Saturday, May 17 – Wednesday, May 21, 2014

     There is only one road north to Milford Sound, a beautiful two hour drive along 119 kilometers of mountain, valley, and waterfall views.  Along the drive we stopped to see Mirror Lakes where the mountains were reflected in tranquil lakes, as well as The Chasm where the Cleddau River has carved the rocks into interesting, rounded shapes.  At Milford we took a cruise out to the Tasman Sea on the west coast of New Zealand.  The area has about seven meters of rainfall annually, which cascades off the cliffs as waterfalls onto the sea water.  Our guide said that there is about five meters of fresh water on top of the sea water of Milford Sound.  The views of the mountains rising directly out of the sea were amazing.  After our cruise, we found a perfect camping spot right on the beach at Lake Gunn just in time to watch the sunset. 

     We had planned on staying in Milford for a few days but the weather turned south with pouring rain all night.  We packed up early and drove to Queenstown the next day.  Queenstown is set on Lake Wakatipu, with brilliant blue water and snow-capped mountain views.  Something that has really stuck in my memory about New Zealand is how clean their water is; from lakes to rivers, you can generally see to the bottom of the body of water, which is something you cannot relate to in the US.  Our first night in Queenstown we drove on a gravel road out to Moke Lake for camping.  The road had a bunch of cattle stops, an area of metal bars so that the animals cannot escape from their grazing areas.  We had to drive through a field of sheep which were running free everywhere, even on the road.  I’ve never been to Montana, but I imagine this is what it would be like. 

     The next couple of days we took our time to explore Queenstown.  We took the Skyline Gondola up a ski lift to the top of a hill.  Here we could get great views of the city, as well as ride a luge track (no snow, it’s like go-karts without engines) down part of the hill.  We also walked around Queenstown Gardens and the lake.  The evening it was nice to have a meal out down by the waterfront, with wine, duck, steak, and delicious sticky date pudding for dessert.  On our last day in Queenstown we hiked Queenstown Hill, about 500 meters to the summit.  To celebrate this feat of physicality, we promptly rewarded ourselves with ice cream from Patagonia, a New Zealand ice creamery. 

     That afternoon we drove to Wanaka, a town that is the gateway to Mt Aspiring National Park.  It rained all night as we camped by Lake Wanaka.  We were relieved in the morning when the sun came out and we were able to take a hike on the Rocky Mountain track (it was definitely true to its name).  Although it was very difficult for me, it was very rewarding because to one side of the summit you could view Lake Wanaka, and to the other side you could see the snow-covered mountains of Mt Aspiring National Park.  True to form, we rewarded ourselves after this 10 kilometer hike with a tasting at Wanaka Beerworks. 

Mirror Lakes, Milford Road

Road to Milford Sound

The Chasm carved by the Cleddau River, the picture doesn’t do the depth of the chasm justice

Waterfall on Milford Sound

There were rainbows all over Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Kea, the South Island’s native parrot outside of the Milford Sound tunnel

Our camping spot at Lake Gunn, right in the woods beside the lake

Moke Lake camping

A true Frenchman, making crepes in the campervan

Queenstown

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

Skyline Gondola view, Lake Wakatipu

Lake Wanaka

View of Mt Aspiring National Park from Rocky Mountain track summit

Tuesday, May 13 – Friday, May 16, 2014

     After breakfast and a walk on the beach we drove from Okains Bay south to Timaru.  It was a good stopping point between Christchurch and Dunedin, as well as being home to my former boss at St James Winery, Andrew.  His parents still live there, and I was able to call them up to arrange a lunch date.  They were so kind to take Paul and me to a brewpub by Caroline Bay.  That afternoon we set out further south to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula.  Part way there we experienced the first hiccup in our van rental…a flat tire.  It wasn’t just a small flat, but a total blow out.  We were on a busy highway and had to drive a short distance on the rim to get to a safe place to try and change it.  By now it was dark and we were relieved when a nice dairy farmer stopped to help us.  It was determined that we did not have the proper tool to lower the spare tire from under the van.  We had to have roadside assistance (they call it AA here, Automotive Assistance…so funny) come to help us.  It took Coran the mechanic exactly 20 minutes to coax the spare tire out from under the van.  We were very happy to be back on our way to Dunedin.

     I was very excited to go to the Otago Peninsula due to it being home to many different kinds of wildlife including albatross, fur seals, sea lions, and penguins!  One morning we parked our van on a gravel road and hiked to Victoria Beach to try and see some sea lions.  Since it wasn’t breeding season there were none to be had, so we had lunch on the beach and continued to the Royal Albatross Center.  We saw one albatross fly overhead as we were down by the water watching a seal nap on the grass.  That evening we waited until dusk to watch the little blue penguins come ashore.  They were adorable, and could probably fit in my hands.  They would come ashore in pairs or groups, hop from rock to rock until they reached the top of the hill, then waddle away to their nesting areas in the grass.  They were quite vocal, and called out to each other to give the all clear before swimming in.  One penguin was alone on his journey to shore and got nervous with all the people waiting and watching him, because he ran off a rock and jumped into the tall grass like it was a diving board.  The next morning we saw the Dunedin First Presbyterian Church, Railway Station, and had delicious coffee at the Octagon (city center part of town). 

     In the afternoon we started our drive to Milford Sound across the South Island.  We are kind of taking a clockwise approach to seeing the sights, because there is generally one road around the whole island.  It makes it easy to plan the trip though, not so many decisions to make about the itinerary.  By nightfall we had reached Te Anau, the gateway to Milford Sound.  

Caroline Bay, Timaru

Lunch with the Meggitts in Timaru

Unfortunate flat tire..yeah, it's really flat

Victoria Beach, Otago Peninsula

Variable Oystercatchers, Victoria Beach

Sleeping seal, Pilots Beach, Otago Peninsula

He woke up and gave us the stink eye!

Pilots Beach

Little Blue Penguins, the best photo Paul could get

First Presbyterian Church, Dunedin

Railway Station, Dunedin

Sunday, May 11, 2014 & Monday, May 12, 2014

Today we took the Naked Bus from Blenheim to Christchurch.  Our bus driver talked the entire five hour journey about everything under the sun:  New Zealand political history, nature, sea salt production, earthquakes, fur seals, tree species that grow best by the beach…  We finally reached Christchurch at dusk and walked to our hostel.  The next day we took a bus out to the airport to pick up our Juicy condo van.  It has the capacity to sleep four people, but Paul has two large suitcases which account for those two other peopleJ  They would sleep up at the top of the van with about one and a half feet of wiggle room.  We sleep down below where the middle seat pulls out into a bed in conjunction with the two bucket seats.  In the back there is a tiny sink, refrigerator, LPG burner, and a couple of cabinets.  We can actually stand up in it without hitting out heads on the roof! 

     That afternoon we stocked up on groceries and set out for the Banks Peninsula to the east of town by the South Pacific Ocean.  By nightfall we had just reached the sea and ended up camping by Okains Bay near Akaroa.  This area was formed by two volcanic eruptions about 8 million years ago; on a map the peninsula has a characteristic cogwheel shape.  We had the entire beach campground to ourselves that night.  We still were trying to figure out how our campervan worked, and instead took advantage of the kitchen facilities at the campground to cook our dinner.  It was getting cooler at nights so we turned on all the gas burners in the kitchen as a source of heat.  It was a great first night, drinking a bottle of Yealands Pinot Noir and eating our first hot meal on the road. 

Our beautiful home for the next 27 days! 

A typical New Zealand landscape, hills covered with white dots of sheep...

Okains Bay Beach

My favorite New Zealand bird, the Pied Oystercatcher

Post Vintage Travel Updates

Hello, it's been a while since I've posted information here!  Since I've last written I worked eight weeks of harvest at Yealands Estate Winery in the red wine night-shift team in Marlborough.  After vintage was over I rented a campervan with my boyfriend, Paul, and we drove 3,800 kilometers all over New Zealand.  There wasn't much in the way of reliable internet on the road, so these posts are grouped into a few days at a time with updates and pictures of what we were up to.  Enjoy!

Marlborough Vineyards

Marlborough wine tour

Another Harvest Update

We are reaching the end of harvest here at Yealands and all the grapes have been taken into the winery.  May 3rd will be our end-of-vintage party, and the winemakers will let us know who will end work and who will be kept for another few weeks to help out.  Either way, I think I'd be happy with whatever decision they make.  I've continued my 12 hour nightshifts, and today is my first day off in about 10 days.  I filled out my time card yesterday morning after my shift, and I've worked 151 hours these past 2 weeks!  I'm definitely looking forward to that paycheck:)  It's very fun on the nightshift though, and we have lots of social events.  Lately we celebrated the 21st birthday of another employee with a party full of delicious food, as well as had an Easter Egg hunt this past Sunday.  Here are some photos from this past month of work.  Also below is a link to a video the winery put together of all the nightshift workers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYzfUzClM3E&feature=youtu.be

Nightshift breakfast BBQ

Jayden's 21st birthday party, all the nightshift ladies

Aude-Line and me, digging out tanks for the red team!

Yealands Vineyards

Awatere Valley

Awatere Valley

Nightshift breakfast at Ritual, a local Blenheim coffee shop (only we drank beers)

Sunrise over Yealands Estate Winery, this past Monday morning

Awatere Valley

New Zealand sheep:) 

Last day roomie breakfast, Chrissy is moving on to work on a farm

Yealands Vintage Update

It's been a while since my last post, and rightly so since I've been living the life of a zombie lately...  We started working around the clock at Yealands this past week, with two different 12 hour shifts.  I'm on nights and it's been a struggle for me to get used to.  The first night I literally felt nauseated...by hour nine I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or throw up.  It's odd, but the last two hours of the shift are always the easiest.  It's when you get about three-quarters of the way through that you're not sure if you're going to make it.  However, since the first few nights I'm feeling much better and have pretty well acclimated my body to the time change.

It's not just the sleeping during the day that's different, but making your body's internal clock change to be hungry at the times when you are supposed to eat (our "lunch" is at midnight or 1am).  A typical day for me involves waking up for work at around 5 or 5:30pm; I make breakfast and always have a strong cup of coffee.  Yealands has vans that drive us to and from work, so I get picked up at about a quarter past six.  It's a 25-30 minute drive over two sets of mountains (insanely curvy roads, one part I've come to call Vomit Pass in my mind due to a girl throwing up the first day of work), so we arrive at around 6:45pm.  We have a coffee or tea in the smoko room (what they call the break room here) and meet up with our teams.  Usually the people on receival bins and presses jump straight to work; you can't stop the grapes from coming in.  So far since vintage started we've processed 5,000 metric tons of grapes  which is about 11,000 pounds.  By the end of harvest they are expecting 20,000 tons.

In the winery I'm on the red team.  We are very international and have Argentina, Canada, France, Chile, and the US represented.  The picture below shows members of my team, plus a few others.  There is a special section of the cellar meant for fermenting red wines only.  Here, I work doing cap management, inoculations, tank dig-outs, pressing, additions, cleaning, more cleaning, you name it!  When red wines are fermented it is done on the must (juice, skins, seeds) to extract color and tannins.  As carbon dioxide is produced, the gas rises to the top of the tanks and packs the must into a cap.  It's important for the health of the fermentation to try and break up this cap, so twice per shift we use compressed gas to "punch down" the cap, which is quite fun!  Inoculations are always a treat for me because I love the smell of rehydrating yeast, reminds me of baking bread:)  The other day I got to climb inside a red tank that had been drained away to shovel out the skins by hand.  All I can say is it was the best workout I've ever had!  I'll write more as things progress here, but I'll be working so much I won't know what to do this next month!  I'm glad though, because when you're extremely tired it's hard to spend money:)

Yealands Red Wine Team, plus a few others.  Red team includes the first 6 people from the left!  

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

Whites Bay, Marlborough