Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Marlborough Wine Festival and the Last Few Days in Blenheim
Becky doesn't know why I took this picture of her, and neither do I.
A glass of New Zealand wine.
Check out this man's necklace.
Check out this woman's necklace! They're mussel shells!
Day 23 (I think) We went to the Marlborough wine festival on valentine's day. Becky ate a lamb shank. I ate wild tahr, which I found out is wild mountain goat. Yum! I did not catch it myself, however. Someone else did and put it into a wrap. I had decided upon hearing of this festival to participate in the "fashion in the vines" contest they were holding, in order to present New Zealand with a little taste of North American mid west/hipster/Pacific northwest glam. I wore a native american designed bear on a red shirt, black leggings with neon splatter paint, a neckerchief, and a cowboy hat. I did not win the contest. I didn't even make it into the final round. In fact, they didn't even give me a number so I could be called upon in the contest. Maybe I shouldn't have tipped them off by listing my occupation on the entry form as "illustrator, graphic designer, and performance artist". Oh well. The festival, in the end, was a well crafted excuse for women to wear revealing clothing and for everyone to get drunk and fall asleep in the sun. And get sunburned.
I, fortunately, remembered to wear my super SPF40+ sunscreen (I've been running through the stuff like water in the desert). Anyway, after our stint at the festival, Becky and I got a ride back into Blenheim, and spent the rest of the afternoon drinking coffee, and hanging out at the hostel.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Yesterday Becky and I started work on the vineyards. It was horrible. First, I didn't hear my alarm go off at 6am, so I got up at 6:30 and rushed to get ready for the pickup at 7. Our roommate, who means well, told us we could catch a ride with him, but miscounted or just ignored the fact that there were 5 of us for his 4 seats, so we ended us sitting on each others laps in the back seat. He needs to learn to say no. Because of his offer for a ride I had called the manager to tell him we didn't need a ride, effectively pissing him off on our first day.
I realized, only after stepping out of the car into the grocery store parking lot where we were apparently to meet the managers from Contra, the contract company we had signed up with, that I was wearing flip flops and had no water. I had remembered, last minute, to slather sunscreen on in the back of the car, elbowing Jeanine, the girl to my right, in the process.
There was no indication of what we should do after arriving, so I went up to one of the many creepy-manned vans and asked if they were with Contra, to which the driver turned to another driver and asked "can we take these nice girls with us?".
Wan Ho pointed out who the boss was and I walked up to him to ask about getting a ride for the rest of the week (our other options being obviously disorganized and somehow more expensive), and he immediately dismissed me before a word left my mouth and told me to go back and wait with the others. I walked away from them, after forcing a conversation and a handshake out of the boss and manager, and went into the store to look for water and maybe some shoes. When I got back Wan Ho said he had found out where we were to work today, so I convinced him to take me back to the hostel to get my shoes. I was lucky he did.
We were assigned to pruning the vines. It was contract work, paying 7 cents per vine. Becky and I did six rows each, making about $82. The only directions we got were "the little ones, see, little, little, little". Everything was covered in green miracle grow, covering my hands in fertilized cuts, and my sandwich could have grown a forest. When I ran out of water the boss took me and Jeanine to a faucet in the middle of the fields, and as I was about to fill my water bottle this guy in a truck pulls up, rolls down his window, and tells me not to drink it. Apparently the boss has been giving fertilized water to all his employees. And his response to the fact that we shouldn't drink it was "you are too sensitive". He later told Becky she had milky skin and asked how many of his men had asked her to marry them. These "men" were real winners.
By the end of the day my legs were sacks of lactic acid and my back was burned. Becky and I haven't bothered going since. I'm impressed by those who can get up at 6 everyday to do this work, but I think we are going to head over to Nelson.
the first few days in Blenheim
We found kiwis growing in someone's front yard.Sunset over the street where we first were staying at Koanui Lodge.
A praying mantis we found at the Koanui Lodge
So here starts the blog. I'm in New Zealand. In Blenheim currently. It's a really small town with not much to do but vineyard work and catching rides to the beach. The first few nights we stayed at the Koanui Lodge and Backpackers hostel which was nice enough but there weren't any dorm rooms available, which are cheaper, so we moved over to Arrow Backpackers outside of town. The hostel-goers here are much friendlier than over at Koanui, and the owners Bruce Lee and Suzanne (or Susan?) are great. The first night we spent down the street at their house because there weren't beds available (like Bruce said there would be) and Suzanne kept offering to cook for us. We finally gave in and had a delicious breakfast of beef, rice, pickled sesame leaf, something pattied, something else pickled, corn, and Korean miso soup. Bruce even went driving around looking for us that first night because we were out late and he thought we had lost our way.
It's taken a while to find vineyard work because there are so many travelers here to compete with, but Becky and I got work starting Monday with Contra through the help of Wan Ho, one of our many Korean roommates.
By the way, I'm sick of the bad acting on Korean soap operas and can't stand listening to any more easy listening 90's music.
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