So far..

Tuesday, January 15th, I left the US to come to Australia to work a wine harvest job 

at St. Hallett Wines.

Packing really wasn't all that bad until I got to the airport and realized my large bag was 14lbs over the 50lb weight limit. I got there about an hour before the flight thinking it would be like any other flight and things would go smoothly.... but of course they didn't. I was told that it would be $100's to check the overweight bag the whole way to Australia and the other option would be to separate things out and check an extra bag for $70. That being said, I rearranged my bags in order to meet the weight requirement.


I then went to check the luggage and the nice lady whispered in my ear, 'I won't charge you this time =).' It was very nice of her, but because that took so long I needed to rush through security and board the flight to San Francisco.  I made it, and it went well.


The cheapest flight at the time that I booked the trip had a 14 hour in SF. Luckily, Sierra lives there and we were able to spend some time together before the 14 hour flight to Sydney. That all went well. I was able to have a window seat but it was in the very back of the plane. It was torture boarding the plane at the front and walking through the first and business class looking at their fully reclining seats with foot rests. There should be a back entrance for the economy class people. Once arriving in Sydney, I needed to clear customs  and take a bus to the domestic flights terminal in an hour and a half in order to catch the flight to Adelaide.  That all sounds ok, until you see that a bunch of other international flights landed at the same time which also need to clear customs. So, I missed the flight to Adelaide but was able to catch a later one in the afternoon.

Finally arrived in Adelaide on Thursday, January 17th.

I took a taxi to the neighboring beach town of Glenelg.  They have a great backpackers hostel that I had emailed a few weeks prior reserving a single room. I dropped my bags off and headed to the beach.  It was late afternoon when I arrived so I relaxed in the sand, went to a few shops and then watched the sunset. It was beautiful!!

After a good night sleep, I was ready to get some things done in order to start working. There was an Australian bank (ANZ) down the street and so I was able to set up and account and order a debit card. I was hoping to get my cellphone up and working as well, but the company that has been recommended didn't have a store in Glenelg, so to the beach I went.

 

 Shelley, a winemaker at St. Hallett, had arranged to pick me and a couple co-workers up in Adelaide that Friday and take us to Nuri. Adelaide is about an hour and some to Nuriootpa where I am currently living. Nuriootpa is about a 15 min drive to the winery, so I was nervous about living here and not having ride to work. Also, Giles (the guy who owned the house I am living in) was not home when I arrived in Nuri, he was working.  Luckily he left a key for me in the mail box and some information about the house on the table.

I met Giles the next morning when I woke up and before he had to leave to work again. It was nice to get my things put away and get settled into the house but a bit lonely in a new city with out anything to do. But then later that afternoon, my new roommate Quentin arrived. We had an instant friendship and headed straight to Tanunda to meet up with some others and walk around a car show. We bonded over the cars, drinks and some food and made plans for the next day.

Quentin (French guy), Andrea (Italian guy), Kaitlyn (California girl) and I went wine tasting and to the Whispering Wall on our last day off before starting work. We tasted at St. Hallett to familiarize ourselves, and Jacob's Creek (big big winery here in the Barossa). The Whispering Wall is a dam which a person is on either side and when you speak next to the wall, the sound travels to the other as if they were standing next to you. It was really cool!

Monday the 21st was my first day of work at the winery! The first few days was all about paper work and many tours from different people pointing out what they thought was important about the winery. It was interesting to see the different roles each person plans in making the final wine what it is. The staff also had a nice BBQ lunch with us. Steak and egg sandwiches! YUMM! At the end of the day, we got to taste through all of the wines with the winemaker talking about them with us. The main wine produced in the Barossa Valley is Shiraz (Syrah). There is really a big difference in wine depending on which part of the valley it was grown on because the environment (climate, soil, ect.) is so different. The differences are interesting and fun to try and pick out.

The paper work got old after a few days, so St Hallett took us to the beach for the day! Never thought I would get paid to go to the beach! I could defiantly get used to that. We spend the day playing beach cricket, dodgeball, tug of war, swimming, eating, and drinking.  It was one of the hottest days, so made for the perfect day to go to the beach! Once we got back to the Barossa, everyone went to one of the interns houses and we continued to bond by having a BBQ.
















Australia Day was next. It is basically the 4th of July in that everyone spends the day BBQing and a day of drinking at the beach. It was different celebrating the Australian holiday with all foreign people... Italian, French, Italian Swiss, South African, Canadian, and Jordanian! We didn't get the full "Austrailan" experience but it was still a lot of fun because of the great people. It was fun learning bits and pieces of Italian and French and crazy to think we had a table of 3 different first languages of people.

This past week and three day weekend was a great way to start out before the heart of harvest. So far I have made some great friends and just had a lot of fun. 

Also, realized that I MUST live near a beach to see a sunset every once and a while! LOVE THEM!

SATURDAY NIGHT:

SUNDAY NIGHT:

MONDAY NIGHT:

There are also some awesome perks of living with a chef.... Duck Curry & Pork with Peanut Sauce dish once night and then tonight we had this... Chicken, potatoes cooked in duck fat, baked tomatoes and the most amazing carrots you could ever imagine.

And as always, 

GO COUGS!