Some more changes.......

It has been a bit longer than normally before this update, but I had to concentrate on other issues for a while. Among which:

· House sale
Of course I am far away here on the Mainland (the South Island of NZ is called the Mainland), but this subject was constantly on my mind. We have had a lot of viewers through the house and finally got one offer in. However, that was a few days later withdrawn which was possible on basis of one of the conditions of the contract. So, we are back to square one now and will just see what happens. The market is now really getting into the Xmas slow down, so we do not expect anything to happen between now and February. Therefore Marco has decided to stay in the house and try to upgrade it a bit and market it again at a later stage unless something is going to happen out of the blue.

· Working at Seresin’s Estate
At the end of October my work experience started. The plan was to do as much different work on the vineyard as possible, but at the biodynamic vineyard one of the big problems is weed control. Since no herbicides are used to control these, there are only mechanical ways of controlling the weeds. One of these is a tractor with blades on each side that can cut the weeds from under the vines. Since my start my main task has been to drive this tractor. I must admit that it is quite boring work, but with some music via the iPod it is bearable. Apart from that I have done a little bit of shoot thinning and some wire lifting. We are in the middle of the growing season and because of the rain early on and the sunny conditions of the last weeks the vines grow like mad. So not to get too much vigour on the vines it is necessary to get rid of some of the shoots, so to be able to get enough energy from the plant to the fruit instead of to the leaves. Furthermore, the grapes need sunlight to ripen and an excess vigour would prevent the sun to get to the grapes.

· Integrating in Blenheim
I have also been busy with trying to make some contacts in and around Blenheim. This is not always very easy, but that is mainly my own problem. I haven’t yet joined a group of any kind via which I could meet people, but on the other hand slowly I start recognising people in town. It all just takes time and I realise that Welly Rocks in Wellington was a perfect opportunity to meet a great bunch of people!

· Final exam results?
We still did not receive our final results back – they were promised for the end of November, but heya this is laidback rural New Zealand. So, I guess it will take until January to get the results to everyone – LOL.

· Outward Bound Scholarship
In the mean time I had applied for a scholarship for a course at Outward Bound, see: http://www.outwardbound.co.nz/. This will be awarded on 17 December and I do not exactly know at this moment what and when it will be, but I am very excited to have won this scholarship. Some people who have done a course at Outward Bound say that it was a life-changing experience! Could even more be changing in my life – sometimes I have the feeling that it has been enough since the last few years, but on the other hand I have never a dull moment and can not easily get bored this way!

· “Cadetship”
Via our school an opportunity was presented to the first year students that had passed all exams and that at least had residency in NZ to apply for a ‘cadetship’ at one of the wineries/vineyards in Marlborough. The place is The Crossings, see: http://www.thecrossings.co.nz/. It meant that they offered a workplace for two years during which a student would work full time and finish the last year of studies online during that two year period. This sounded like a great opportunity for me so I applied and was offered the position!!! However, it turned out that the school can not produce all the papers on line that are needed, so probably I will be working 4 or 3 days a week and attend classes on the other day(s). The details need to be finalised but I will probably start somewhere in January. I plan to have a bit of a cycling holiday first, because I will have very busy times ahead of me.

This was my ‘news’ of the month in brief. Tomorrow I will be travelling to Wellington to finalise my ‘life’ there: packing stuff, having a splitting up gathering at our house, attending a concert, drinking some wines etc. etc.

Never a dull moment!
And most of the time I am able to keep on smiling……..


Cheers,
Anita