My 2014 Adventure: Travels to Singapore, Australia & New Zealand: March 2014

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Pre-Vintage Update

On Friday I found out I will be working the night shift this vintage at Yealands. I have mixed feelings because I am not excited about going through jet-lag (essentially) again, but I am excited because most of the friends I have made so far are also on night shift with me. Monday and Tuesday of this week I will work from 4pm to 1am. Then I have four days off of work in which I hope to take a trip somewhere on the south island. On Sunday we are set to start our regular 12 hour shifts, so I will be working 7pm to 7am every day. Below I've included some photos of me just outside of Blenheim to show you again just how beautiful it is here!!

Whites Bay, Marlborough

Thursday, March 20, 2014

First Week at Yealands Estate Winery

Hello, as you know I have stopped my travels and started working at Yealands Estate Winery for the 2014 vintage. On Monday of this week about 15 of the cellar hands had their orientation. The day was a breeze as we learned how things are done at Yealands in the cellar, toured the vineyards, and had an afternoon wine tasting. The location here is absolutely gorgeous! The vines go all the way up to the ocean in some places. Also there is a definite focus on polyculture farming here. For instance, Yealands owns baby doll sheep which graze on the grass beneath the vines. Kunekune pigs are allowed to root around too; their snouts are so short they don't cause damage to the ground or vines. There are also various chicken coops around the vineyard with free range chickens running around. As we drove by they would run in a flock after us. During the wine tasting we were shown around 20 different wines, to get an idea of what Yealands produces. We tried Sauvignon Blanc (of course!), Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chardonnay, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Pinot Noir. They were all so delicious and well made, I'm excited to help make next year's wines here!

The rest of the week we have been doing different things in the cellar to get used to the tasks we will be asked to complete during vintage. I cleaned tanks and transferred wine with my new French friend Aude-Line (pronounced OOH-dah-lean) and got to learn about barrel care with the Pinot Noirs. Tomorrow we will be assigned a shift (day or night), as well as what area we'll be spending most of our time. For instance, some people will be assigned to grape receiving and get to be the first ones to survey this year's crop as the grapes are de-stemmed and sent to the presses or tanks. I'm excited to see what I'll be doing!

There are so many nationalities represented here in our vintage crew: France, Northern Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Greece, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Austria...it's really amazing to me. This weekend is filled with parties on both Saturday and Sunday. We are all taking advantage of our only free weekend before shift work starts. Then we will run 24 hours per day on two 12 hour shifts. Below I've put some pictures of my first week, enjoy:)

The first grapes of vintage, Gewurztraminer

Misa and I toasting the grapes

We had Champagne for our toast:)

Dinner out with my friends Aude-Line, Nuno, & Misa (taking the picture)

View of Yealands Estate seaside vineyards (photo credit: Nuno)

Yealands baby doll sheep (photo credit: Yealands Estate Winery)

Yealands Kunekune pigs (Photo credit: Paul)

Yealands Estate Winery cellar door (photo credit: Yealands Estate Winery)

Yealands Estate Winery (photo credit: Yealands Estate Winery)

Yealands Estate Winery cellar and cellar door (photo credit: Yealands Estate Winery)

Friday, March 14, 2014

Nelson & Abel Tasman

On Friday I spent the day in Nelson, and because I was traveling solo I booked a day trip with a company to the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. A bus picked me up at the beginning of the day and took me to Marahau. I was loaded onto a speed boat sitting on a rack, pulled by a tractor. They used these cute little Ford tractors to pull the boats to the ramps. The skipper, Brett, and I were the only ones in the boat for a while so we chatted and made our way to pick up literally a boat-load of Germans at another beach. Once we were all packed onto the tiny speed boat we started our adventure. Brett drove us by Split Apple Rock, made of the characteristic golden granite that makes up the beaches in this area. We then rode to Adele Island, a predator free island in Abel Tasman National Park that is home to native birds and New Zealand fur seals.

After this it was time for Brett to drop us all off at Torrent Bay to begin our coastal tramp. I hiked from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay (2.5 hours or 7.7 km), and then from Bark Bay to Onetahuti (2 hours or 6.1 km). Although this was an 8.5 mile tramp, it didn't seem like it at all! I've included a lot of pictures because thus far, Abel Tasman is the most beautiful place I've been to in New Zealand!!! The beautiful clear, blue waters and golden sand beaches were a perfect backdrop to my day. It was also very warm so at the end when I reached Onetahuti I was able to take a swim. Our skippers picked us up at a designated time in the afternoon. I'm glad I didn't miss the boat because if so you either had to walk back or spend the night. We then rode to Tonga Island right off the coast of Onetahuti to see more fur seals. I felt sad for the females because our skipper said after their 11 month gestation period, they climb up into the bush to give birth, spend a couple of weeks, and when they come back down to the shore they are "immediately knocked up again" and those are his words, not mine. On the ride back to Nelson my legs started to hurt, and to say the least I slept very well that night.

Today I rode the bus to Blenheim where my new housemate, Pat, picked me up at the station. I was surprised to learn that I'll be rooming in a house with three guys: Pat, Dave, and Aaron. Also Pat has two dogs named Crank and Bear. I can definitely say that this will be a social experiment in my life considering I have never lived with men besides my dad before. For instance, I was offered a breakfast of two hamburgers, toast, spaghetti from a can, and a fried egg...which I ate gladly because I was starving. Pat said we'll be eating a lot of meat because these guys go hunting all the time. There are pictures and DVDs of them catching wild boars. I'm looking forward to this new adventure, wish me luck!

Split Apple Rock

New Zealand fur seal, Adele Island

New Zealand fur seal, male marking his territory

Torrent Bay, Abel Tasman National Park

Halfway Pool between Torrent & Bark Bays, Abel Tasman

South Head look out, Abel Tasman

South Head lookout, Abel Tasman

They had two of these bridges in the park, 5 people max at a time

Onetahuti

New Zealand fur seal, Tonga Island

How they get the speed boats into the water

The tides are huge here: the water was at these rocks in the morning and now look at the afternoon...

Wellington (Part II) & Picton

On our last morning in Wellington, Mariel and I decided to climb yet another hill to look out over the city. The first picture below is the city street we climbed just to get to the entrance of the Mt Victoria summit walkway. Although the weather was overcast, the view of the city was very clear. Wellington has a green zone around it that was set aside when the city was first founded. Although the green zone is down in size by about one-third, it still gives citizens million dollar views of nature. In the afternoon I parted ways with Mariel and took the Cook Strait Ferry to the south island and landed in Picton. The sun had come out by then and it was an enjoyable ride across the water. It didn't really feel like you were in the ocean because we went by land all the time. I especially loved seeing the adorable houses that we passed, each with their own little beach and accessible by boat only. Picton was a very cute seaside town, and I only stayed there one night to catch the bus to Nelson the next day.

I am very sad that my time traveling with Mariel has come to an end, but I hope that we can meet up after my harvest job to travel the rest of New Zealand!

Hill Mariel and I climbed to get to the Mt Victoria path

Mt Victoria look out, Wellington

Cook Strait Ferry

An adorable, beach side home

Interislander Ferry I rode on

Picton

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Wellington (Part I)

After a 5.5 hour bus ride Mariel and I arrived in Wellington yesterday. It feels weird to be in a bustling city again, after seeing so much nature these past couple of weeks. We walked the 25 minutes with our heavy packs to the Cambridge Hotel & Backpackers, which is by far the nicest hostel we have stayed in yet. The bathrooms are a big part of that because there are about 10 clean showers to use in individual stalls…you know you’ve been traveling for a while when the prospect of a clean bathroom is exciting to you! That afternoon we took the Wellington Cable Car up the hill to see the Botanic Gardens. We went through the paths on the “bush walk” (again, a little staged when you’ve actually been tramping through the bush) and found some of the lamps that are part of the nightly light exhibition going on right now.

Our first full day in Wellington we spent hours going through all of the exhibits in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, or Te Papa as most people call it. Te Papa is the national museum of New Zealand. I learned that sometimes the country is called “Aotearoa,” and in the Maori language it translates to “land of the long white cloud.” Te Papa has many facets of New Zealand’s history including the natural world (skeletons of whales, birds, and a colossal squid), Maori culture, New Zealand history dating back from when humans first stepped onto land through the 20^th Century, historical and contemporary art…the list is endless. One of my most vivid memories of the exhibits is of WOW, which stands for World of Wearable Art. It’s an annual competition where artists put forward entries using any materials imaginable. Some of the “clothing” we saw today were made from wool, tin, pine needles, and wood. They also showed projections of the WOW show on the walls in between exhibit cases; sometimes the pieces were shown in runway-type shows and others part of dance pieces. I think it would be an amazing experience to see the show live so I’m going to keep my eye out for it! This afternoon we walked along Lambton Quay and saw the Parliament Building or “Beehive,” Parliament Library, and St Paul’s Cathedral. A short walk away on Mulgrave Street is Old St Paul’s Church, which is the best example of a gothic cathedral made of timber.

I feel very sad that tomorrow Mariel and I will part ways; I will take the Cook Strait Ferry to Picton on the south island and Mariel will take a bus back to Auckland. Tonight we will have a celebratory drink! I’m glad we’ll have the morning together tomorrow, likely take a tour of the parliament building and see the Museum of Wellington City & Sea. My only regret is that we didn’t have time to see Zealandia. It’s an ecological sanctuary that is trying to give people the experience of what it was like to be the first person to step into the NZ bush over a thousand years ago. At night they give guided tours where you can encounter kiwi birds, along with the other 30 species of birds and reptiles they have in the Sanctuary Valley. Oh well, it gives me a reason to come back to Wellington!