Standing in the oldest, coldest, darkest bach we’d ever holidayed in, I slipped through the cracks in time and touched Canterbury history.
I could hear the woman who had lived in this south-facing abode berating her husband at night: “Get me some wallpaper to cheer this place up!” she wailed.
So he did. Five different patterns. One for each room. Which could explain how she ended up with a bedroom papered in a Beardsley print of partly dressed nymphets.
Sloppy word choice will get you every time!
Recommended reading: Baches & Cribs
Assignment 3: What’s your Canterbury bach horror/love story?
10 November 2010 at 10:52 am
‘Bach’ is not a word used in rural Victoria. ‘Batch’ is a cooking term meaning a tray of scones or biscuits. ‘Batching’ means you are looking after the family home while the olds are away. ‘Cribs’ are for babies, so I was puzzled to learn that people from can-o-brie go to the coast and sleep in a baby’s bed and bake scones.
10 November 2010 at 11:02 am
Our favourite bach is in Hanmer. It’s close to Dogstream track and is really rundown. The walls are pine veneer, the carpet is jade green and there’s an open fire in the living room. We love it. The dog is welcome and we can just hang out and relax without the daunting prospect of keeping everything clean and tidy. Makes for a real holiday!
11 November 2010 at 7:31 am
We haven’t “bached” in Hanmer yet – is this bach yours? You make it sound sodelightful. The one that we stayed in that features in the blog is in Peel Forest (Geraldine) and had been a forestry workers cottage. It was up a steep muddy slope, as described in the blog but with absolutely stunning views. I love all our bach experiences (this one included!)
10 November 2010 at 11:09 am
What is more, they bake them for tea which is really dinner! All the following words have different meanings for me – robots for traffic lights, plots for sections, dinner for tea and I was shocked to realise how complex buying a coffee could be when I first arrived.
10 November 2010 at 9:11 pm
and what about being invited out for supper and being a biscuit or cookie and a hot drink, whilst all the time you are expecting a good home cooked meal!
11 November 2010 at 7:32 am
An immigrant’s life is hard!
10 November 2010 at 11:10 am
Oooops, the above comment is from me!
10 November 2010 at 3:28 pm
Don’t worry. It’s sweet-as.
10 November 2010 at 9:08 pm
Hanmer baches can be special. I once stayed in one totally decorated in golf themed golf trophies – golf egg timers etc. It also had the worst roll together sagging double bed! Another, nicknamed possum palace was memorable for being woken in the middle of the night by the most appalling hissing and growling – possums courting and fighting on the roof – aaah!
Looking forward to a stay shortly in a Banks Peninsula bach – Crusty Cottage!
11 November 2010 at 7:27 am
Crusty Cottage! Whatever will that bring? You will have to let us know (in a blog?)
11 November 2010 at 3:48 pm
We arrived at this bach up the top of the Wangapeka river. Completely overgrown, dead stiff rats carcasses, no water, damp and surrounded by millions of sandflies it was a bach of badness.
13 November 2010 at 8:13 pm
Dead rats – Live rats, really it is hard to choose! Will have to watch out that we don’t ever stay in THIS one!
11 November 2010 at 11:55 pm
And now for a cross-cultural query. How do ‘baches’ compare with Parks Board berg cottages in South Africa? No cooks, I imagine! But do they have roasting pans so that the Sunday roast can be prepared in style as usual? And jelly moulds? You think I’m joking?
12 November 2010 at 8:06 am
Baches are all privately owned so there is a tremendous range in culinary equipment. Sometimes they are missing vital pieces of equipment(like a sharp knife say) only to have complex accessories such as upmarket garlic presses! I suppose that is part of their charm. Usually you book them on-line and they come with lists of what the bach comes with. (Two “come withs” in one sentence – oh dear!) I still dream of all the wonderful holidays at Parks Board camps, do they still provide the cooks as before?
13 November 2010 at 3:10 am
When you’re here in Feb remind me to tell you the story of Max being invited to a professor’s dacha in Russia. Dachas … Bachas …
13 November 2010 at 8:22 am
It’s a date – at Freedom Cafe!
13 November 2010 at 8:03 pm
Worst Canterbury bach experience was on the front at Wainui. We think someone had broken in before we got there and had left it in a bit of a state – dirty dishes in the sink, mouldy food in the fridge. The bed was the most uncomfortable ever and I was too tired to even relax. The next time we went to Wainui we stayed in a lovely old villa further up the hill and enjoyed cheese and wine on the veranda which made up for the first place.
13 November 2010 at 8:11 pm
I need the addresses of BOTH those places!