m going to enjoy my evening meal downstairs just that little bit more in the
knowledge that I can connect with the virtual world immediately after my glass
of Port. Sadly no cigar these days though! Yes, it’s true....free glasses of
Port in the Vault on the first floor. A fine place to meet other guests in the
hotel and relax in civilised pre-21st
century ambiance.
Naturally, as scholarly and well read
as you are, each of you will realise that this hotel is named after the French
Explorer Dumont d’Urville who mapped much of the Marlborough Sounds. Very
fitting indeed as tomorrow I expect to dip my toes in Cooks Strait before
motoring around to the town of Havelock for a plate or two of freshly caught
and cooked mussels at the Mussel Pot Cafe.
I am in Room 9 at the d’Urville,
described in the hotel compendium as follows: “ In this room we celebrate the
essence of New Zealand. Starfish, river stones and a shell collection remind us
that we are a country surrounded by the sea with many rivers. Stone and glass
pieces gleam from the polished concrete bathroom floor – memories of
beachcombing days. A collection of miniature flax kits is framed on the wall.
An icon of New Zealand travel is a town flag – several of these have been
framed as well.”
Of course, there is much more to the
room. From my large steel-framed colonial window I can see the sunshine splashed
across the bare Wither Hills to the south of the town; there is a large four
poster bed splendidly bedecked with no fewer than 4 giant pillows and five
cushions. The mind boggles.....There are two elegant Rimu wardrobes, original
exposed flooring and a 1940s government-sized 13 finned radiator, presumably
filled with flowing hot water.
An unusual room, by all accounts, but
a welcome departure from the ordinary, the everyday and the usual that one
finds in New Zealand towns, large and small. This space exudes character, not
just because it was a former quasi-governmental building with bank safes and
thick steel doors but also because there is a noticeable attention to
experience-enhancing detail and a skilful feel factor.
A night at the d’Urville is a night
to remember. For me I will reflect regularly on its difference and its
uniqueness as I forlornly try to cope with the uninspiring, tedious same-same
of modern motel accommodation around the country.
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