1st Aussie Job: Hunter Valley YHA

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With resources quickly being drained amidst the booziness and bright lights of Sydney, myself and another BUNACer, Mandy, decided to do some WWOOFing we'd stumbled across during our earlier visit to New South Wales' premier wine-growing (and tasting) region about 2.5 hours North of Sydney. WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms and involves a few hours' graft per day in exchange for free room and board, and this position at the hostel we'd stayed at seemed like an ideal way to chill out and drink wine for a couple of weeks whilst saving moolah along the way.

For a couple of days before heading on to the Hunter Valley I stayed at Chez Burbidge- a mate's place in the city of Gosford on the Central Coast of NSW 1.5 hours North of Sydney (or under 1 hour in Karl's Mercedes speedwagon!) The stay involved a typical trip to Terragal Beach with Karl and Aussie James, a barbie with massive steaks and a night out lasting until 6am in Terragal, where we met and hung out with 3 Aussie chicks from the Coast, two of who were 'hanging out of their heads' on pills, but one who was Amy- a very nice, less drugged-up girl that I've seen a couple of times since 😊

We got to the hostel on the Saturday and, with work not to start until Sunday, it was all about kareoke at Potters in the night! We recruited a small army of the Hungarian/Australian guests- one being another nice girl I've met on my travels thus far 😊- and had a few too many local beers while watching our kareoke demon workmate and roommate, Simon, repeatedly get up and strut about on stage.

On Sunday the regime began- 07.30am starts every day, cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, changing guests' beds, cooking dinner for Mark etc. Those that know me well will know that both getting up at 07.30 and cleaning are not in my general life repertoire but I managed it and the job itself was a piece of piss, usually involving 2-3 hours work a day max as long as Michael, the resident dickhead and hostel owner, didn't find me tedious jobs like sweeping cobwebs out of the underside of the shed roof!

So most of my days were spent not just lazing by the pool and going on wine-tasting tours for free, but also biking to a local zoo to feed kangaroos and pet koalas, and competing against Simon at darts, table tennis, poker and a load of sports we made up, like Fireball (like a penalty shootout but in the pool with a tennis ball) and FTV (a hybrid of football, tennis and volleyball).

The only problem was that it must have become obvious to our employers that we were there to have a good time and get pissed with the guests rather than to break our backs working and our stay was cut short to a few days less than the arranged two weeks, as we found out we were being replaced- we have no proof that the hostel owner is a perv, but I reckon he preferred looking at two teenage Danish girls to looking at my half-asleep, hungover face.

That meant the next kareoke night was to be the last, and it was an eventful one with Simon and me rocking the place with a Bon Jovi duet, the YHA girls doing Mamma Mia and me winning a free drink by beating girls in a push-up competition on stage- it was more difficult than it sounds!

So after a short stint in wine country, I'm back at Karl's place for a few days and I can now do a better job of trying to pretend I know anything about wine other than it can get you drunk nice and quick. Now begins the search for paid work, which I'm guessing will take me back to Sydney for Christmas on the beach and New Year at the harbour. But the next few days will be spent on the Coast at Karl's, and hopefully a date or two with Aussie chick Amy...

As always, there are many more photos on facebook.

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