Well I have decided to change the opening date to the 11th July… that is when we have our first bookings so it kind of made sense to push the opening date back until then. I still have a lot of little jobs that need completing before opening and the extra 11 days will allow us to open about 90% finished. There are still a few bedrooms, bathrooms and the commercial kitchen to complete but they can wait until further down the line when we need them.

Working on the bar in the evenings

I dont want to put up many photos on this post as I want it to be a bit of a surprise. I cant believe we have come this far – it will have been almost 14 months since I started work on the project and the dream is almost a reality. Its been tough the last few weeks, I am absolutely shattered and it is frustrating as this is the time I really want to be working on the operational side of things – not still finishing bits of construction.

Just installed the AC in the bar

However I am guessing we are not going to be really busy for the first few months so that will give me the time to fine tune everything. So the last week or so I have STILL been finishing off the communal bathrooms for the dormitory rooms – I am just a few days away at which point I will never want to see a ceramic tile again! Its funny as jobs that you dont mind doing at the start can turn in to your worst jobs by the end… after laying over a thousand square meters of ceramic tile I am over it. The same goes with the doors – over 40 in total – but hey almost finished!

An unfinished bathroom

In between tiling I have been finishing lots of little jobs – I have finally finished all the electrics, the main panel is all tidy and cover is on – wire for the backup generator is installed and AC has been installed in the bar.

Lots of tile work

I still have some seating booths to build in the bar but other than that its almost ready. I wont put a finished picture up yet but it looks good. I used the old Mahogany roof beams to build the front of the bar and bar top – looks great and was free… cant beat that, although sanding down all that wood was a messy job – it is going to be one hell of a clean up job before we open. Katherine has been busy putting the final touched to the private rooms and setting them up ready, tomorrow she will start on the dormitory rooms.

Getting there…

Jenson – our lovely German Shepard is growing fast – he is almost 5 months old now – he has almost grown out of the stage of eating everything in sight! A couple of people have asked me about having dogs in a Hostel and how it will work… for example what if someone does not like dogs? Well first of all I will put pictures of them up on the website and let people know that we do have a couple of dogs and second of all they have a fenced off area at the back of the garden where they can be kept if needed. To be honest though they are great, all Enzo is interested in is his ball and devotes his whole day to finding someone to throw it for him. Also they are great for security – security guards can fall asleep at night… my boys hear everything!

Our new bartender

Im excited for the opening and the next post where there will be a LOT of pictures.