Leaving Christchurch and back to the rat race...

After spending 3 freezing days in Christchurch, I decided it was time to move on and get back to life with Stacy. So last Thursday began with a ridiculously early start as I packed up all my belongings (including a few newly purchased warm clothes) and took a coach up north to one of the wine regions of the South Island to be reunited with Stacy.

The little hostel where Stacy had been staying for the past 2-3 weeks before I arrived and where I'd now also be staying is a great homely place about a 20min walk from the town centre. Currently full to capacity with long term backpackers, nearly all of whom work in the local vineyards to earn some money to fund their travels, there is a great feeling of comradery between the backpackers who live and work together as well as with the managers who live on site. After a long day at work and at the weekends you know you'll always find someone cooking or baking in the kitchen to chat to, a film playing in the tv lounge or a lazy moment in the shed, its definitely a great place to be when you're so far away from home.

My first few days were spent catching up with Stacy, getting to know the other backpackers in the hostel and looking for work. After spending nearly a year on the road, my bank account is in dire need of replenishing! Most of the work that travellers such as myself go into out here in New Zealand is seasonal work and the main such work in the area is working the many vineyards. There are 3 main vineyard jobs; pruning, stripping and wrapping, the latter usually given to girls - for what reason I'm not too sure.

Anyhow, after a lazy weekend I began my job hunting in earnest early yesterday morning when I followed Stacy to her pick up point at 6.45am for her job in the vineyards. Not much happened other than giving my name and phone number to a few places in the hope that they were looking for people to work, but later yesterday evening I got a call a contractor asking if I could start work tomorrow.

And so now I have a job wrapping grape vines! It was my first day today (although after 2 hours we were taken back to the pick up point because it was raining) and the work is very repetitive and tiring - tying between 2-4 stems of the grapevine to the wire trellis - however thats nothing my ipod can't fix! I've been told I'll get faster as I get more experienced and since we get paid per each vine we wrap, I'll hopefully be earning some good money soon. Fingers crossed!