Working life... and another trip around....

Thank you all for your input into my decision making about what to do after I have graduated (assuming this is really going to happen in December). No, I have not made a decision yet; I will need a few more weeks for that.

Last time I told a bit about school stuff, but since I am working three days a week in the winery I will try to explain what a working day can look like. I am sure that a lot of you will have some romantic ideas about working in the wine industry. Everyone who has ever done some wine tours/tastings and is shown a winery and vineyard or watched programmes on TV will agree. However, what is life of a cellar hand / laboratory technician in a winery really about – is it romantic…..? Decide for yourself…

. Getting up around 6.30 to be able to leave by car around 7.30 for an 8.00 start in the Awatere Valley (around 20 minutes drive).
· Taking samples from tanks to do analyses on in the laboratory. The temperature there is around 13°C this time of the year (the temperature in the winery is often a little bit colder even).
· Transferring wine from one tank to another to ‘rack off’ the lees. This means that you have to set up a pump with hoses that need to be cleaned and sanitised before use. Then connecting the right hose to the right outlet/inlet on the right tanks until all the wine is transferred and only the lees is left in the empty tank.
· Cleaning the empty tank, which means hosing it out with water, cleaning with cleaning agent, hosing out, then sanitising the tank and fittings and ready…… In the mean time you get wine, lees and water over you when you are not careful.
· Adding fining agents and/or sulphur dioxide (to protect the wine) to tanks and covering tanks that are not totally filled with gas, this is also to protect the wine from oxidation.
· Taking samples from barrels that have Pinot Noir to go through malo-lactic fermentation (second fermentation). To get to the barrels sometimes it is necessary to climb on top of the barrels that are stacked four layers high. Actually you need to be a monkey to do this well!!
· Etc.etc.etc.
· Heading home around 5pm – having a shower and preparing food for dinner and lunch for the next working day.

There must be time to play when working hard – so, before Mauricio heads of to work a vintage in the USA he wanted to see a bit more of the South Island. We planned a roundtrip of four days, which is not long but enough to show him the East and West Coast and the Central part of the northern South Island.

First of all we went to St Arnaud (Nelson Lakes Area) where we made a bush walk along Lake Rotoiti before heading to Westport via Murchison and the beautiful Buller Gorge.

Unfortunately, this day it was pouring down, but the other days were full of bright sunshine, as can be seen on the pictures. After Westport of course the first stop is Punakaiki where the famous pancake rocks and the blowhole need to be seen.

Although we were at the right time (high tide) to see the blowhole, there was not a lot to be seen. But the rocks were nice and we made a good walk along the beach before heading on to Greymouth and going inland from there. Of course we had to stop in Reefton, a town that I always see as a kind of ‘wild-west’ village. Further along the route we came past the Maruia Springs, a place that I had not been before – and we decided to stop and have a look. It was a very great surprise to find it was a Japanese place that had a lot of serenity. It is located on the foot of some mountains and the sun was shining brightly. The pools were small, but there were hardly any other people around. It was so very relaxing – especially the private spa pool……….

It is a place I will definitely go back one day – maybe even to stay, because there is a resort and Japanese restaurant as well.

After that we went to Hanmer Springs to stay for the night. Here we stayed at a backpackers run by a Dutch couple. It was a great place, more like a small hotel than a backpackers hostel. It was not too crowded in Hanmer at this time of the year although it was Saturday. The pubs were busy however since the All Blacks played against the Wallabies (Australia). Everybody was happy at the end of the evening because the ABs destroyed the opponent on the field. The next day we made a long, enjoyable walk through the bush and then it was time to go back to the East Coast.

We ended up in Kaikoura, a place I normally just pass through or stop for a coffee/lunch on the way. It was great to stay here the night and to be able to explore the surroundings. Unfortunately, then it was time to go back to always lovely Blenheim.

Cheers,
Anita

Student Life....

The last few weekends I have been active with tramping etc. but suddenly real student life started again, although…….

Last week we ended the week on Friday with a trip to Picton and watching and listening to a Jazz duo in one of the café’s there. Not a lot of people attended the performance, but the atmosphere was nice and the singer and guitarist were a pleasure to the ears. It is still a miracle to me why it is so difficult in Blenheim to find gigs like that.

The next day we had a bbq party at one of the classmate’s. It was nice to have a party again after quite a while and we had a nice time chatting, drinking and dancing. On the Sunday unfortunately the weather was really bad and thus not a lot of excitement was to be found outdoors. Luckily there is always homework and study, although after a night partying that is not easy to get your head around at, so it was more like a lazy Sunday.

My regular weeks at the moment consist around a Monday at school, Tuesday/Wednesday work, Thursday school and Friday work. Last Thursday we checked out one of the newly opened restaurants in town. The food was enjoyable but the service was not on an acceptable standard to us, mainly Europeans. Maybe we are too fuzzy? Then it was time to relax a bit on Friday night at home with a movie. Since my injury earlier this year I have seen a huge amount of movies. More than I have seen during the rest of my life, with exception of course of the Film Festivals visited in Rotterdam, where I often watching 4/5 movies a day.

On Saturday we had some people around for dinner and that was another pleasant night with some good wines. And what was on the menu?...Mauricio’s Pizza again!

In the mean time the end of the course comes in sight – only around 2.5 months to go!!! So it is getting time that I decide on what to do next. However, there are a few possibilities and it is hard to figure out what would be best. Basically the choices I have are:

· Working full time at my current work at The Crossings where I have another year’s contract
· Studying full time for my bachelor’s degree in wine production and viticulture, either in Blenheim or Christchurch
· Studying part time for bachelor’s degree – or via distance learning
· Trying to find job in other part of New Zealand
· Going overseas to gain more experience in a different country – choices could be Spain, France, Italy, Chile or Argentina.

Anyone who has an idea about any of these or other options, I am open to anything at the moment. So bring on the ideas, please!

Cheers,
Anita