Before you read- I would stay here again.
Oh my, we were in Vesa Block heaven. There is nothing that screams “stay in me” then an off grey painted Vesa Block building. However we were nearing the end of our holiday and we were strapped for cash. “Something cheap please”, I conveyed to my wife as I sat in a chair sucking down my tenth Steinlager and she sat in front of my laptop. A day later, we arrived in Taupo. Three or four blocks from the lake sat the Aldelphi Hotel. My response as we drove into reception was “this doesn’t look like the brochure”. I had a Michael Douglas from “Falling Down” moment. The lush picture of the Big Mac did not match what I got from the fifteen year old burger flipper.
Reception was very friendly, getting me a bottle of milk. The room however was something from…well I don’t know when or where. Sometime long from the past. It was very clean, too clean in fact. Were they hiding something? I trundled around the room. The sleek brown and grey lino tiles flowed from the kitchenette into the bathroom. The shower floor was strangely reflective, so I did not practice my leg squats during my shower. The bathroom also had a strange storage space that smelt like my grandma’s house. A strange pipe or conduit passed through it. I like to think it powered some time machine below. The time machine that the room creator must have used to travel ahead in time to bless the room with 1GB of WIFI and sky TV. I was also impressed by the artwork in the second bedroom. I’m surprised it hadn’t been removed and returned the The luve, to be reunited with the Mona Lisa. M. Lather’s ‘swamp by the mountain’ must have been a protest against pine plantations in NZ. Or maybe it was just a terrible painting. Who knows, but if you attend Taupo McDonalds, you can ask Mr Lather as her makes your Fillo ‘o’ fish. The telephone was the obvious link between rotary phones and modern cordless phones. It’s smoked white colour was obviously been stained by years of cigarette smoke. Oh, and if you like listening to the drummer from Van Helen practice his beats from 3 to 5pm each afternoon, you will love this hotel!
Yet despite my obvious sarcasm, I am drawn to this hotel in some way. At $100 a night, it is highly competitive and given the outstanding service from the 1970’s version of Patrick Stewart owner, I would stay here again.