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.