Clare

Day 272

Wake up to a certain sense of déjávu back in Clare again and plan a couple of days of rest and relaxation before starting work and so what better way to relax than to  a couple of the wineries we missed last time.

Just down the road from the campsite is ‘last word wines’, where we both thought the wines were good but not special and it all seemed a bit gimmicky with interesting (funny) quotes on each bottle and even the winemaker was telling us that “It’s not all about the wine”!

Next and just the other side of the campsite is Greg Cooley wines where we chatted away too the lovely woman and tried their great wines, as we are sampling our second or third red (having already worked our way through the whites) the phone rings and it’s Michael saying we are working tomorrow morning and to meet at 7!

Well with an early start on the cards we head straight back to the campsite and prepare, as best we can for a day of work.

Day 273

Up well before the crack of dawn today and I think there must be something wrong with the alarm as it is still pitch black. After checking two or three timepieces though we realise that it is in fact time to get up and go to work.

A short drive away is Mintaro wines and having navigated our way there we are given our snips and safety goggles and are given the shortest work training we have ever had, “Grab low and cut high”.  To be fair that is about all you need to know to pick grapes and so without further ado we are off picking Riesling grapes. Thankfully it is not too hot but as we are soon told Riesling grapes are the hardest to pick as rather than hang down in nice bunches they wrap themselves around the vines.

Another day at the office

There is quite a range of people picking with us as well, there’s a group of loud Australian youths, a couple of English backpackers and a whole group of local oldies that come back year after year, most of whom are well in their 70’s!

The work isn’t really hard but you are constantly stooping over to find the grapes and (even on a cool day) you are sweating buckets. Turns out to be a long one as well as we work 7.30–6 with 15 mins for morning tea (called smoko) and ½ hour for lunch so by the end of it we are both sore all over especially in the backs and legs. As a gesture of goodwill for finishing his whole paddock the winemaker comes out with a couple of cases of wine and we get to take a bottle away with us which is nice.

So if you see a Mintaro Riesling, 2012 vintage buy a bottle as it is likely we picked the grapes.

Day 274

An even earlier start this morning as we start work at 7 so we drag ourselves out of bed and drive to Crabtree wines where we start picking the dreaded Riesling again.

Early start

Still stiff and sore from yesterday it takes a while to get going but once you have warmed up it’s not too bad. We spend the morning picking Riesling and move onto Cab Sav in afternoon which mercifully are quite a bit easier to pick as they hang down in nice big bunches.

Just waiting to be picked

Thank the lord that after yesterday, today is a much shorter day and we finish up about 3.30 and head back home to shower and nurse our sore backs and cuts and scrapes from the vines.

Day 275

Another day at Crabtree picking Riesling all day and it is a much hotter day today, getting up into the mid 30’s by the afternoon.

Suncream is slapped on at every opportunity and litres of water and drunk to keep hydrated but by the end of the day you feel completely drained and it is all you can do to drive home and collapse.

Never has a cold beer tasted so good!

Day 276

A milestone day today as it is our 9 Month on the road anniversary.

As almost a treat (the boss must have known) we are off to a different vineyard today called Witts end to pick Shiraz grapes all day. It is a much smaller (select I like to think) team with just us two and the oldies and the grapes are (relatively) easy to pick as the vines have been really well looked after and grapes hang in nice big bunches.

To be honest this is much more like how we both imagined picking grapes would be working in a small team in a beautiful valley, relaxed and chatty atmosphere and even the owner is there driving the tractor and his wife is out doing a bit of picking with us.

It is still a red hot day but the relaxed atmosphere means it passes quickly and we actually both enjoy it!

Polly likes the vines

Turns out they sell all of their grapes to Mitchel wines and so if you happen to see a bottle of Mitchell’s 2012 Shiraz there is a good chance we picked the grapes.

Of course being 9 months its KM’s update (and you thought we had forgotten). See the next post for all details.

Day 277

Friday and back to Crabtree today and another day picking Riesling. As soon as the sun comes up you know it is going to very hot today and we are sweating buckets by about 9 o’clock. It is so hot in fact that one guy (the loudest of the hoons (or chavs for the English readers)) collapses in the heat and an ambulance has to be called to take him away suffering from sun stroke and dehydration!!

As it is so hot we get to knock off at lunch time (that’s still a 6 hour day!) and after volunteering to work Saturday (we must be mad) we head back to the campsite for a well-earned swim in the pool and one (or two) of those cold beer things again.

Day 278

Saturday and instead of the customary lie-in we are up at usual time and arrive at Tim Adams wines before 7 to meet up with the others mugs who have decided to work today.

As we sit in the van in the winery car park waiting a car speeds past and then screeches to a halt and pulls up along side us. It is Tim (of Tim Adams) and he asks us what we are doing in his car park so early (I’m sure he thought we had been sleeping there) Once we explain that we are in fact working for him today he is nice and chats away to us and then when the others arrive we head off into his vineyards.

The grapes here are all picked by machine and so our job today is to take off the protective bird nets from the vines in preparation for the picking machine. The work is easy and we have finished after only 2 hours and so have the rest of the weekend to ourselves (Hardly worth getting up so early for).

That’s our first week of work over with and between us we have earned about $1500! We are pretty much used to the early starts now and the actual picking seemed a bit easier towards the end of the week as well and apart from the intense heat (which is forecast to be much cooler next week) I think we may (dare I say it) being enjoying it. The season will go till at least the end of March but we are thinking another 2 weeks will do us fine.

Head into town to do our shopping and then park the van up at the campsite and head out on the bikes to try out a couple of the local pubs which turn out to be OK but a bit quiet, especially for a Saturday afternoon. It’s another scorcher today (glad we weren’t working all day) so we head back to the camp and don our swimmers and hit the pool to cool off and spend the rest of the afternoon doing just that.

Day 279

Finally a day off and so sleep in till what feels like lunch time but actually turns out to be only 8.30.

Not really knowing what to do with so much free time (we must be out of practice) we have a leisurely breakfast and then relax around the campsite with a swim, some TV and to catch up on all those jobs that we couldn’t do during the week.

After dinner and a well-earned day of doing not too much we make our lunch and hit the sack nice and early ahead of another weeks picking.