Week 2 – 27th Nov – 3rd Dec

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On Monday we hit the road. First thing we needed to do was get the ‘rego’ done. It’s basically the same as an MOT, except the test and issuing of their version on road tax is all done in one place. It was part of the deal that Anders would get the van ready for the test and pay for 6 months of rego. It passed with no worries and so we set off on our adventures at around 3pm, having filled up the tanks - AU$1.12 per litre for unleaded (about 45p per litre) in the city and around AU$1.35 in rural areas, which is nice. The main tank is 40 litres, from which we get approximately 300km (200 miles).

Tom and I shared the driving until we reached Margaret River - about a 4 hour drive. He Margaret River area is renowned for its world-class wines. Although Western Australia (WA) only produces about 6% of the country’s wine, it is responsible for some of the finest. Everywhere in town was fully booked but we managed to get the last 3 beds in Prevelly, right on the coast - 12km west of Margaret River. The next day, Tuesday, we approached a couple of job agencies and were offered some work in Karridale, about 40km south of Marg. The deal was $15.50 per hour with free accommodation on the vineyard. So we saved money on accommodation, which went more beer for us, and we just had to roll out of bed and were right there at work! The house was a real bachelor pad, complete with large beer fridge and PlayStation 2! It was also home to another worker called Lee - this guy simply cannot be described easily, but let’s just say his swearing would put someone with the most severe case’s of Tourette’s to shame! We had been warned that he was a bit psychotic and never stopped talking - the latter was proved to be very true, but he wasn’t too crazy. We warmed to him quite quickly as well as the other guys there, Gavin and Matt - good blokes.

Worked commenced at 0700 on what was a slightly miserable Wednesday morning. Our job was ‘legging’, which basically involves going from vine to vine cutting off the lower limbs so that the growth is concentrated higher up the plant. Pretty simple, but due to the fact that it was all low down it turned out to be rather back-breaking! Up and down every 1.5m for 8 hours definitely takes its toll! We did the same job on Thursday and Friday, although on Friday we took it in turns to do a couple of hours of replanting. That involves driving around on a cool off-road buggy and sticking a new vine in wherever there was a gap. It also involves a lot of power sliding and shouting ‘f@*k yeah’ around the vineyard instead of doing any work. Brilliant! Our plan over the weekend was to have time-trial races around the property to see who was the quickest, but the alternator decided to pack up so Gavin, the boss, decided we couldn’t. The main frustration about working on the vineyard was the fact that there were only 3 of us - a little demoralizing when you see how much work there is to do. Fortunately, some other workers joined us on Monday, but much to our disappointment they didn’t really work too hard and spent most of their time talking to each other and doing as little as possible. The 3 of us accomplished about 3 times the amount that they did in the same day! On Friday we went over to one of the other guy’s house where they’re in the process of converting the property into a fair ground!! They had trapezes in the back garden (one of the guys works at a circus), a huge bar half completed, and a pool and table-tennis room next door to the room where their band plays. Great! Tom was in his element on the drums and guitar - I just watched - funnily enough, they didn’t have a ‘cello for me to play!

We took the weekend as an opportunity to see some touristy kind of stuff, so we headed for Caves Road, which runs north-south just in from the coast in the far south-west of WA. It’s an awesome road, ripe for rally driving. Needless to say I duly obliged and had a right laugh spanking the van through the forest!! We got some good video footage too! We went to Jewel Cave and paid about $10 for a one-hour tour through the cave. Got some cool pictures as I managed to get my camera tripod in (they don’t usually let people take them down). We had a bit of a drive around, taking in the scenery, before stocking up on food and beer and heading back to the house. On Sunday Anders and I took a trip down to Augusta and Leeuwin lighthouse (the most south-westerly point in Australia), then I went with Gavin to Foul Bay (via a really tiny but cool off-road track) to get some nice sunset shots.

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