Goodbye Leigh and Alex

As Adam was at the Grand Prix still and the grape picking season was coming to an end Christophe and I decided to visit the employment office to see if there was any other work around. We searched on their website but it seems there is not much call for pickers in the South Australia State and so we would have to think about what else to do. We decided to drown our sorrows at Sevenhill pub so after picking up a dvd for the week (The Women) and getting a bite to eat we drove to the pub. It felt a bit wrong to be at a pub at 12pm but there was nothing else to do. We got chatting to man called Pete who apparently laid the foundations to Bryvon Homestay and he asked me if i had ever seen a didgeridoo. I told him i had seen one but not played one. So he dashed to his car and came back with a didgeridoo in his hand. He then proceeded to play. He passed it over to me and asked me to have a go, well there is obviously an art to it because no matter how hard i tried I couldn’t get any music from it.
The next day after work I picked Adam up from the bus stop and we had dinner with Yvonne and Brian as we all listened to Adam’s weekend away.
On Wednesday 1st April Boxie came over for dinner and brought 2 bottles of his homemade wines. He met Brian and Yvonne and we chatted till late in the evening about everything and nothing. Boxie offered us some WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) work. So we decided as the time spent at his could be put towards our 2nd yea visas we would go and stay with him for a little while as from the 15th April.
Christophe had invited us round to have dinner at Keeda’s on Thursday. Keeda is a winemaker who works for O’Leary Walker. At the dinner we met some of Keeda’s friends who all seemed to be either winemakers as well or in the winemaking industry. Adam thought it was a great opportunity to try some more wines and seek the knowledge of the winemakers. However as expected they all picked their own products to be the best, I suppose we will just have to carry on with the taste testing – someone has to do it!
On Friday we were due to start work at 7.30am, however it had just started raining and after an hour of waiting to find out if the winemaker wanted to go ahead with the picking or not we were quite happy that it was cancelled as picking grapes in the wind and rain is no fun. The picking had been rearranged for Saturday.



In the evening we had arranged to meet up with Leigh and Alex as they were leaving for Bali on Monday. Adam and I went to the Middle Pub to enjoy 2 $10 meals and waited for them and Christophe to arrive. When everyone arrived we sat in the pub just chatting away and then later Christophe went home while we went back to Alex and Leigh’s for more drinking and a final goodbye.
Saturday after work we relaxed at home and watched A bugs Life. That evening Christophe had invited us to go to Jamestown where his friend Brigette (the local French teacher) was having a birthday bbq.



We met lots of her friends and neighbours who were all very friendly and had a good time. We had thought about staying overnight in Christophe’s van (Amy George) but at 1.30am our bed sounded very appealing so I was happy to drive the one hour journey home.

Adam's Birthday Week

Last week I had got chatting to a bloke called Chris at the Sevenhill pub. He had been telling me how he had been made redundant from his job of 10 years at Holden and so had decided to go travelling (a familiar story?). After chatting for a while and explaining to him how we needed 88 days to be eligible for a 2nd year visa and that work with Ackland’s was coming to an end he kindly gave me the number for another vineyard contractor. I gave them a call straightaway and was happy to hear they had work for us.
So on Tuesday 24th we started with Chandler & Kirkland. We arrived at Skillogalee (which was only 2 minutes away from where we lived) for 7am. A guy who I assumed was the supervisor, asked any new starters to put their names on a sheet and then to get picking. There was no introduction to who anyone was, what the break times were so the organisation compared to Ackland’s didn’t seem as good but it was a job at the end of the day and so with everyone else we got picking. The team didn’t seem as friendly.
Thursday was Adam’s 29th b’day. Happy Birthday sweetie, you old git! Adam had to work on his birthday too but fortunately it was only a half day, so after work we went to Clare to get our place cards and other wedding paraphernalia printed. After spending 3 hours with the owner (yes 3 hours!) we got everything done. We had seen previously that they offered a disc printing service so Adam had been busy designing a label to put onto our wedding dvd. The owner, Mike was so impressed with his handy work that he printed an extra disc and put it on display in the shop. In the evening we met up with Christophe again and went to Sevenhill pub (now our 3rd home, after the library) to enjoy a lovely meal. I was very impressed with the quality and price of the meals.



For Adam’s birthday present I had allowed (you know who wears the trousers) him to go to the Grand Prix in Melbourne. This was going to be a logistical nightmare. Having looked at flights it worked out a lot cheaper to fly on the Friday and come back on the Tuesday. However I needed the car to get to work so eventually we worked out that Adam would catch the local bus to Adelaide and stay with Alan and Maria for the night. Fly to Melbourne the next day and meet my Uncle Harry. Stay with Uncle Harry until the Tuesday. Fly back to Adelaide and then catch the bus back up to Clare.
I considered going, however the cost of it was not justifiable and so I stayed back in Clare. On the Friday I went to Bingo and won 2 lines which was a win of $4, our first win!!!!!!
On the Sunday I had dinner with the Mill family to celebrate Jake’s 14th birthday. All the vegetables we ate were home grown by Phil and so it was a very tasty dinner.

Our friendly huntsman spider who lives with us decided to come out of hiding, as you can see he is on the large side.

TJ's Birthday Week

On Tuesday 17th March we worked a full day at one of Leasingham’s vineyards. We got talking to a couple of people who worked at the Leasingham winery, Sarah, Luke and Alice.



Sarah was from Ireland and her partner Luke came from Manchester. They told us about how they had been working in China for 2 years as teachers and then decided to go travelling around Australia. Alice was a local. After work they invited us to go for a drink with them at Sevenhills Pub to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Ned the landlord at the pub had got into the Paddy’s day spirit by flying the Irish flag and adding green food colouring to the beers. This was the first time we had been into the Sevenhill pub and we really liked it. It had a friendly atmosphere. We soon got chatting to Ned who seems to know most people in the valley and was able to help Christophe find somewhere to stay as the 1 hour drives from Jamestown to get to work were getting a bit much. Ned made a couple of phone calls and had managed to sort out Christophe to stay with a woman called Keeda who lived in Auburn and only wanted $70 a week for the room. Christophe was delighted and so to help our French friend out we drove him to meet her that afternoon. That evening it was Adam’s turn to cook and we had promised Brian and Yvonne Fish and Chips.



So Adam used his chip shop experience to whip up a batter and deep fried the Garfish that we had caught. This tasted fantastic and Adam is the best chef in the world (he made me write this!!).

My Birthday. Unfortunately we had to work on my birthday and it turned out to be the worst day at work I ever had. When we arrived at Jim Barry’s vineyard we were told that we would be picking grapes that would be used for their $180 bottle of Armagh Shiraz and so the 2 teams would be split. Our team would pick only the good quality bunches and the “Asians” who were the other team would come behind us and pick everything else. The other supervisor, Angie (who everyone thought was drunk) didn’t seem too happy about this and questioned what they were going to do whilst they waited for our team to pick, the winemaker quickly responded and said, “just wait, you’re paid by the hour aren’t you!”. This obviously enraged Angie and a little bit later as we had started picking tension mounted and Angie and Woolly (our supervisor) soon became involved in a slagging match as Angie complained that we were working too slowly and leaving too many good bunches behind. Woolly proceeded to swear back (this is all in front of us and the winemaker) and this continued for a couple of minutes. I stupidly opened my mouth and was about to suggest that to speed things up why not have the Asians pick good bunches from the other rows and then both teams could do a sweep of everything else after, well as soon as I said “Woolly I have a suggestion” he turned around to me and told me to shut up! At the induction when we first started we were told to suggest any ideas we had, this was obviously not the case. Later on I had the winemaker picking next to me so I asked him if there were a few shrivelled grapes on a bunch whether or not to cut them off or just disregard the bunch, he told me to cut them off. So as I started doing this I fell a little behind to which Woolly then questioned what I was doing. I proceeded to explain what the winemaker had told me to which the winemaker then said oh just leave them – grrrrrr. I was glad when we finished at midday. Adam had told me that for my birthday he was organising a day horse riding as it was something I had always wanted to do. So after work we drove to Burra to sort out the trip. On the way back home we stopped off at Mintaro, which is where Martindale Hall was built in 1879.



We decided to have a look around this huge country house and so proceeded to pay the $7 entrance fee. It had an interesting history, but the house was now used as a B&B which made the place look tired. We were also disappointed that you were not allowed to take photos. We had thought about visiting The Mintaro Maze but having spoken to Leigh and Alex they told us it was more for children and so not to bother. When we got home, waiting in the kitchen was the Mill family who had baked a birthday cake and bought me a present. It was unexpected but a lovely surprise. With the help of Daniel I blew out my candles and opened my present which was a book about Greek Mythology (a little interest of mine).



After freshening up Brian, Yvonne, Adam and I made our way to a local restaurant called Salt ‘n’ Vines where we met Christophe and enjoyed dinner. The meals were nice but I thought it was a little expensive for what you got. After dinner Adam dropped Yvonne and Brian home and then met Christophe and me at the Sevenhill pub for a nightcap and a couple of games of pool.
As we were not working on Thursday we had arranged my horse riding trip. So we drove to Burra and met Graham who was the owner of Burra Horse Trails and his helpers Tom and Phil. We got booted up, strapped on our helmets and went to meet our horses. Graham gave us a brief introduction on horse riding and then we got straight into it.

We mounted our horses and off we went. The trip lasted 3 hours and we trekked across some of his 1200 acres of fields and hills. We even had a go at trotting which we regretted the following day. My first experience of horse riding was very enjoyable and it is definitely something I would like to try again. Thanks Adam for a very special birthday prezzie! Xxx After horse riding we ventured into Burra and had a look around the shops and stopped for a bite to eat at the local cafe called “The Cook A Burra” (get it!). Then on our way home we also stopped at a local apple wine/cider winery. It tasted like cider but they had to call it a wine because of the alcohol level, Adam was not impressed and so that too will not be appearing on the tables for our reception.
Saturday was going to be a chill out day. We decided we would do a little more towards the reception and so would cut some of the corks that would become place card holders. I decided to use Adam’s very sharp Leatherman knife to slice the corks in half but in doing so managed to slice 3 of my fingers. At which point I called for Adam who started to put plasters on my fingers when I suddenly fell faint and then passed out. Luckily Adam caught me before I fell to the floor and quickly sat me on a chair with my head between my knees. Yvonne commented on how she didn’t think I could go white – but I had. After an eventful morning we met up with Leigh and Alex for lunch at the Taminga Pub. I didn’t think the food was as good as what we had at The Middle put the free ice-cream was a bonus. After lunch they invited us back to their house where we chatted for a while and Leigh even did Tarot card readings for us.
We had been invited to Beryl’s 70th Birthday BBQ. Beryl is the mother of Brent whose birthday party we went to and the grandmother of David who had been kicked out of Bingo. We met Christophe and made our way to the park which was next to Knappstein winery. The whole family was there including Gwen and Wayne a couple who were in our grape picking gang and were David’s in laws and lots of other people that we had met previously at Brent’s birthday. We enjoyed the food and someone had even brought a tv to watch the Clipsal 500 V8 supercars in Adelaide. We ate lots of food, talked to various people and even had a go on the swings and slides in the playground (I know we’re big kids).

The funniest thing was when Adam got stuck in the dolphin ride and couldn’t get out; I couldn’t help as I was too busy filming making sure I got it all on camera – poor Adam. We got talking to Matt, Brent’s son; he was the green keeper of the local golf course. He invited us back to his for a few drinks and poker.

Fishing and Fete

As Monday was a bank holiday I really wanted to do something so I started to look into going fishing (something I’ve always wanted to do). I found a couple of small charter companies and managed to book us onto a fishing trip for Monday in a place called Port Hughes. As it was an early start the skipper helped me to find cheap accommodation in Moonta Bay which was only a 5 minute drive away from Port Hughes. We packed our bags and left Clare on Sunday to go and have a look around Moonta Bay. It was another little, quaint town. We were booked into stay at the local hotel which turned out to be a pub called the Cornwall but having seen our room we were quite impressed. $50 for a large room with air con and there was a shared lounge area with a small kitchen style space which included a fridge, microwave and toaster. After a quick tour of the pub from the barmaid we went for a drive up to Port Hughes. It was a gorgeous little place. There was a large pier and lots of people were either fishing, crabbing or just cooling off and having fun by jumping into the water. In the evening we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at a local pub. We were very pleased with the price and portion of the meals at the Moonta Hotel. After dinner we made our way back to the hotel/pub watched a little bit of TV and got ready for the early start the next day.



We had arranged to meet the skipper (Flash) of Copper Triangle Charters at 6.30am. There was going to be myself, Adam and another person fishing that day. However when we arrived at Port Hughes, Flash met us and said that as it was quite windy and asked whether we just wanted to go crabbing instead, as well as that we would be starting a bit later as the other bloke was running late. Adam and I weren’t happy about paying $180 each to just go crabbing, so together we told him we were here to fish and not go crabbing. At first it felt as though he was trying to take us for a ride but as soon as we put our foot down and were almost ready to leave it all together as we had not yet paid for the trip he quickly changed his attitude and started getting things ready. We returned to the hotel to wait for a phone call from Flash to say he was ready. He phoned at 8.30am to say the other bloke had pulled out so we made our way pack to Port Hughes and got ready for the trip. In the end there was Flash, his deckhand who turned out to be his cousin and just myself and Adam which was nice. It was a glorious day and Flash drove his boat about 45 minutes out into the sea.



We anchored next to a lighthouse. Apparently only a couple of years ago people used to take it in turns to live there for up to 2 weeks at a time and provide weather forecasts. However it was now being used as a large nesting ground for the birds. Flash put a maggot onto the end of my hook and showed me how to cast my line and within seconds of it dropping into the water he had caught a fish. He then baited my hook again (I know it’s not proper fishing if I don’t bait my own hook but I was quite happy to let him do it) and this time I casted it and again within seconds I had caught my first fish which turned out to be a Garfish. It looked very similar to a Swordfish but was only about 24cm long; however I was happy to have just caught one. Throughout the morning Adam and I caught numerous amounts and were very happy just floating on the sea, fishing away. There was so many around our boat that it got to the point where the deckhand just got a net and started catching 4 or 5 in one go whilst Adam and I carried on fishing with our rods. I couldn’t bring myself to take the hooks from the Garfishes mouth (yes I know I’m a wimp) so Flash and the deckhand did this for us. I did however touch one and even tried to pick one up that had fell onto the deck but they were slippery little things, leaving their scales on anything they touched. In the end between us all we caught 180 Garfish, there were restrictions as to how many people could catch and the size of them so once we reached the limit we stopped and started to look for squid.



Flash also tried to catch some crabs using a crabbing net but they were just not interested. We moved to another spot a bit closer to the lighthouse and used a different type of hook which looked like a small fish but with very sharp hooks to catch the squid. Flash cast his first and in minutes caught his first squid. I have never seen a squid being caught and those things certainly put up a fight. It would spray its black ink whilst it was being reeled in. Once Flash had unhooked it he threw it into a plastic tub where the squid would again squirt its black ink everywhere, and as it died it turned opaque. It was a bit sad to see the fish and squid dying but very interesting knowing that this is what happens, I suppose you don’t think about it when you’re buying them pre-packed from the supermarket! In total we caught 12 squid, I only caught 1 which I was happy with but must have lost about 5, Adam did well catching 4. Flash told us that as part of the trip we could keep all the fish we caught. What were we going to do with 180 Garfish?, I don’t even like seafood all that much. So we decided to just keep 75 of them and 4 squid and Flash took the rest. Flash had told of us of a lady who would fillet the fish for a very cheap price in Moonta Bay. So along with the deckhand we made our way there to see what she could do. She was a lovely, little lady.



Very petite and looked as though she had had a bit of a hard life. She handed the boys 2 knives and got them to start descaling and cutting the fish heads and a few other parts off. I was busy taking photos (phew got out of that one). She was so quick, filleting the fish in only seconds. She started telling us of how she once entered a competition to see how many she could fillet in a certain amount of time and also of how people have even filmed her and uploaded her work onto youtube. After the Garfish she moved into the squid, just pulling their heads off and removing their guts (yuck!). After an hour the job was complete we paid the $10 for our share and left with a freezer bag full of fish and squid. When we got back to Penwortham we told Yvonne and Brian all about our experience and gave them 40 of the fish to enjoy too.
The following day we were back at work and I saw the biggest Redback spider I have seen so far. It certainly looked scary but I was starting to get used to coming across spiders in the vineyards now so it didn’t faze me as much.
Thursday was poker night. So off Adam and I went to Bob and Sam’s. There we bumped into Amanda and her 2 german twin cousins who had flown over to go travelling around Australia for a year. Their English was not great so the old making hand gestures and raising our voice (because that obviously works-not) came into play. Fortunately the boys knew how to play Texas hold em poker so we started a game which Adam eventually won –go Team Gallard!
Friday was Brian’s birthday. After we returned home we had a quick chat with him and his friends Leo and Kay who had brought over a bottle of wine they had purchased from Adelaide Catering College. Now Friday was going to be Bingo night however Adam persuaded me to miss it (I did get withdrawal symptoms) to go the Clare High School fete which takes place once every other year and has been on 3 times. We were very surprised of the organisation and scale of it. From stalls selling candy floss, jewellery, food to auctions, car bashing (where you literally got to hammer the hell out of an old car),



fairground rides, 15 minute trips around Clare on Harley’s etc. There we bumped into loads of people we knew (being such a small place you get to know the locals very quickly) including, Brett, and Ray from fruit picking, Amanda and her sister Stephanie selling candyfloss, her mum on the wine stall (the school sell their own wine-is that legal?) and the 2 german cousins, Bob and Sam and other party/poker lot, Tim who also does grape picking but was there as part of the St John’s Ambulance that night, Chito the barman from the Bentley pub, who was at the slushy stall and also the family we were staying with. Adam managed to rally a few people and so the 2 germans and Bryce all had a go on the Laser Skirmish which is like laser quest but outside.



Adam showed off his commando moves to our friends watching but it was a bit embarrassing seeing him trying to take out mostly 10 year olds, however he had a good time and so did the other boys.

On Saturday we had arranged to visit Maria and Alan Scholz who we had stayed with before in Adelaide. So after working half day and making a quick stop at the Bookstop and Beans shop where Adam bought a new book, we made our way to Adelaide. We arrived at about 5pm and were greeted by them and the new addition to the family, Shaun a mix toy poodle and cavalier. We spent the rest of the evening catching up and showing them our wedding dvd. Adam also enjoyed chatting to Maria (a fellow web designer) about various web technologies. The following day we had been invited to a BBQ at Maria and Alan’s son’s house. So in the afternoon we made our way to Coventry Street which is where they lived and met David, Peta (his wife) and their 2 children.

Their house was beautiful and had been renovated a couple of years ago. I was very jealous of the en-suite which comprised of 2 shower heads!!!!! We had a fantastic afternoon just chatting, enjoying the good food and playing a bit of pool and poker before it was time for us to head back.

Wine tasting

Monday 2nd March- Week 4. We had noticed 2 new people had started in our group and it turned out they were 2 poms, Alex and Leigh who had worked for AVS the previous year. They were on their 2nd year visas and were here in the Clare Valley to earn some money before leaving for Bali and then home. We soon started talking about the pros and cons of travelling and our experiences so far, it was interesting to talk about places we had all visited and what we had thought of them.
Our dvd for the week was The Duchess which we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Now whilst we have been travelling we have also been trying to organise our reception for when we return home. We thought it would be rather apt if for the drinks reception we could have wine produced in the Clare Valley and so we set to, to try and find a cellar which delivered abroad. No such luck! So then we thought we could post it ourselves-way too expensive and then the idea of choosing a wine we liked and seeing if we could purchase it in the UK instead came about.



So Adam has been trying a couple of different Shiraz but has not found one he likes as yet and also after doing a bit more investigation on the internet it seems not many of the wineries send their wines abroad. So will have to have a think about that one on the other hand I did have the idea to use corks as place card holders. Companies on the internet wanted anything between $15 and $40 dollars for a pack of 100 but with a little help from Boxie who proceeded to give me about 70 corks he was keeping to give to a charity (surely I’m more needy) and a generous donation from Knappstein cellar I have managed to obtain 100 for no money at all. $2.75 for a can of gold spray and Bob’s my father in law; I’ve got my place card holders.
As well as the place card holders I have been keeping Adam out of trouble by giving him a request to set up a wedding website. Trying to organise the reception from Aus has not been easy, and I think the wedding organiser at Heart of England Conference Centre is getting a bit sick and tired of my endless emails asking her all sorts of questions. In order to get our RSVP’s and try and keep guests informed of all the information they need to know I thought it would be a good idea to set up a wedding website. Now obviously I didn’t want to use a standard template I wanted one of my own so Adam has been slaving away on creating a masterpiece. The website address will be with the invites you receive at the beginning of April.
One evening we were having dinner with Yvonne and Brian and Yvonne turned round to us and asked what it was like working together? It was funny but I had not thought about the fact that we were spending 24 hours a day together. Well it seems we get on quite well and there haven’t been any arguments (as yet), but whether it would be different if it were an office situation would be interesting to know.
As we had a rental car through Hertz we had to phone to extend our rental on it. However when we first collected it we asked if at the end of the rental period we could pay in cash (using the money we earnt) to which we were told it would be ok. However I had noticed that £400 had been charged to my credit card. When we phoned to dispute this we were then told that money is taken automatically on the 28th of the month (something we were not told when we first collected the car or when we enquired about paying in cash). However Adam managed to get them to refund the money and we paid for it in cash at the nearest Hertz. I thought I would mention this in case anyone else decides to rent a car for more than a month so you know the process.
Adam and I had been told by various people at work that Kangaroo Island was an amazing place to visit. So we started to look into the cost of taking our car over and staying for the weekend, well I was dismayed by the price. Over $150 to take the car and then there was the cost of accommodation which was extortionate. So we decided to leave it this time round, however Iliayna suggested that if we return to Australia to try WOOFing on Kangaroo Island instead which I thought was a brilliant idea.




As David Box (Boxie) worked at Knappstein he had offered to show us around the Knappstein winery. So one day after work Adam and I met him there and he proceeded to show us around and tell us all about how wine is made. The containers were massive but what I liked the most was that they had little taps which allowed you to try a little whilst it was fermenting – it was so sweet and yummy! Now having picked for Knappstein and seen how their wines were developed Adam and I decided to buy a bottle of Shiraz, for testing of course, to see if we would like it for our reception, I’m afraid it didn’t pass Adams seal of approval so you won’t be seeing that on the tables. As we were in the mood for wine we then took a little trip to another cellar called Sevenhill (which was part of a monastery) and Adam tried another Shiraz but again it was not for him.
That Friday – Bingo night, one of our friends from grape picking David Mason turned up to play Bingo. But it seemed he had had a bit too much to drink and before we even started he shouted Bingo. At first everyone laughed but after that he would continue to call Bingo on every 1st ball picked, eventually he was asked to leave. His nan who had brought him there continued playing so Adam and I took it upon ourselves to go check up on him. He had decided he would walk to Clare which was about 7k away and it seemed he had fallen in a ditch as he was covered in hay and love grass. Fortunately he had the sense to phone a friend who turned up a couple of minutes after we had found him and promptly took him back to his house where I believe they carried on drinking. Well done David, you’re the first person I’ve ever met to be kicked out of Bingo-legend!
That weekend Adam and I had been thinking of going to Adelaide to a festival called Womad, but unfortunately we could not find any accommodation.



However we had promised Mirja (who had been staying with Boxie) that we would take her to Adelaide so she could catch a bus that would take her further south. So we met Boxie half way to Jamestown to exchange the package (Mirja) and then drove 2.5 hours to Adelaide. Mirja left her bags in the hostel she was staying at and Adam and I tried to find some accommodation but everywhere was booked and later we found out that the Sunday tickets had all sold out. We didn’t mind and continued looking around Adelaide city centre and made the most of our time there by eating a MacDonald’s (I hadn’t had a Maccy D’s for over 4 weeks, I deserved it) and watching the numerous street entertainers perform. In the afternoon we said goodbye to Mirja and started to make our way back to Clare.

BBQ at Boxies

On the Monday whilst grape picking I saw my fist Redback spider. We had been warned that if one bit you, you would need to go the hospital straight away. I was a bit shocked when I came across it. To think such a small creature could inflict so much pain. Well I didn’t hang around and continued picking the grapes around it, moving on as quickly as I could.
The following day there was no work so Adam and I visited the local dvd shop to hire a film all the Aussie’s in our gang recommended called “The man from snowy river”. It was a lovely Australian film about a young man whose father was killed from a stampede of brumby’s (wild horses) and so had to try and find a job and fell in love with his bosses daughter. I enjoyed it and the scenery in it was amazing but Adam thought it was too soppy. That afternoon Amanda had invited us to her house for a bbq so off we went.



Not all the roads in Clare had got tarmac (or as the Aussies call it bitchamin) so there was a number of times where we felt we were off roading it- where is there a 4x4 when you need one? – our rental car had a condition that we should only drive it on tarmac roads – oops! They had a long driveway and when we arrived at the house we could see they owned a fair bit of land. 90 acres in fact. We met Amanda’s mother Eidel (originally from Germany), her sister Stephanie who was in year 12 at the Clare High School, and Amanda’s new boyfriend Jake. Amanda’s parents had separated but her dad Steve who was also in our grape picking gang lived in the retreat which was on the land they owned. After the bbq the 5 of us went for a walk around the property and Amanda took us up to a hill where we sat to admire the views and watch the sun go down.



She then took us to show the retreat which was a cabin style building fuelled only by solar panels, a small wind turbine and the water was rainwater. From there was another amazing view, overlooking fields and hills and in the distance we could see a wind farm. As it was getting late Adam and I said goodbye and made our way home.
The following day I had got chatting to a man called David Box who owned a vineyard of his own but an organic one. He had mentioned that his grapes would be ready for picking on the weekend so we offered our services in return for him putting down the number of days we had worked on our 2nd visa forms which he agreed to.
On Thursday whilst picking the gang pointed out a bearded lizard to me. It was a funny looking thing which just blended in with the trunk of the vine. The gang was always good with things like that, being a typical “pom” they knew I enjoyed seeing kangaroos, lizards and spiders and would always call me over if they came across anything so I could get a good look. Adam had made good friends with a guy nicknamed Yogi who had been grape picking for the past 9 years (funny story as to why he is called that, you will have to ask us when we get back). I remember the first thing Yogi said to us and that was have you seen Wolfcreek? Adam and I were the only poms, there was a kiwi called Brett and the rest were all Aussie. Adam, Brett and Yogi would constantly try and belittle each other’s countries and the conversations amused the rest of us and even got some people joining in. We had conversations on the pronunciation of words i.e. data and yoghurt to the government and politics. I had a misconceived perception of what I thought “fruit pickers” would be like, but to my surprise they were all lovely, intelligent people who unfortunately were not able to get other jobs because there was just not much around in Clare and it was too expensive to move anywhere else. A woman called Lisa who also worked for Knappstein winery brought Adam a couple of beers that were produced at Knappstein for Adam to try and it was little things like that, the kindness of people which helped us to really settle into the place. That evening Adam and I decided to visit Bob and Sam’s place to have a game of poker. We got there to find 3 guys sitting on a sofa drinking beer outside their house. They told us that they hadn’t got home yet but to make ourselves comfy so we did and chatted to them whilst waiting for Bob and Sam to arrive. When they got home the poker started more or less straight away. We played in the shed which was a large storage area almost half the size of their house and had a pool table, dartboard, a little chill out area and the all important poker table. Throughout the evening more and more people turned up so this was obviously the party house. By about 9.30pm I was in the lead and it was between me and Bob but as it was getting late we both went all in without looking at our cards – he won!
On Friday after work Adam and I left Penwortham to go to Jamestown where David Box (Boxie) lived and where Christophe was staying (a French traveller who found Boxie via WWOOF). In the evening Boxie threw a party and we all (Boxie, Christophe, me and Adam and 2 other travellers Mirja and Iliane) enjoyed good food and a lot of Boxie’s red wine. Our bed for the night was a double swag set up in the lounge. A little bit different but with our mozzie guard plugged in (the mozzie’s were rife and usually took a fancy to Adam) we had a good night’s sleep.
Saturday was an early start. We began picking the grapes which we found very small and there were not many big bunches but Boxie told us that it was the skin of the berries and not the berries themselves that gave the wine flavour.



I found out that a lot of Boxie’s friends were coming to help pick throughout the day and this had been the case for the past couple of years, in exchange for a bbq at lunch and a party in the evening. As the afternoon came, it started to get very hot and out came the flies. To the point where I had to put on my fly net and eventually so did Adam. We stopped for an hour for a bbq lunch and carried on until about 4.30pm. After a quick shower we got ready for the party in the evening. I enjoyed watching Boxie stir fry some vegetables in the BBQ he had made himself.



It held a large stir fry pan and a grill area for the meat to cook on. After eating lots of food and chatting to the local policeman (a good friend of Boxie’s), Adam, myself, Ili and a guy called Georgie started a game of poker. It went on throughout the night and Boxie (who was quite drunk at this point) decided to join in too. Even though he was in a bit of a drunken state as were some other people I think he secretly knew what he was doing even though he pretended not to because he beat us all.

Sunday was a similar day, another early start, a bbq lunch (you can’t beat a good Barbie) and dinner. There was another party going but Adam and I had to leave to get ready for work the next day.

Brent's Birthday

So into week 2 of grape picking. Another 2 full days of picking but on Wednesday we finished at 12.45. One of the girls, Amanda, we had made friends with invited us to have a few drinks at the pub with her.



So after going home to freshen up we met her at the Middle pub. It was funny to see her in ordinary clothes and hair down as I had only seen her in a scruffy outfit, hair tied up and no makeup; she said the same about me too. After the Middle we proceeded to the Bentley pub which locals described as a bit upmarket (funny as it looked very ordinary to me, obviously our standards were a bit different). After a drink there we then followed Amanda to her friend’s house which was on the main north road. It was a shared house and from the number of people who were lying/sitting in various rooms I couldn’t figure out who actually lived there. We were introduced to a lot of people including Bob and Sam (Samantha). Bob and Sam invited us to come round on a Thursday to play poker – at last our social life was picking up.
The next 2 days we worked 7 hour shifts and on the Friday I even spotted a kangaroo in the vineyard. Bingo on Friday and still no win!
Saturday 21st February and as you guessed it Adam and I went to the library. I had heard about a job that had been advertised as the best job in the world – an island caretaker. Throughout the week Adam and I had recorded a 60 second video and edited it so I could apply for the position and so we uploaded it. It turns out 30,000 other applicants worldwide had applied too and unfortunately I wasn’t picked but we had fun making it. That afternoon we met Brent (one of the AVS supervisor’s) as we were going to his birthday party. We followed him to his house in Koolunga which was 45 minutes away.



Adam and I were delighted that we had been invited considering we had only known the guy for just over a week but he was lovely and said he knew that being new in the area meant we would not really know anyone and this was a way to make friends. His house sat on a large plot of land but as it had been so dry the grass had died and turned yellow. He told us that he bought the place about 8 years ago for $30000 (15,000) so cheap! The drinking commenced and the Barbie was started. We had bought Brent a 2 bottle spirit holder which he was surprised to receive but made full use of. The evening continued with lots of food and merriment. Brent was in a band and so the guitars came out half way through the evening and we sang along to various songs. Brent had obviously been enjoying the drink because at one point he fell over and scraped his forehead on the side of the bbq. It looked painful but the boys managed to lift him up, he brushed himself off and continued with the drinking.

On Sunday Adam decided he wanted to do something fun so got the boys who lived in the converted part of the house (Jake-14, Bryce-12, Daniel-3) involved in making water rockets. They spent the whole day trying to make them go further or with more speed (boys and their toys).