my new job

I did some more ironing today, and am getting a little faster. As I was hanging up clothes, Jane asked me if I wanted to stay to paint some rooms in the house and to do a fast if I want even though they have another WWOOFer coming.

I’m really enjoying it here, and even though the plan was to keep moving and see lots of exciting places, I want to stay for a little longer because I think there’s a lot I could learn from the Pujjis. I’m also fascinated with the fasting concept, especially after watching the changes in the people who are currently fasting, even though it’s only been five days. So, I’m staying for a little while, and will start fasting when the next fasting guest (a British doctor working in Dunedin) arrives next Thursday.

I did a strength/toning exercise class with the crew this morning – I think I’m gonna be pretty sore, I have no idea how the fasters did it but they all say they’re not hungry at all and still have energy.

Another guest arrived today for a three-day relaxing vacation, and we all watched the movie Snow Walker tonight after a sauna. It’s a sad but beautiful movie, really well done.

Photo: Mini daisies outside my caravan

fun facts about nelson

Not a whole lot of exciting things going on today – Arvind cooked a delicious dinner again, I did some cleaning and ironing, and we watched Happy Endings on the big screen.

So, since there’s not a lot to share from my day, I offer you fun facts about Nelson:

1. It’s the biggest fishing port in all of Australasia (I find this somewhat hard to believe, but everyone swears it’s true, and fish is both cheap and delicious-fresh here, which doesn’t contradict it).

2. Courtney Love went to high school here after her parents bought a lifestyle block (hobby farm) and moved here from the States

Ok, so that’s it for the fun facts, but Nelson is pretty awesome – I can’t even describe why, you’ll just have to visit!

home sweet home

This is where I live.

It’s a caravan (aka travel trailer) in the Pujjis garden. I have a little orange tree outside my window, possibly a transplant from the compost pile, but it’s cute anyway.

My caravan’s pretty nice inside – a ‘king single’ bed, plus another possible bunk if you transform the eating area. There’s a little kitchen space, but no need for it. I have an electric heater, and the caravan’s hooked up to the house power so I can charge my computer, etc.

Someone, probably a WWOOFer who ran out of useful things to do, decided to build a house-shell around it, as you can see in the picture.

total eclipse of the moon

Today was filled with what’s become the usual – hanging out laundry, ironing, dishes, juicing, general cleaning, all interspersed with a healthy dose of relaxation. New favorite activity: reading, or simply doing nothing, in the sunny, cushioned window seat of the breakfast nook.

I was originally planning to leave tomorrow for another WWOOFing site with a friend from the Lemon Tree, but the arrangements fell through and I’m really enjoying myself here – and know there’s a lot I can still learn from the Pujjis. Oh, and they say they enjoy having me around! So, the new plan is to stay until the new WWOOFer arrives on Sept. 2.

We all went out to watch the lunar eclipse tonight, but Donna was the only one who stayed up with me for the whole thing – in one direction, that is. Neither of us actually made it long enough to see the moon start to get ‘uncovered’ but I figure I can just turn my pictures over, or Photoshop a fuzzy blob moving the other direction on a full moon shot ;)

Happy Birthday Charles! Thanks (I think) for inspiring the Nikon addiction – seems pretty appropriate that today was my first venture into astronomical photography!

maitai valley

Jane and Donna decided to join Dean for fasting, so I’m learning how to make juice really fast now with all the practice, and don’t have as much to do in the kitchen for meal preparation.

I’m really enjoying it here – the valley is unbelievably beautiful, and the weather’s a bit nicer than Blenheim. We’re actually farther north than Wellington and some other parts of the North Island since the South Island curves up and around a bit.

I took this picture at sunset looking over across the river from over by my caravan.

more cowbell

After the usual household work and a spa in the afternoon, a new guest, Dean* arrived to do a week-long fast. Arvind;’s on a roll w/cooking now, so we had another delicious curry.

During dinner, we got onto the topic of music and one guest said she wasn’t musical, which got us into a whole debate about whether everyone is musical or only some people are. I was on the ‘only some people are’ (and I’m not one of them) side, in case you’re wondering.

By the time I finished the dishes and went back out to the living room, a makeshift band had somehow been assembled – Jane had her flute and a recorder, the new guest had a base sitar, Arvind was hidden behind a kettle drum, Jane’s friend Donna had non-Tibetan bowls (similar, but apparently a better sound), another guest had a conch shell and I had...a cowbell.

I can’t do the next hour or so justice in writing – it really was a ‘had to be there’ thing. A cacophony of sound from everyone trying their instruments at once, a singing session from Arvind & Jane’s wedding song sheets, Arvind singing ‘What A Wonderful World’ gravelly voice about 2 octaves deeper than normal – with a slight Panjabi accent, me startling the room with my conch shell trumpeting skills (hey, 7 years of French Horn is good for something!!) after it had been passed around half the circle without much luck.

*Dean knows about the blog and gave permission to use his name…I will respect the privacy of the other guests and just do short descriptions where appropriate.

nelson market

I caught a ride in to the Nelson market today with Arvind and the three guests. I guess I’m not 100% over being sick, because I was pretty out of it today. Of course, going from the tranquility of the Pujjis retreat to the sensory overload of an outdoor flea market – on the first nice Saturday of spring no less – could have contributed.

I’d seen a glowing write-up in Lonely Planet about a pie shop called My Pie!, so when I found their stall at the market I bought a venison & red wine pie. Aside from being a bit cold, it was pretty tasty.
Two of the guests were leaving from Nelson, but the third wanted some time to look around, so I had two hours to kill before I got back. I wandered aimlessly for most of it, then spent some time at an internet café.
Dinner was another one of Arvind’s delicious Indian dinners, and I crashed early.

the pujjis

Just a quick update, real blog posts to follow at next good internet opportunity..I'm staying at the Pujjis Wellness Retreat (www.pujjis.com) as a WWOOFer for a week or so, working a few hours in exchance for my own caravan in the garden, and delicious fresh organic meals. No cell service or internet (made a quick trip into town today to go to market, which is why I'm online), but a beautiful setting and I've about 95% shaken my cold.

plate-licking

Arvind cooked a lamb curry for dinner – yum! The Pujjis have these great heavy dark green stoneware dishes that they had made for them by a potter in town. The dishes have a swirl indentation in the center, and a gold ring near the edge.

The curry sauce was great, and everyone was busy noisily scraping as much as we could off the plates with our spoons when one of the guests said the food was so good she almost wanted to lick the plates. At that, Jane’s eyes lit up. “These are the BEST licking plates! The texture, the swirl in the center – they’re great!” Everyone laughed and went back to scraping. “I’m serious. Let’s lick our plates” Jane enthused. I have no problem eating with my hands, eating straight from the fridge, etc. – in my own house. I’m still trying to figure this place out, so I wasn’t sure what the right reaction was – just smile politely and keep scraping? Laugh? Or….lick the plate?!? Seriously??

Yes, eventually all six of us ‘adults’ licked our plates clean. I’ve never been in a situation where I felt like NOT licking my plate would be kind of rude until now. I…think I like it here.

rejuvenating

I’m feeling a bit better today – I could actually taste the food today, and it’s delicious here!

Jane and I weeded the driveway, re-potted plants, and I did some laundry, dishes, food preparation/clean-up, and crashed early as has become my habit lately.

I took some pictures around the property this afternoon, and two new guests arrived from England today for a couple of nights.

pujjis

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the miracle overnight cure I was hoping for – not really a surprise, since I was up most of the night coughing and attempting to breathe.

I’d already stalled for a day on WWOOFing to see if I could get better – Jane had offered to pick me up the next day after receiving my email – so I didn’t want to call yesterday and put it off for another, but this morning I thought it would have been a good idea if I had. I ran to the chemist to get Dayquil & Nyquil, hoping they’d help – there goes another half-day’s salary on medicine!

When Jane arrived at the hostel, I told her it was her choice whether I came or not – since it’s a health retreat, I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t drive business away! Turns out I didn’t pack my bag for nothing, though, and we were off to my new home by way of the supermarket on the way out of town.

I had somehow managed to screw up the medicine timing, and must have taken Robitussin too close to Dayquil, because I had trouble answering Jane’s questions, following her around the grocery store, and focusing on the road ahead of us. I was completely out of it.

Jane and her husband Arvind have a beautiful retreat in the mountains – you’d never know it’s only a few km from Nelson.

Today’s accomplishments, despite being in a fog from the medicine, included quite a bit of ironing, turning over two guest rooms, hanging up laundry, and helping out in the kitchen. Ironing was quite an achievement – my mother had a traumatic ironing incident in her childhood (so she claims), so I never learned to iron growing up, and then never really got motivated to do so after leaving home. I had to admit this to Jane halfway through on a particularly perplexing garment (a kimono), and she kindly gave me a crash-course without showing too much surprise, although she did ask me later what I did about wrinkly clothes (answer: hang them in the bathroom when taking a hot shower, and if that doesn’t work, dry cleaners). They (or, at the moment, I) even iron sheets here!

For dinner, I helped do prep work for Arvind’s famous pizza – he used to own a couple of pizza places in town, which locals apparently still talk about! We had an Indian twist –various pickles and chutneys as toppings - on the dish tonight for the family (4 generations!) who was joining us for dinner.

sickness

Today was (is, for a few more hours) one of those ‘i-want-to-cut-my-head-off-from-the-sinus-pain’ days that I get every now and then. Best part about it this time around is that I’ve got a nasty cough, too – so no chance of getting enough rest to get over it quickly, and the Robitussin which cost me 3 hours of vineyard wages yesterday only provides temporary relief.

Despite that, I managed to accomplish a few things today – another grocery store run to buy juice, tons of citrus, honey (for hot honey & lemon, which I’m hoping will be a miracle cure), Warehouse Stationary to get a copy of my work visa to prove to Verizon I’m not just another iPhone convert trying to get out of my contract early for that reason, and the post office to mail Sabrina’s birthday package.

Sarah and I also went up to the cathedral at noon – we were going to go to the mid-week Holy Communion service because she had a day off from work and had never been to a church service and wanted to go, but we were the only people who showed up so we just decided to pretend we were only there to see the cathedral, and left after a quick self-guided tour – probably good in the long run because I would have been sniffling & hacking the whole time.

blah

I'm sick – flu from everyone else back at the Lemon Tree, or the same thing I had a few weeks back and never really managed to shake, or both. I slept all day – woke up at 3 pm. Hopefully I'll get better soon, because I'm supposed to start my first WWOOFing 'assignment' in
two days...

oh, let's take the rolls

Today was Sarah's first day of work at the Rutherford Hotel, so I was left to explore Nelson on my own.

I decided, against the advice of the hostel receptionist, to walk to the World of Wearable Art & Collectable Cars Museum. It didn't look all that far on the map… oh, but it was.

Definitely worth it though – it's a strange pairing concept, but one that worked surprisingly well.

The costumes were really cool – a flapper dress made from Q-Tips, a suit of armor from spent bullet casings, a black-light section, a suit made out of neckties, his-n-hers outfits from used bike tires.

I picked a good day to go – the Nelson Classic Car club was there offering rides, included in the museum admission price, in any of 4 classic cars. I went for a spin in a red Rolls Royce Silver Sprite.

nelson

I got a late start on packing my bag to leave this morning because I met a guy at the hostel who'd just graduated from Fuqua (Duke B-School) and got into a business school conversation with him.

Paul gave me a ride to the bus station, and I took the InterCity bus to Nelson. Sarah from the Lemon Tree is in Nelson (Trish was too, and we all had plans to meet up, but Trish and her boyfriend decided to head to Queenstown a few days ago), and she met me at the bus stop to
show me to the hostel.

I'm planning to spend a few days in Nelson to get my WWOOFing set up, and see the city in case I decide to come back here later.

abel tasman

Well, my plans for a nice quiet day at the Lemon Tree – updating the
blog, repacking my bag to head to Nelson, and sorting through pictures
– got upended when work was cancelled for everyone else due to rain.

Andy decided to head to the Abel Tasman region to show his face at
some of the kayaking places he'd already submitted his CV to. Adrian
was going along for the ride, and they invited me as well.

We drove through Nelson to get to the Abel Tasman region, so I was
able to pick up my WWOOFing book. That's Willing Workers On Organic
Farms (www.wwoof.co.nz), my next plan.

Unfortunately, we didn't see the beautiful water that's in all the
brochures – when it rains, the water turns brown instead of
crystal-clear blue and green. I'm sure I'll be back here in the
spring/summer, though, and will get to see it then.

kaikoura

After our ambitious hill-climbing expedition, Adrian and I (we'd somehow managed to lose Paul again) set off for Kaikoura, driving south along the eastern coast of the South Island.

Kaikoura's known for great opportunities to swim with seals and dolphins, but it's not really the season for that. We did see a bunch of fur seals on the volcanic rock-covered coast while driving and when we did the cliff walk, but they weren't as cute as the Antarctic fur seals I saw in January.

I'm definitely planning on heading back in warmer weather – the place was gorgeous even now, and I'm sure it only gets better.

wither hills

I've missed seeing the sunrise the past few days, so I decided to head up to the Wither Hills again to see it today. Yes, it was my first day after quitting work, and yes, I should have slept in. It was worth it though.

Adrian was thinking about taking a day off too, but wasn't sure if he'd get up early, so I was planning on just walking to the park myself. When I was getting breakfast, Paul was up even though he's on vacation, and he offered to drive me so he could get some pictures of it too. Adrian did end up waking up, so the three of us went up to the hills, but we were a little slow, and the sun was already starting to rise. Adrian and I ran up to the top of the hills – with me
struggling to keep up with the mountaineer – and got some great shots of the sunrise.

We couldn't find Paul when we got back down, and spent about 40 minutes looking for him before heading back to the car – where, of course, Paul had left a note letting us know he'd headed back to the hostel. Worst part is we'd even said that Paul would probably leave a
note if he left, but we didn't check the car before looking for him.

sonic

As I was bringing in my laundry from the line tonight, I saw something scurry across the sidewalk. It was dark out, and I'm not familiar with the local wildlife, so I asked the Kiwis what it could have been. Paul came out with me and we looked for the creature with a
flashlight, and found a hedgehog under a bush near the sidewalk.

We brought the little guy inside to show him around, but then put him back where we found him when he wouldn't uncurl after a few minutes – figured he'd be happier there.

Photo: Bobby (eastern Germany) and the hedgehog.

it's a wrap!

My viticulture career is over! Well, the wrapping part at least – I think I'll probably come back for the harvest so I can see just how much damage I did…

We don't get paid for partial rows, so today's goal was just to finish up the one from yesterday. I finished around 2:30, and spent the rest of the day taking pictures around the vineyard.. Since the rows have gotten a lot longer, we've started staying 'til 5 pm some days, but it's usually optional. Just my luck – today, all the vans were leaving at 5 pm. I'd stayed late yesterday to get some more work done on the row to make sure I'd finish it, so I wasn't too amused.

I saw Mike, one of the guys from the hostel who'd driven to work, getting into his car around 4, and ran over to see if I could get a ride. – only thing was, I was so excited to get back that I forgot to say goodbye to Tony, Marcus, and the Steves…hopefully they won't take it out on my paycheck!

message from Elise

just got off the phone with Elise... she is enjoying Blenheim, and will try to post something this weekend when she gets back to decent internet access.

-- Charles (Elise's brother)

time to go

I think I'm about done with the vineyards. We don't see the sun rise anymore because it's already up by the time we get to the vineyards, and I haven't been getting faster at wrapping lately.

I don't mind the job itself, actually – it's nice being outside, and the vineyard is beautiful. I've adjusted to getting up in the morning, and I like being tired when I get done with work. Unfortunately, though, I've started to think about the job in terms of money, and that takes away from it. Since I'm not getting much faster, I'm not making a whole lot per hour, and I keep thinking about that as I'm wrapping. I think it's time to move on – no need to keep
a job I don't enjoy anymore, and I can learn sometime new somewhere else!

day off

I've been getting frustrated with wrapping lately, and since I don't have any reason to feel obligated to do the job, I decided it was time for a day off. I've worked 9 days straight, and I've missed having Trish and Sarah around for entertainment the past 2-3 days. At the Lemon Tree, we're probably split 50/50 for who works weekends and who doesn't…I worked last weekend, and thought I'd work this weekend, but half a weekend will do.

I picked a perfect day to take off – those who went to the vineyard only ended up working for 1.5 hours or so because of the rain. Sundays are usually shorter days anyway (length depends on the severity of the bosses' hangovers…), but today was unusually short and definitely not worth waking up at 5:30 for!

Guess I've become something of a workaholic, because I woke up before 6 anyway and couldn't figure out what to do with myself. I lay in bed for a few hours, made a leisurely breakfast, and headed to the office to see if Karen had any suggestions for things to do. I settled on walking the Wither Hills behind the hostel, and convinced Adrian to join me for some company…and a ride to the park, saving myself a 40-minute non-scenic walk.

one-month retrospective

It's been a month since I left Virginia.

I've eaten more cheese toasties, hard boiled eggs, and pasta with red sauce than I've had in the past two years back at home. My currency has become grape vines and hostel nights (topping up my mobile takes 40 vines, going to a movie I don't really need to see would cost nearly one hostel night). I walk about 5x farther each day than I used it.

I can make beds (with hospital corners!) faster than I ever imagined I could. I know what canes and laterals are, and why some vines are wrapped or pruned differently than others. I can husk a coconut, and open it without losing the milk.

I've lived and worked with people from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium,, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Samoa, Sweden, S. Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Uruguay, Vanuatu and Wales.

I can drive on the left side of the road. I find myself using the words petrol, mobile, tea (dinner), eftpos, uni, keen, capsicum, ages and heaps without even realizing it.

I've seen beautiful landscapes, tried new foods, met a ton of interesting people and made lasting friendships, and haven't had even one moment when I've regretted picking up and leaving home. Can't wait to see what the next 11 months will bring!

Photo: a tidepool in Nelson.

cast of characters

We're a funny little group here at the Lemon Tree Backpackers. Some of us are here on working holidays – Trish from the UK, Sarah from OZ, and I have become really close. Trish and Sarah are leaving soon, and Karen (our host) came up to me today to ask if I'd be okay when they left! Ben's also here on a working holiday from the UK, but keeps to himself most of the time.

Adrian, Andy and Pete worked together in Taranaki on the North Island. Prior to that job, Adrian left an oil-rig job for reasons of conscience, Andy's a kayaking instructor biding his time 'til the season starts, and Pete – well, Pete disappeared to Wellington a few days ago, and didn't say more than a few words while he was here, so I don't really know about him.

We've got a bunch of young North Islanders lured by the promise of easy money, but some of the contractors are sharks, and things didn't work out the way they thought – Karen's set them up with more reputable ones.

Rita's a telemarketer from OZ who wanted to work outdoors for a while. Paul had his own civil engineering company and a family back home, but circumstances have changed. Trevor's a mulleted former Hell's Angel who can't stop thinking about (or showing us cute pictures of!) his four young daughters back home.. Mike's thinking about going back to finish up a viticulture program he started quite a few years back.

I wasn't sure at first how we'd all get along – thought maybe we'd just form our own groups for the most part, but we all get along quite well. Dinner's probably the best time – we've got some real chefs, and everyone's eager to share tastes of their latest creations.

the simple life

I'm rather enjoying my new vineyard-centered life – it's certainly
nothing glamorous, but it's got a wholesome goodness to it. I wake up
at 5:30 and lie in bed for fifteen minutes or so before getting up my
nerve to get out from under my warm duvet. I put on 2-3 layers of
clothing – long johns, windbliocking pants, a l/s tee, fleece,
windbreaker, headband or hat, hiking socks and liners and trainers
(sneakers). I make some herbal tea, and cook up some eggs or a cheese
toastie to eat with yogurt and fresh juice. After breakfast, I put
together my lunch and snacks, and clean the dishes.

When I'm all packed up and ready to go, I head out to the street with
the rest of the Lemon Tree/Nicholson Contracting gang – Sarah, Trish,
Adrian, Peter, Ben, Mike, Jodi. We're picked up by one of the big
white vans around 6:40, and then we head to Seddon, about 24km away.
We see the sun rise over the Wairau and Awatere valleys, pinks and
oranges lighting up the whole sky over rolling green hills dotted with
sheep, cows and horses, or lined with wavy rows of vines.

At the vineyard, I trim and wrap vines for about 5 hours before lunch,
stopping many times along the way to take in the snow-capped mountains
or marvel at the way the changing light transforms the landscape over
the course of the day. The sun gradually warms the cold air, and
everything smells so fresh. Colorful little birds with big white eye
patches land on the wires if I stand still long enough, and sometimes
I'm treated to an unbelievable stunt-plane show from the nearby Omaka
aviation heritage center.

After eating lunch among the vines, it's time for another 3-5 hours of
trimming and wrapping, depending on weather & how ambitious the bosses
are feeling today. On the ride back home, most everyone's too tired
to talk much, and I admire the view again..

Back at the hostel, a steaming hot shower is my first priority. My
body and mind are both tired – wrapping takes a surprising amount of
concentration, plus it's solitary work so I have to keep myself
entertained. After showering, I make dinner, and we all swap simple
recipe ideas and share samples of what we've cooked.. I have the
appetite of a teenage boy, and eat to satisfy it, but my clothes are
getting looser (I attribute this partly to my refusal to pay to tumble
dry them, though!!)

We all sit around and talk or play games – cards or chess – for a
little while, listening to the local radio station or someone's CD
collection, and I head to bed around 8 or 9, falling asleep pretty
much as soon as my head hits the pillow.

raise your glass

Support your friendly Blenheim vineyard workers! Or, you know, the
big guys who are the ones actually making money off our blood, sweat &
tears. Ok, just blood blisters and a little sweat, if it warms up
enough at midday or so. Am I making this sound appealing yet?

Next time you're out, pick up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from the
Marlborough region of New Zealand. Try to find the Villa Maria label
if you can – that's the label my vineyard's under. Or Taylors Pass, I
think they makes some wine under that name but I'm not sure where it's
exported to. Villa Maria may be hard to find in the States, but I
know Oyster Bay is there – try that if you can't find mine, about half
the people at the hostel work for Oyster Bay.

Of course, if you really want the good stuff, you'll have to wait 'til
the 2008 vintage is available! If I haven't accidentally killed off
all my vines with my sub-par wrapping skills, that is.

Photo: The 'secret' block of vines at Taylors Pass vineyard

talkin' shop

We live and breathe grapes. During dinner preparation, or when we're
sitting around chatting after dinner (everyone's to hungry to talk
while eating!), we talk vines. "I had a crappy row today. Musta been
a new pruner – ended up with a coupla bays o' mostly
two-/three-caners, even some one-caners." We debate the merits of
spur- vs. cane-pruning, discuss the current worker shortage and
compare going contract rates. We'll compare notes on the thickness of
trunks or canes, talk about time-saving pruning and wrapping
techniques, wonder if soil chemistry or wine label demand determined
the split between 3- and 4-cane vine sections of the same varietal.

We talk about seeing rows of vines in our sleep, dreaming of pruning,
vine stripping and wrapping. A Swedish girl from another hostel told
me one of her roommates trims invisible canes in her sleep. At the
Royal the other day, I saw Paul looking at a decorative plant that I'd
been staring at earlier. "Are you thinking what I was thinking?" I
asked. "Needs to be pruned, doesn't it?" Paul smiled, "Yeah. None
of us will ever look at a glass of wine the same."

Photo: Pruned vines (left) and pruned and wrapped vines (right)

occupational hazards

Lots of things can go wrong when you're wrapping…and even when things
are going correctly, it can be painful.

When you're trimming canes, it's important to keep your fingers out of
the path of the secateurs. Sounds intuitive, but it's easier said
than done. Once you've wrapped a vine, hold onto it tightly so it
doesn't spring back and hit you in the face (I wear glasses to work
every day now!). Oh, and even if you're careful about that, it might
break at the end and hit you in the face anyway as it uncurls.

I have blisters, blood blisters, cuts, scrapes, splinters, and I'm
building up a rather comical Popeye-eque muscle between by thumb and
forefinger on my right hand from squeezing the secateurs open and
closed about 20,000x/day (I was bored one day and decided to figure it
out…). Despite frequent spf 40 sunblock applications, the half of my
face that faces the sun has a ski-bunny tan, white where it's covered
by my fleece headband and glasses, and dark everywhere else.

how things work

Here's what I do.

I sign up for a row in the Black Book – about 220 – 260 plants per
row, depending on where it is in the block (section of rows). Rows
are split into bays, the areas between posts. There's 'highly
galvanized high tensile standard fencing wire' strung between the
posts, probably 5 rows of it but I'm only concerned with the lowest
two.

I stand facing the row with a vine in front of me. I'm working with
four-cane Sauvignon Blanc vines, about seven years old. I choose a
sturdy-looking cane and, using my secateurs, snip all the tendrils and
laterals (smaller canes off the main one) off the cane, and cut off
any part that's sticking above the top wire. If you're envisioning
nice green flexible vines with cute little soft tendrils like I was,
you're dead wrong. These things are brown, stiff, snap easily, and
about as thick as one of my fingers.

Once the cane is all trimmed up, I wrap it several times around the
wire – hard, because of the thickness, - and secure it with 3-4 wraps
of the twist tie. I also have to make sure all canes are between the
bottom two wires, so the grapes don't get knocked off by the tractor.
I cut off any excess, careful to leave only one bud past the tie,
butting it up against the adjacent cane. I repeat this three more
times – or four or five, if any of the canes snap. The pruners try to
leave two or three 'safety canes' to compensate for breakage. I cut
off any remaining safety canes, and then I've earned my 48 cents
(minus taxes!) for that plant.

The best wrapper can do about 18 bays/hour and makes $250+ in a day,
I'm more in the 7-8 range at top speed (started at 5/hour on my first
day) – about average or maybe a bit low for the "non-career" wrappers.
At least I'm making above minimum wage!

tools of the trade

I have a long list of things to remember to pack for the vineyard each
day – lunch including utensils, snack, sunblock, chapstick, tools,
iPod, tissues, hat, phone, water bottles. Inevitably, I forget at
least one. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint,
I've never forgotten the essential tools.

There's my runway-ready, high-fashion tool belt/pouch. In it, I've
got secateurs – those are the red-handled snipping tools, and it took
me several days to figure out how to spell that, but I finally found
it in the newspaper after nobody I asked could tell me. Then there
are my No Slip Assembly Grip gloves. They're pretty smelly, but they
they've helped keep my hands relatively blister-free since I finally
convinced the bosses to give 'em to me today. I thread one of my
water bottles through the waist belt so I don't have to run down the
row for a drink. Finally, I've got a bag or two of 1,000
'horticultural ties,' which are the exact same paper-covered
twist-ties you get with garbage bags back in the states, but I bet
they cost more because they're labeled for a specific purpose.

this is my office

I actually woke up on time (5:30 am), got ready, and got out to the
vineyard on time today – about 4 hours earlier than my usual wake-up
time!

I'm working for Nicholson Contracting as a wrapper. The company is
owned by a Maori family – Tony, Steve, Marcus and their dad, Steve Sr.

We're working at Taylors Pass vineyard in Seddon. The vineyard's
owned by a company called Terra Vitae which seems to own a lot of the
vineyards around here. It's in a beautiful area, with rolling hills
and a few mountains in the background. It's easy to get distracted
from work by the surroundings…and most of the women here agree that
Tony's a nice part of the landscape too ;)

Marcus was tasked with training me, and I got paid for 2 hours of
training plus any plants I finished in that time. "What kind of vines
are these?" I asked Marcus this morning. He's not much of a talker.
"Sauv blanc. Shit grapes." Oh, right then – glad I'm putting some
effort into this!

Marcus did get a little more animated later on, when he asked me what
I did for work back in the States. I don't usually go into the gory
details unless I know the other person would relate, so I just said I
worked in an office. "Oh – that's terrible!" Well…at least it's
warm, and there are chairs I thought. "This – " Marcus gestured to
vineyard, the peaks in the distance. "This is my office."

the lemon tree

My home for the next two weeks or so will be the Lemon Tree, a
backpackers I found in an IEP work email advertisement. "Stay for two
or more weeks at the Lemon Tree in sunny Blenheim on the South Island,
and we'll find you work with one of our trusted contractors!"

Didn't sound half bad, and I'm all for new experiences this year, so
I'd called the hosts a few days ago and arranged my stay. Karen
picked me up from the bus station in Blenheim after the short ride
from Picton. "I'll be in the blue convertible" Karen had said. As
soon as I hung up the phone I realized I hadn't seen any convertibles
in the country yet, and wondered if the Kiwi definition of convertible
was something else – a half truck, half car or something, but it turns
out it's the same as back in the States.

The Lemon Tree is a bare-bones hostel, and I'm in my first 12-person
dorm (yes, it's full!). There's also quite a range of people here –
18 to 65 or so years, some 'career' vineyard workers and some who only
have a day or two experience on me.

As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, each hostel seems to have its own
little draw, and the Lemon Tree does in fact have free lemons on 3
trees, and grapefruits on one – looks like it's a bit past grapefruit
season though.

interislander

I left Worldwide Backpacker's in Wellington somewhat reluctantly this
morning – exhausted from taking advantage of the free wireless
internet for the better part of the night, and feeling a little
trepidation about setting off completely on my own (Sabrina's staying
in Wellington to do a month of accounting work).

The receptionist at the hostel had given me walking directions to the
Interislander ferry shuttle stop…but she hadn't warned me how far it
was. Ok, it wasn't far by my normal standards either -maybe a few km,
but when you've got 37+23 lbs of backpack, plus hills and traffic,
it's not a fun walk. I got there in time to read half a book (I left
1.5 hrs early in case I got lost!), and made it onto the ferry without
incident.

I stayed out on deck for the first half hour or so of the 3-hr trip,
and once I headed down to the lounge I promptly fell asleep – so much
for the scenery. When I woke up, everybody was heading down the
stairs and out the door, so I figured I should follow. Turns out they
were the people with cars, so I ended up stuck in the garage deck
until I could fight my way back up against the flow of traffic. Great
beginning to my solo travel adventures!

paekakariki to welly

We left our cute little seaside hostel this morning to drive back to Wellington. Lucy’s taking the ferry today to Picton today and I was going to go with her, but decided to take a day in Wellington to get everything organized before heading off to Blenheim by way of Picton tomorrow.

I think we should have taken Lucy hostage – we need someone to help us drive on the left side of the road! We got lost for about an hour today after dropping her off at the ferry terminal. Well, we didn’t exactly get lost – just couldn’t get to where we were going, because New Zealanders don’t believe in street signs, but they do believe in one-way streets.

Sabrina made her 2 pm interview with the temp agency with about 30 seconds to spare, and I took the car to try to check into the hostel. I managed to parallel park perfectly on a steep hill, and then couldn’t find the parking coupon machine – and had been told that the parking enforcement was ruthless. Then some nice who I asked for parking-machine directions told me I could park at their house, so I did, and dragged 4 bags up about ½ of another longer/steeper hill…and I was only about ¼ of the way to the hostel. Sabrina called as I was taking a break, so I turned around, got the car, picked her up, and had her stay with the car right outside the hostel while I checked in.

Time to turn the car back in – I’ll only half miss it. I’m back at the hostel now, going through pictures in the TV lounge, and will be booking my ferry, hostel and bus trip later on tonight.

Photo: view from our hostel in Peikakareipi, we could see to the South Island from there!

welly to paekakariki

After an hour or so in Wellington for Lucy to book her flight home next week, and for Sabrina to find her interview location, we headed back north to find a hostel on the coast.

Now that we’re card-carrying members of the BBH hostel discount network, we’re using the listing book as our guide. The book led us to a little hostel in Paekakarepi, about 20 miles north of Wellington. We’re the only guests here, which is too bad since we can’t get tips from other backpackers, but also kind of nice since we can just take over. We have a fire going in the wood stove, and the hostel proprietors, a nice older couple, brought us tea when we arrived. We also have access to an herb garden which could come in handy for dinner if anything’s still alive in this weather!

otaki lunch

We had a picnic lunch on the beach at Otaki today on our way to Wellington – lunch was one curry sandwich and one cheese, avocado and parsley sandwich each, we’re finding ways to use the parsley in everything.

From the beach at Otaki, you could see Kapiti Island (photo). The beach was pretty, but it’s hard to fully appreciate sand and surf when you’re bundled up in a ski coat!

zipwire

On our way out of Wellington, we stopped by the beach and found a zipwire in a public park across the road. Gotta love NZ’s apparent lack of lawyers (er, barristers). We all took a turn or two on it, lots of fun. The beach didn’t really compare – maybe just because it was so cold.

Sabrina has declared she’s ready for bungy jumping now that she’s done the zipwire…

tongariro national park

We drove all the way up to the top of a mountain last night to see the volcano at Tongariro National Park last night, but it was too dark to see anything, let alone take a landscape picture.

So, we went for the next-best thing: our hostel had a large poster of the park in the dining room and we put our winter clothes on to take a picture with it as the backdrop. Convincing, no?

See how I’m just casually covering up the writing on the poster with my arm? Sneaky.