1/29
I didn't do much today, walked to town twice- once to get some essentials (read spatula, as there are NONE in the kitchen, and I made my breakfast with a spoon) and once later to check out the library and visitors center. People are generally nice here, but sleep a lot, I think since they are bored, and smoke a lot, maybe because of the same reason. The kitchen is so small, so I think I am going to start eating a real breakfast when I get up at 8:30 (no one else who isn't working isn't seen until at least 9:45), then have a snack instead of a real sized lunch at lunch time, then eat dinner at like 5 pm to beat the crowd. I am going to try to grill as much as possible, since I get claustrophobic in the kitchen, and it is so nice outside, and I love grilling. I have missed grilling. The scenery around here is also a major bonus. I cannot believe how far you can see the hills from our hostel, and we are literally smack in the middle of a vineyard, so the fields are very pretty. I'm not really sure what I am going to do here until I find work. I am working hard on trying to bribe someone to take me to volleyball Thursdays, especially since I am not going to be working. I guess I will work on my tan, like I was doing in Adelaide, but now in grass instead of sand. We have had unusually cool temperatures lately (like 60's and 70's during the day, 40's and 50's at night), which is affecting the sugar in the grapes, and thus delaying the harvest. I never like to wish 100's on myself, but it seems like it would help my work situation if it would hurry up and warm up again!
2/1
We had a warm, sunny day, then a cold, rainy day, and today started cold, but will hopefully be nice. I have just been hanging out here at the hostel. I walked the town one evening with one of my roommates Jess, then drank the most expensive "cheap" beer I will probably ever have- it was $7.80 a pint, which isn't even a real sized pint here, with bud light quality beer. Disgraceful. So I usually can't justify buying alcohol here, unless it's nice wine, which is like 100 meters from my hostel, but I can't justify buying that until I actually begin work. Highlights of the day have been daily trips to Foodland, to drain between $9-20 dollars from my account for food, even though I have food (I haven't done this daily, but I went for milk and apples and a drink yesterday and got some chocolate too- $9!). I have also gotten season 2 of Fringe from my roommate Hayley and have been quickly watching a whole season. I will probably finish today. Internet is expensive, so I have been writing my blogs on notepad on the computer, then getting online long enough to post. Jess spoke to one of the hostel workers here yesterday and he said he suspects that vintage for at least one of the vineyards should start Monday. We work on a rotating basis, so not everyone will work everyday. If it starts Monday, I will be surprised if I work Monday, as I am probably near the bottom of the list. It just depends on how many positions they have at the vineyard. But, as you can probably tell, I am very anxious to work. I really wanted to catch the bus to Galwer last night, play volleyball, then ride home with Joel and Sam, then get a ride back later this weekend. I resisted, seeing as I had not set this plan up with anyone, but I will be just sitting around probably.
Friday night was a crazy party night. There was singing and drinking and hula hooping. One of the highlights was all the Europeans singing "American Pie." They also played Gold Digger and a couple other rap songs, and I thought it was funny to hear rap songs in English accents.
2/3- Sunday we went to the beach as a hostel. We were originally scheduled to leave at 11:30, but when I got up, I saw that the partiers had pushed the departure time back to 12:30. We ended up not gettng out of here until about 1pm, then having to stop for petrol as well. Anyway, we didn't get to the beach until about 2:30. It was a crazy-windy day, and we sat in the sand and watched the boys play soccer. As usual, we were split in French and UK people, a literal line in the sand. I think it's mostly the language barrier, but it's kind of weird how the groups are so divided. After sitting around a while, my group decided they needed McDonalds. We drove to the nearest one and they were so excited, haha. I think a McDonalds in Tanunda would make a fortune off the backpackers. Some of the people said their favorite part of the beach trip was the trip to McDonalds. I laughed and said there was definitely one closer, we didn't have to go all the way to the beach for a McDonalds trip. There was a little communication problem later on. My group thought we had to have the vans back to th hostel by 7 pm or be fined $50, so around 5:30, we were ready to head back to make sure we didn't get fined. The french people were not ready to come, so they didn't. Jess and I sat in our van and waited for 20 minutes until they decided to come. Then the car we were supposed to be following left us and we had to find our way back on our own. We did a pretty good Job remembering landmarks to get back, and when we asked the French people in our car if they remembered, they would say "It's right." "It's left" "It's straight," so Jess and I figured it out ourselves.
2/5- Tuesday Marie is came to have a wine tasting day with me. We went to 3 wineries and also Maggie Beer's Farm Store, which specializes in pataes and had lots of samples and a beautiful pond out back with turtles and ducks. We also found a case of discounted wine for $24. I could not pass it up, so I got it and when I brought it back to the hostel and told my suitemate Hayley what it cost, she jumped up to get one, and spread the word around the hostel. They were sold out by later in the afternoon. I think I should have gotten commission.
11 girls got jobs yesterday, so the hostel is quiet this morning, and estrogen drained.
2/6- I was offered a potato job later in the week, but it was only offered on 2 month contract, and I do not have 2 months, so I could not accept it. I am still waiting for grapes...
2/8- What started off as a nice meal of Camembert, baguette, grapes, sundried tomatoes, olives, and some of my discount wine turned into another crazy party night. Not much else to do here in Tanunda...
2/9- Emma texted and called me early while I was still in bed. She was coming through Tanunda after having her dogs's hair trimmed and wanted to see if I wanted to catch up. I pulled myself together, showered, and asked if we could meet for lunch. She picked me up and we had sandwiches at a nice cafe outside with her dogs, then we spent some time hanging out in front of my hostel in the shade catching up. It was nice to see her!
2/11- I was sitting, minding my own business, making everyone at the dinner table jealous with my homemade nachos I made for dinner, when I hear Hayley calling my name from reception. "Did you know you're on the board?!" she said. "what?!?" I jumped up, leaving my plate and racing to reception to find my name written on the list for work tomorrow. Grape picking! I was so excited!
No comments:
Post a Comment