Clare (continued)

Day 280

“Good morning, Good morning” cry the Beatles which must mean it is time to get up again.

Drag ourselves out of bed, go through the usual routine of packing Polly up and arrive back at the Crabtree vineyard in time for a 7am start picking the last of the Riesling grapes which takes us until lunchtime to finish and then in the afternoon we move onto the much easier Shiraz grapes.

Think we must be getting used to this picking lark now as we arrive home after a days work and are not actually feeling too bad, still aching a bit and a few new hand injuries from the vines but generally OK.

At the back of the campsite is a hidden little gem in the form of a Fauna park, containing (as far as we can tell) 2 Emu’s, 2 Kangaroos and 4 Deer and I am in the habit of popping over there to give them a bit of food of an evening.

Block head

Lippy

‘Block head’ and ‘Lippy’ (the Kangaroos) are happy to see me as ever and come bouncing over as soon as I appear, wolfing down the food straight away and after a brief conversation they disappear off back into the scrub and I return to the van for an early night.

Day 281

Another full day at Crabtree vineyard picking Shiraz in the morning and Cab Sav in the afternoon and for once the day seems to pass quickly and before we know it we are stuck in a traffic jam on our way home (How we both miss the daily grind).

Day 282

Wake up this morning to the gentle pitter patter of raindrops on Polly’s roof but thinking we will still be picking go through the usual routine and drive off to Watervale and the Crabtree vineyard. By the time we get there however the rain is really coming down and surprisingly enough picking is cancelled today and so we drive back to the campsite and arrive fully awake and have after having been out for a drive and it’s still only 10 past 7!

The rain comes down all day and we spend the whole day in the van, watching films, reading and relaxing. It does eventually ease up in the evening and without a call from the boss saying there is no work tomorrow we retire early to bed with the alarm set.

Day 283

Turns out the alarm wasn’t set last night (my bad) and so as soon as we open our eyes and it is light we know we are late! Jump out of bed and rush through our morning routine before speeding (metaphorically) off to work. Arrive at the vineyard but can’t see the other cars so do a quick lap of the paddocks in search of a tractor. As it turns out there isn’t any work today because although it’s not raining the grapes are still too wet to be picked.

Back at the campsite and it’s still early but is shaping up to be a nice day so what better way to spend a day off than heading out on the bikes, back along the Riesling trail and tasting some wine!!

Hit the trail and pass the old station stops of

 (it was quite a way!)

Along the route of the railway line in our quest to find a winery we hadn’t yet been to yet but finally come up to O’leary walker wines where our standouts were a lovely ‘museum release’ Riesling and a Shiraz (both purchased),

Stephen johns (traditional basket pressed grapes, open fermented Shiraz, beautiful),

Annies lane (we already drink the Shiraz),

Finally stopping at Crabtree, where we have been working for the past two weeks (we didn’t mention this to the snooty woman who was serving us) where we had a lovely Riesling from last year’s vintage and will definitely be ordering some from this year’s when it is out.

Get a text form Michael to say we are working tomorrow and so head back for an early night.

Day 284

Back to it this morning except it is cold and we put jumpers and hats on to start the day picking Shiraz grapes at Crabtree again. The sun eventually comes out and the jumpers are replaced by sunglasses for the afternoon picking Shiraz at a different vineyard for O’Leary walker wines (look out for the O’Leary Walker 2012 Shiraz).

Day 285

Saturday and we have opted to work again but start this morning at the much more convivial time of 8 O’clock at the bosses dad’s vineyard picking Shiraz. This only takes a couple of hours as we are only doing the bits the machine picker can’t get to and so we move back to the O’Leary vineyard and work till lunchtime when we all decide that enough is enough and knock off for the weekend.

Spend the rest of the day doing all the things that you save up till the weekend.

Day 286

A day of rest and a rare lie in till 8.30.

Also my younger brothers birthday today so Happy birthday Mark.

A lazy day finishing chores and relaxing in preparation for an alarm set for 4.30 in the morning!