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Published: December 5th 2009
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We have jobs! hehehe there was a number on a flyer for graperpicking at the hostel that we checked into, and we called it at lunchtime yesterday, drove the hour to the barossa valley yesterday afternoon, and were here for dinner and relaxing with everyone and stuff. bad pay ($13/hour) but atm all we want is money, and there wont be many temptations to spend the money up here. its gona be long day (12 hours some days), and considering theres a heatwave going on ova here atm its gona suk. we only worked a coupla hours this morning, and then jackie (the lady in charge of our team) said that we could have the rest of the day off very slack, but it was gona be ova 40 today, and she decided to be nice. so now we're all relaxing.
theres about 14 of us atm. but they're coming and going. we're only needed for about 3 weeks until the grapepicking season is ova, so its good for us, cos thats wen bradley will be coming ova. we get up and leave by 615am, and then drive to a vineyard. sometimes we mite be doing more then one vineyard
in a day. so its good. theres a range of ppl here atm. some dutch, french, british, german. some r leaving tomorrow after only a week, so they dont mind how long you stay for. we're gona try and stick it out till the end tho. we're all staying at jackies, some in the house and some (including us) in their vans.
and skip broke! hehe we were 10km outa lyndoch (where the house is) wen the was a massive clank and 5th gear dropped out. so we pulled ova, called raa (south aus's rac) and had to get the van towed to the house. so we have to buy a new gear box now. sux. so we definatly sorta stuck here atm now.....
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.....Hello to all! It is 9:30am on Easter Saturday and I am up waiting to go to the famous Barossa Farmerst Markets...once the two boys (including steve) get out of bed! so i thort that i would take this opportunity to quickly write.
All is good over. It has been an interesting first week...cannot believe that we've been here a week already. we've only worked 4 days
out of that week. our first day we only worked that hour and a half, had sunday off cos our boss jackie said it was gona be way to hot (43 it got to). we worked the next four days, and then have had the past two days off. and i heard from one of the gurls that we mite not have work till next
wednesday! its hard cos its the end of the picking season, so theres not neccesarily much work going around. but the days weve worked have been 9 hour days. just annoying tho, cos we both want to work and get the money, even tho the work that we are doing is very hard and quite literally backbreaking work.
The atmosphere is really good here. a mix of 10 nationalities when we are all together, although some ppl dont stay where we are staying. we had bbqs for dinner for the first few nites, and then ppl started being adventurous, starting with steve (obviously) so there have been some nice meals for the next few. i even cooked one! well, helped by my two closest gurl mates rachel and caroline. but me being me and
slightly bossy, i took over and made a very nice sausage casserole thing. i remembered seeing steve do certain things, and was trying to copy him. and it actually tasted nice, steve was very proud of me.
we went wine tasting yesterday, for the first time since we arrived here, even went to wolf blass!! it was very nice and exciting....most wineries were closed cos it was good friday tho, so we couldnt go many places. we then went wandering thru the bush last nite (i was the only gurl, making sure i was in the middle of the 5 boys with me) trying to look for kangaroos. was so scary at night, but we did manage to see a few kangaroos...
the actual grapepicking is hard work. on thursday we both hurt our backs becos we were picking bush wine, which is really low on the ground, and the bending over kept hurting! its long days, and monday was the hardest cos it was about 40 degrees and hot!! thank God the heatwave stopped on wednesday, so the days have been a bit cooler....and the nights have been absolutly freezing! everyone has gona from no blankets and
van doors open to keep the air flowing, to layers of clothing and everything shut to keep the cold out. in the space of a week!
we watched the grapes we picked get processed! they were riesling grapes (the ones of the ground that hurt our backs) and then we saw them get crushed and everything, and even got to taste the final product, which was a beautiful rich grape wine.
oh and two things to finish with... 1) there are a lot of different vines. its not just cos some have grown more then others (which is what i originally thort) but becos they are actually different types! grenash is good to pick, shiraz is ok, bush wine is low and therefore frustrating and hurts ur back. cabernet is the worst. so many vines hiding the grapes, scratches everywhere. very frustrating. sux cos i love cabernet. .....and 2) i am never getting so drunk off wine that it comes up ever again! now that i know the effort that goes into the process, i am going to fully appreciate the wine that i am drinking!
love to all! xxoo and Happy Easter!!
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