Working Like a Dog in Australia

It's been madness. Or maybe that's just what's going on inside my head. It's amazing the strange things you think about when you're filling barrels for 12 hours straight. At least I got to listen to my ipod while I was doing it. For those who've never had the honor of filling barrels, it's just a hollow spear connect to hoses and pumps and a tank full of wine. One by one, you fill the barrels. About 100 or so a day, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Of course, I had other duties. Cleaning tanks, crushing grapes, and heaps of other shit, all just the simple labor that goes into making wine. It's part of my paying dues, and it's a hell of a learning experience, as much from what I see as what I do. It's been good for me here at Yering Station.

In the meantime, I've been trying to fit in as much fun as possible. Me and Ciara have gone out clubbing in Melbourne a bunch of times, dancing the night away to Indie rock and staying out late. We've gone wine tasting, visited hippie markets in the countryside, visited various awesome natural places, and partied with co-workers. Speaking of the last...

Saturday was our end of harvest party. The day started with a couple of hours of go-kart-racing. It was awesome. It's the only time where cutting people off is considered good driving. It's quite liberating. I was pretty good and might've done alright, except that I twice sabotaged myself by being over-aggressive and over-eager, and spinning out/crashing. Ciara, on the other hand, was awesome, being the top placing female, and 7th overall out of 22 (I was 16th). After the racing, we all headed over to a really cool bar overlooking the Yarra River, in the middle of Melbourne. We hung out and quenched our thirst, then headed over to a real nice restaurant, Arintje, for dinner. They brought out like 8 appetizers for the table to share, and since most everyone else were light eaters, I got to pig out like my typical no-manners-self (I vow that I will not let this wine industry change me!). Then main course was a nice rare steak. Oh, I forgot to mention, about 22 different bottles of wine were poured, so we each drank about 2 bottles each. Thusly inebriated, we departed the restaurant in surprisingly mild and reserved form. We headed over to an expensive bar and continued drinking, but the place was a bit lame, so we moved on. After getting denied at the first bar (bastards), we went across the street to a cool nightclub. They played a good mix and served $6 red-bull-and-vodkas, so over the course of the next 8 hours or so, each of us drank about 10 of them. Ciara kept trying to fall asleep on the bench on the side of dance floor (and on the dance floor for that matter), so I was forced to force more drinks on her. It was funny-she'd hop up and dance for another half-hour, then the drink would wear off, and she'd sit again. Then repeat cycle.

Anyway, finally we finished dancing at 6AM, when the club closed. We'd planned to crash at my coworker Murray's pad in the city, but he headed off without telling us, so we were stuck. We considered taking the first train back to our house in the Yarra Valley, but it was hours away, and besides, we'd already bought tickets for a footie game the next day (footie is the name for Australian Rules Football, which is something like a hybrid of American football and rugby, but way more interesting and fast paced than either). So we decided to stick it out--and sleep at Hungry Jack's (the Australian front for Burger King...on a side note, there's also Big W, the front for Wal-Mart). Anyway, after passing out on the table over a couple of burgers, Ciara and I were woken up by an employee...who asked if he could clean up the table for us. He politely cleared the food and wiped the table, then let us go back to sleep. When we woke up again a little later, we noticed something odd...there were 7 other 20-somethings in nightclub fits passed out at assorted tables. Apparently, Hungry Jack's is the spot for passing out at 6AM.

So, recharged by our brief coma at Hungry Jack's, we tried to make the most of our day, ie walk around like zombies looking for better places to nap. We tried a shopping mall, but shop-keepers soon showed up, so we took a tram to St. Kilda beach, but it was wet. We checked out the craft market that happened to be going on, then headed back into the city, where we slept on the grass on the riverfront. Eventually, after some lunch, we headed to the footie, which was awesome, if a bit cold (our jackets were with the rest of our stuff, at Murray's place). Finally, we returned home, eager for a hot shower and some sleep. Of course, we were out of hot water. But at least we got to sleep...for about 12 hours.

So, things have been interesting at times, mostly boring and full of hard work. But at least I made a shitload of money with all of the hours, and I now can fund my Southeast Asian adventure. But before we fly to Bali, I have an upcoming week on the road in a camper-van, exploring a bit of Australia. Till later, outie 5000.