End of the Grape Life

I'm sure you've heard people say at one point in your life, "well if you saw the kitchen of that place you'd probably never eat there again" in reference to your favourite restaurants or even just fast food in general with the idea that we only eat at these places because we don't know what happens to our food before we get it to the table. I thought this may be like grape picking and wine when we began this job--that maybe after seeing the effort that goes into producing a bottle of wine that I would be turned off wine forever. This is definitely not the case, but I do a finer appreciation for the effort involved when picking out wines now; I also tend to think, "wow, this bottle is $5 and they were paying me $19/hour to pick some lousy grapes for it?"

Our grape picking is coming to an end as the season hasn't been that great for the farmers and the work is getting less and less for us as the days go by. The past few days when we were told we would be working "full" days of up to 8 hours we were finished in barely 3 or 4 hours. This was ok with me because grape picking is SO BORING but it would have been nice to be guaranteed some sweet money. Money, that is another thing we have yet to see a lot of coming out of this job. While we were supposed to get paid on friday, our sorry excuse for a boss Camelia said the money didn't clear from the farmers and everyone would have to wait until Monday but she would give us $200 for now. We took our $200, waited out the weekend and with many other backpackers were waiting at the campsite early Monday morning for the rest of our money. Camelia and her boyfriend Yemaz said they were going to get everyone's money and would be back in an hour. We waited around, swam in the caravan park's pool and hung out with friends until we realized there was no way they were coming back that fast like they said. We decided not to ruin our own day and went to a few wineries for some wine tasting to pass the time.

We went to Sobel's, Tempus Two and McGuigan wineries where we tasted various chardonnays, sparkling, shiraz, merlot, pinot gris and many more. We told the wineries that we were the ones picking their grapes so it was neat to see where our hard work was going. Stew and I grabbed some sushi dinner that we had been craving for a long time at the Tempus Two winery and then headed back to the caravan park. Camelia and Yemaz showed up at 5:30pm and screwed around putting up the tarp on their tent while about 20 backpackers started gathering waiting for answers. I gave them 5-10min to avoid us before I walked up and asked them when they were planning on telling us what was going on. I found out that they STILL were not able to pay us because the money hadn't cleared yet and that tomorrow. This was starting to sound like the biggest scam of life. Everyone was pissed and some backpackers have been depending on this money for life to the point they don't have anything, so the camp was buzzing with angry travelers. Many people are planning on leaving because the work is minimal now and questionable if there even IS more work and most people are sick of Camelia's crap.

Stew and I went to talk to Camelia and Yemaz privately as they often give us the real answers that they withhold from the other travelers. We're pretttttty sure it's because we're Canadians, good pickers and masterminds at getting the real answers out of them haha. We told them we were planning on taking off as well and they suggested giving our account numbers so that they could direct deposit the rest of our money on Friday--ya right. I told them I was not comfortable with this as if they screwed up any digits or anything went wrong, I wouldn't get paid and we would be all the way up in Byron with no way of getting our money and only having contact with them through phone which they already ignore. Camelia asked, "what you think we wont pay you?" ummmmm yes, thats pretty much EXACTLY my point. I passive aggressively suggested that no, it's just we want to settle everything before we leave when really I meant 'I want my money, you can't be trusted, we want to get out of here leaving nothing behind and never want to hear from you again.' We were able to talk them into paying us the rest of our money while the rest of the backpackers will have to wait until friday now. Such a crock for most as they admitted there is not going to be much work if any after wednesday and most people have paid to stay until friday for nothing now.

Anyways, our plans are that we are going to call places in Byron and find out who if anyone is hiring and how soon we can get out of here though not before we get every penny we are owed from Camelia and Yemaz. The running joke on the campsite was that if they try to run with everyone's money, the backpackers will use their cars to baracade them in until we get our pay. haha. A funny thought, but it is not being ruled out just yet, these people are unpredictable and never follow their word. As we went around talking to the backpackers and finding out various stories and how people were fighting to get on the lists for work while we just relaxed in the hotel and were automatically on the list and how people have to wait now to get their money and how we managed to work our way to getting ours sooner that we would be really great on survivor--we just know how to get what we want haha.

So, the grape picking experience has been interesting; aside from the money scandals, we've met some really great people from Germany, France, Canada, England and Ireland, some of who we got to surf with in Newcastle on a beach day. I've learned that I hate farmwork and would never survive the 88 days of fruit picking to obtain a second year visa because it is just too damn boring and repetitive--I much prefer customer service jobs where you can interact with people and not have to break your back all day. I'll miss the constant yelling "Bucket!" from everyone--the standard when you have filled yours and need a new one but has become hilarious as the different accents make the "bucket" call sound more like a chicken clucking. Oh, and can't forget the farmers day in and day out telling us how to pick and no rotten and speed up, etc. etc.

We've acquired dirty fingernails, bugbites, scrapes and knicks in our fingers from the vines and cutters, seen some crazy spiders and walked into their webs unintentionally, touched some of the most rotten grapes and trapsed through muddy trenches to pick the perfect grapes. It may sound like a nightmare but we've actually had a pretty good time with the backpackers and definitely will never forget this job. While we were in the McGuigan winery yesterday, Stew pointed out a painting on the wall of the vineyard at sunrise; rows and rows of vines with the mountains in the background and a warm sunrise lighting up the field. Stew asked me what I thought of the painting and I said, "It makes me want to kill myself" and laughed. I think from now on, I'll stick to drinking the wine and never want to be in those vineyards again. Going back to the idea of seeing the kitchen--let's just say, what you don't know can't hurt you...so stay in the restaurant and you'll always enjoy your meal!

Small Towns and Big Dreams

Work has officially commenced and we have survived 3 days of grape picking so
far. After over 2 weeks of solid rain in Cessnock we were more than ready to
start work this past Saturday morning. We had moved into the Cessnock Hotel out
of the caravan park when we found out that its only $25/night to stay at the
hotel and we were paying $20 for our mere parking space in the mud of the
caravan park anyways so we packed up and moved into our cozy little room above
the pub. While its loud on weekends and sleeping can be tough we have a dry,
warm bed and we no longer have to trek through the muddy campsite to get to the
washroom nor do we have to share filthy cooking facilities with a tonne of other
backpackers. We were up at 5am to get to our meeting place for work on Saturday
morning and within the first 2 hours of work were approached by our (useless)
boss Camelia asking if one of us would like to be team leader since we're
obviously pro-grape pickers right off the get go haha. She said she needed
someone who wasn't afraid to yell at people or tell them to pick faster so I
nominated Stew as I would be more likely to say "um can you please pick faster"
rather than yell at 20 german boys. eek, no thanks. Stew has done a terrific job
so far and we've become natural pickers.

The days are long, as our first day was 10 hours in the hot sun and the repetitive cutting vines and bending over really gets to you after a while but the money will be good. By day 2 evening my wrist was completely swollen from the picking and my entire body ached. Day 3 wasn't too bad as we finished by 1:30pm and I found my rhythm in picking so that I wasn't dying through the shift. We have only got one lunch break out of the 3 days but when we do have brief breaks we guzzle water, eat snacks and mentally prepare ourselves for the next filling of a vat. They try to encourage us by saying "only one more tub to fill guys!" which does nothing for motivation being as it takes over 2 hours to fill one of these tubs even with about 26 backpackers picking their hearts out. I keep my mind on the money while we pick and listening to some sweet music helps. We've made a few friends with some people our age which was hard to find because a lot of the Germans are here fresh out of highschool or so before they go on to University so many people are a lot younger than us. We're hoping some of our new friends will join us when there is an upcoming rodeo march 10 if we're still here. We saw a poster for it and got sooooo excited!!

We had a day off unexpectedly as camelia failed to inform us of this and we had to drag her out of bed at 6am to find out we weren't working after having been up at 5:15, eaten breakfast and myself already having a coffee in preparation for a full day's work. She was shocked that we didn't know we had the day off because she "told some people and told them to spread the word" I almost laughed in her face and couldn't believe she thought this was a legitimate way to pass on information, especially to Stew our team leader who is supposed to always know whats going on. ridiculous I tell ya! Either way we are surviving despite the heat and tedious work it really isn't THAT difficult and really, what else are we going to do in the bumping town of Cessnock.

We got a taste of real small town folk on Sunday evening when we decided to listen to the band playing below us and have a few beers. An ineresting crowd of locals was outside on the patio getting wasted and looked like they could be a riot to talk to. Looking back we both wish we hadn't wondered as they invited us over and then proceeded to make us uncomfortable with their stories and request or us to live in one of the gal's flats. She said she has an empty apartment we could live in; she gave me her number and told me about 39042032 times to call her tomorrow, she was also proud of the fact that she was the biggest drug dealer in Cessnock and also asked us if we wanted drugs to which we declined lol. She had scraggly hair, a tattoo around her neck and about 5 teeth
remaining...after chatting with these people I want to say thank you to my parents for raising me in a city with a population over 1000 otherwise I could have 3 kids by now, corn rows in my hair and work at woolworths until im 50.

On another note, I just finished an incredible book by Dean Karnazes who is an ultramarathon runner and author of RUN! which documents his insane races, some over 100 miles at a time. Though I have no desire to be an ultramarathon runner his stories were very inspiring as I am getting into my running full on these days. He divided the book into 26.2 chapters just like a marathon is 26.2 miles and writes about numerous races, experiences and funny stories about his running career. I know many people are not runners but he is worth checking out if not for curiousity. His website is:

http://www.ultramarathonman.com/web/about/bio.shtml

I found his book in the library on one of our internet days and decided to check it out. In 2 library visits I completed the book and was inspired to look into more races for 2012. While I have already planned to go for a half marathon in May or June here in Australia, I've lately been pondering bigger things for when I return to Canada. A new year of running and its time to set the bar a bit higher. Nothing set in stone, just browsing races for now... :)

This past weekend I injured my foot while running in the rain down the road in Cessnock here. I ran along the shoulder of the road and I think the angle of the road tweaked my foot but it has been very painful ever since. Being a stubbourn runner I've ran on it a couple times with regret after but am waiting patiently now for it to heal and resisting the urge to lace up for a run. When I wake up in the morning I can barely walk on my foot and it gets better as the day progresses, my only fear is that it is something bigger than I think. Fingers crossed that this heals, I can't imagine not getting back into running this year.

This weekend we have to leave the hotel for a couple nights as Rod Stewart is doing a concert in Cessnock and apparently its going to be a HUGE weekend for this town haha. The hotel is booked solid so we have to leave for Friday and Saturday but can come back on Sunday. The campsite has dried up a bit but a slight rainfall will turn it into a mud pit again so its best if we just stick with the hotel anyways to be sure.

Our van has been holding up ok but as of the past month when we start her in the morning or after a long period of being parked its difficult to get started and requires a lot of revving on Stews part to get her moving. I cross my fingers every time now hoping to god we won't be stuck at 5am trying to get to work stranded in a parking lot or a field. We may have to take our currymobile in for a check up soon just to make sure we're goood to go when we move on to Byron Bay. Anyways, all is well in our little smalltown and one thing is for sure, I don't think either of us will be buying grapes for a long time. I'd be happy to never see a grape again for at least a couple months after this job.