Fun in the sun

It's so hot here in Mildura. It's like a desert-type climate: 35-45 degrees during the day, not a cloud in the sky, and no shade anywhere. Then at night the temperature will suddenly drop to chilliness, and leaving for work at 6am normally sees me shivering and wishing I'd brought a sweater.

The landscape outside of the town (which is one of those small Australian towns that feels American to me, probably because of the new-ness, the low-rise white buildings, the K-mart and the McDonalds -but which does have a few nice places) which isn't cultivated is dry, dusty pinkey-red soil and scrubby grass dotted with stunted, pale trees, completely flat and stretching away into the distance on either side of the long straight roads. Then the vineyards are beautiful - hundreds and hundreds of metres of lush green vines under the clear blue sky.

Grape picking is going...well, it's going. It's hard work and gets harder every day as my muscles ache more. Mike and I managed 2 rows between us on sunday, but then yesterday we were switched to a different type of grape - really small black ones, which are all tangled into the vine and take much longer to fill the buckets, grr. However, I'm definitely not hating it and I would say it's alot better than the call centre. Not in terms of pay - think I'm getting paid about half what I did there by the hour - but in the sense that you are free to think your own thoughts, listen to music, talk. The (only) advantage to being paid by the bucket is that you're effectively your own boss: the farmer never bothers us to work harder/longer, we can choose when we take breaks and how we work, and so on.

There are some old Greek men working with us, who don't like us very much (they're all amazingly fast at picking and feel that the better rows of vines belong to them, so if we accidently start picking one of their rows we get yelled at and chased off). I enjoy having them around, though, because I can hear them speaking Greek and then catch sight of them sitting in the shade under the vines, smoking filterless cigarettes: it makes me feel like I could be on a Greek island any time in the last couple of hundred years. I keep trying to work up an enthusiasm for grapes by summoning up Greek verses about Dionysius, etc. It's not really working.

Aside from work we have been having some fun. On saturday night a group of us from the hostel went to the Apex park for a barbeque on the banks of the Murray river, and it was truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to - sunset, a long stretch of deserted beach by the river, surrounded by woodland. So peaceful and serene.

However, given that we think we're earning about $50 a day each, BEFORE tax, Mike and I have decided that we're going to leave at the end of this week (I feel it will be character-building for us to complete a full week). We've come up with a Plan B (OK, we've gone through so many plans recently that it's probably more like a Plan H, but still). We're going to head back to Melbourne and take a trip down the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, from which we will head to Perth somehow (plane/train/bus) in order to catch up with Chris and Laura and Mike's car. Then we'll look for more lucrative employment options in Perth. Of course, doing this means I have to cancel my Tasmania trip, which is lame, but it's just timing - and the vast distances of Australia making it difficult to backtrack.

Mildura

We're here in Mildura having completed one day of grape picking. Oh my god. Actually, it wasn't that bad in terms of work...just like being back at one of those pick-your-own farms near Granny and Grandads'. The trauma came when we calculated how much we think we earned from 5 hours of work: about $30 each...ie. not enough to live on, even. eeek. The going rate for grape picking is 63 cents per bucket...and the buckets aren't that big, but they're not THAT quick to fill, either. We're going to have to either get aLOT quicker at it, or resign ourselves to not earning any money. Hmmm...

Employment was very uber-casual indeed - we just hopped in a mini-bus at our hostel at 6:30am (yeah, ouch) and were taken to this farm somewhere outside Mildura - across the Murray river into New South Wales. There we were pointed in the direction of a row of vines. No one aside from one of the guys from our hostel, who's already worked there for a week, gave us any instructions/tips...the farmer didn't even speak to us! I'm missing all those orientation presentations, with Powerpoint slides, that you get with office work!!

Anyway, I was outdoors, in the countryside, in the sunshine, all day, and there was a gorgeous sunrise...so I'm not feeling too downhearted, yet. It's definitely different. Plus you get to chat while you work (probably one of the things hampering productivity). Today (saturday) is the day off, but we'll be working tomorrow, sadly.

The hostel is nice - not the cleanest, tidiest, or best equipped, but it's friendly and there's a great garden. However, we think my bed has bedbugs - I am COVERED in bites, and they REALLY REALLY itch...ooooowwwwwww....

Back in Melbourne!!

I've left Sydney! Moved out of number 20...sad, I feel quite homesick for it!! It's good to have finished work though. I'm back in Melbourne at the moment with Mike, staying at my uncle Andrew's house. We're planning on heading into the countryside to look for fruit picking work next...could be a great idea, could be nightmare, hopefully will be interesting.

Melbourne is much hotter and sunnier than when I was here last!! Yesterday night was spent joining all the other British backpackers in the universe at Neighbours night...oh yes. It was lots of fun but, admittedly, one of those events where you have to spend the night repressing all knowledge of how much admission fee you paid. Still, we all high-fived Dr Karl, so...priceless, clearly.

Went to see Munich the other night which I thought was fantastic...it's so harrowing, really thought provoking, pretty balanced. Very interesting. I've got to get hold of the book it's based on now.

Neighbours night...




A mixture of old and new housemates at number 20!!


Me, Mike and Laura - yes, we are in a shopping trolley.

Update - leaving Sydney!!

Sorry it's been so long. I was waiting until I had some cool, exciting and definite plans or had the chance to post some photos. No pictures yet but there are plans...

It's my last week of work!! Finally...let's just say that I don't see myself with a career in property management! We're currently producing the final tender document, which has to be printed 6 times and put in folders. Last night we were working here til 1am...seriously. We did get pizza and beer, and a free cab home, but it meant that I missed The OC - grr. I'm now back at work but have nothing to do - well, I can't print anything til they've finished editing it. The good news is that I've finally discovered a skill I can bring to this job: my boss has just been admiring my skill with an industrial size hole punch. "Wow, that's really impressive..."

Practice makes perfect.

Anyway, I'm out of here tomorrow, and I leave for Melbourne by train on saturday morning. I'm really sad to leave Sydney, but it seems like everyone else I know is leaving too - so a good time to move on. Plus my friends - Mike, Chris and Laura - are meeting me in Melbourne. Next monday we're going to Neighbours night to meet Harold...wow can't wait!! (I can't bring myself to confess to anybody that I have barely ever watched Neighbours: maybe I'll do some research on the internet in the interests of faking it. Sara and Gerald, I blame you - you never let me watch soaps and now I'm alienated from my peers).

Given that this weekend was my last in Sydney, I decided I needed to absorb myself in culture so spent Sunday at the Museum of Contemporary Art, which was fantastic - exhibitions by Kienholz (which is a couple, not one person) and Erwin Wurm. Very cool and thought provoking.

Better go, the hole-punching calls.