Queen Charlotte Track

I Traded My High Heels for Rubber Boots

It is Sunday, March 30, 2008. I just got home from another 12 hour shift at Delegat's Oyster Bay. I am enjoying a glass...well a couple glasses...of 2006 Jacob's Creek Grenache Shiraz that I purchased at Supervalue this morning at 7:30 AM.

It has been a rough week of work. I have cuts and bruises from lugging all the hoses and machinery around and my feet hurt. Oh how I miss my high heels. My high heels are far more comfortable than the rubber steel toed boots that I am required to wear. I have an Oyster Bay uniform that I wear to work. I was given two shirts and one pair of pants so I do laundry every day. The shirts are denim long sleeve collared shirts and the pants are navy.

The harvest is still slow here. The grapes haven't quite matured and ripened yet, and it has been raining the past two days so things are on hold. It makes for some very long nights. Last night I was busy. I started work at 7 PM and was assigned a COW--Cellar Operation Work Sheet to do an addition via a dripper to a stainless steel tank. Well, a dripper basically drips, drips, drips liquid into the tank and I had to add over 40 Liters of stuff to drip into the tank! So I sat up there and watched it drip and read my Shape magazine that my mom sent me in my goody package. This was how I spent my first hour of work. Then I had to setup some pumps and mix up some additions to add to two more tanks. Setup and watch. Setup and watch. That was my night.

I posted some pictures from when I went hiking, or tramping as they refer to it here, on the Queen Charlotte Track around the Marlborough Sounds.

New Zealand Nights

I just completed my second 12 hour night shift. It is amazing how fast a day goes when you work 12 hour shifts. Here's a breakdown of my typical day:

6:25 PM get picked up by Catch-a-Bus and head to winery
6:35 PM arrive at winery and enjoy a nice espresso
6:45 PM begin work
10:00 PM Smoko-term for New Zealand break
10:15 PM back to work
1:00 AM Lunch/Dinner ???who knows what to call it at this time of night
1:30 AM back to work
4:00 AM Smoko break--this is when I overload on caffeine
4:15 AM back to work
6:45 AM shift change
7:00 AM clock out and board Catch-a-Bus
7:15 AM arrive home and check email
7:30 AM go to bed
1:00 PM wake up and eat breakfast, play on computer, run or go for a bike ride, lay out in sun, etc.
5:00 PM get ready for work
6:25 PM start all over again

The first night went really fast because I spent the first 9 hours power washing barrels and the last 3 hours cleaning bungs,, the rubber stoppers that go into the barrels, and listening to music. Last night, my second 12 hour shift was extremely long since there wasn't any barrel work and no grapes to process. We were given the option to go home, but I didn't think it was a smart since I am trying to switch my sleep schedule and such. I did some additions to tanks, setup for dispatch of wine into trucks, chilled some wine in tanks, cleaned steel railings and then layed on the cement cellar floor for about two hours. Tonight we are supposed to get a couple tons of grapes so we should be busy.

I posted some pictures of the winery. Check them out.

Becky

Delegat's Wine Estate Oyster Bay

Night Shift

Happy Easter everyone!

Harvest has officially begun at Oyster Bay. Today we received the first grapes, Sauvignon Blanc, at the winery. It's 2:09 AM and I am eating dark chocolate, drinking instant coffee and thinking about how I intend to stay awake until 7 AM. Our 12 hour shifts began today, but I was assigned the day off--we get one day off every 14 days and I was lucky enough to get the first day off. So to prep myself for my first 12 hour shift tomorrow night, I am trying to stay awake until 7 AM. I have already painted my toes, plucked my eyebrows, went for a run, went to the local pub for a few drinks with a couple of my housemates and now I am wasting time on the computer.

Today I went for a nice 5 mile run around the countryside of Renwick. I love running here because I am surrounded by vineyards and hillsides. On a side note, it is quite funny to see how the kiwi's manage birds in the vineyard. They actually drive around on a gator/tractor and shoot shotguns to try to scare them away. There are funny signs posted "Shooting in Progress". I have witnessed these shootings firsthand and honestly the birds just fly from one side of the vineyard to the other side. It is quite entertaining. I have signed up to run a half marathon in Christchurch, New Zealand after vintage ends on June 1st. Between working long hours at the winery and running and training, I should keep myself busy and get back into shape so I will be ready for this year's Chicago Marathon in October.

I am thinking about doing another vintage in the United States this fall. I am looking at either Oregon, Washington or somewhere in the Midwest. I would like to be an intern at a smaller scale winery so I can have more responsibilities and variations of job duties. I have applied to a few wineries and will see what happens over the next couple of weeks. If anyone has any connections, please let me know.

Well, I am going to work on captioning my photos so I can post them here and on Snapfish.

Good night!
Becky

New Zealand St. Patty's Day

Sweet As Bro

Picture of Me, Andries and Gabrielle

As the kiwi's say life is "sweet as bro!" here in New Zealand. Translation for "sweet as bro" is rather good, great or cool. I cannot believe that I left Chicago almost one month ago.

I just finished my second week at Delegat's. The grapes haven't been harvested yet, so there hasn't been much vintage work to do at the winery. Wednesday we found out our shifts and job assignments. I was assigned the white cellars position for vintage so I will be working with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. This week I have cleaned barrels--this entails dumping the lees, washing them out with water, steam cleaning them, wiping them with sulfur, scrubbing off stickers and putting sulfur water in them. Other than that I learned how to setup and clean tanks, scrubbed the floors, bagged sulfur additions, cleaned the boiler room floor and did lots of walking around and socializing.

Wednesday night we had a pre-vintage party at the beach. We drank some beer and wine, played soccer, rubgy and cricket and had a BBQ. It was really fun.

This week the grapes will start to arrive, so we begin our real shifts. I am working the 7 PM to 7 AM shift. I am really excited because when I get off work I will be able to have some day light hours to enjoy. I also get to work with Gabrielle, the other woman in my house. We are going to have a lot of fun!!!

This weekend was fantastic! Friday our house finally got WI-FI hooked up so later this week you can expect some pictures. Friday night I attended a party at one of the other vintage houses in Blenheim. Saturday I got a ride into town to do some major grocery shopping. I was in heaven! It is a 20 minute drive to the nearest real grocery store. I stocked up on so much food because our little grocery store here in Renwick is comparable to shopping for groceries at Walgreens. I spent the entire day eating, uploading pictures online and relaxing. Today five of us went for a bike ride and did some wine tasting in our area. It was sunny and beautiful.

All of my headaches have disappeared and I feel great! I have learned that I need to relax a bit more and enjoy my free time more. I miss everyone a lot and will have more stories to post later this week.

Love,
Becky

I love WI-FI

Great news everybody! We finally have broadband and WI-FI! This is my best day in New Zealand yet. I just finished my second week of work at Delegat's. The grapes aren't quite ready yet, so we have done a lot of socializing, cleaning and standing around. It is great here. I will write a more in-depth post tomorrow. As they say here Sweet As!

Becky

G'Day Mates

G'Day Mates!

I have been in New Zealand for a few days now. The journey over here was a bit overwhelming but I survived. My flight left Chicago on Monday at 8:30 and took me to San Francisco where I had a 5 hour layover. By the time I got to San Francisco I had already read a 400 page book. From San Francisco I flew to LA where I had a 2 hour layover before I boarded the gigantic Qantas plane. This plane had 75+ rows of 10 seats per row. It also had an upper deck as well. I was stuck flat in the middle of a 4 person row of course. The best thing about it was the free meals, in flight movies and of course, free wine and sparkling!!! The 12 hour flight went pretty fast--I watched 3 movies and managed to get a little bit of sleep. I arrived in Aukland, New Zealand on Wednesday around 9 AM. Only one more flight to go! I re-checked my bags and went through customs. They welcomed me with open arms. I finally arrived in Christchurch around 10:30 AM. I gathered my belongings and got on a bus to find my accommodations at Charlie B's Backpackers.

After I checked into my nice dorm-style accommodations, I walked around Christchurch. It was very warm out and I was still dressed for winter in the Midwest. I was sweaty and hungry so I stopped at a local pub for some lunch. I had a beer and salad for $30.50 NZ dollars. Things are a bit more expensive here. I went back to my hostel and around 5:30 PM read my book and went to sleep. Don't forget that I had been up for almost 35 hours now without a good nights sleep. I woke up at 5 AM to catch the TranzCoastal train to Blenheim. It was a beautiful train ride down the East Coast of New Zealand. It reminds me a lot of Northern California with the cliffs and beaches.

Someone from Delegat's Oyster Bay was waiting at the train station to bring me to my final destination in Renwick. I live with 9 people. It is a bit like the Real World or my last Nashville trip--inside joke for some of you! There are 7 guys and 2 girls. There are 3 Germans, 1 Austrian, 2 Canadians, 2 South Africans and me the lonely American. Overall, a great group of people. More people will be arriving over the next few weeks. I think there are 3 more houses of people.

Renwick is a very small town. It is even smaller than Stoddard, WI! It has a supermarket, 3 bar/restaurants, a post office, museum and a hotel. Not too much to do here. Blenheim, population of 27,000, is 10K or 6.2 miles away. Yesterday, the 2 German guys and I walked from Renwick to Blenheim. I am a bit sunburned and my feet hurt! I walked 8 miles in flip flops to get to town and then we walked back--this time I was wearing my new running shoes. There is no transportation between the two towns except feet, bike or a taxi. I plan on buying a used bike soon.

Well, I will write more later.

My address here:
31 Alma Street
Renwick, New Zealand 7352

For now,

Becky

Two Days until Departure

My bags are packed, a cat sitter has been found, all of my stuff has been moved into storage and I finished my last day at my job at Bargetto Winery. Now the real adventure begins. Monday morning I depart from Chicago and fly to San Francisco. I have a little bit of a layover in San Francicso and then at 4:30 PM I board Quantas airlines for my 13 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. I arrive in Christchurch, on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 and will spend the day and night here at a local hostel. Thursday I will be boarding the TranzCoastal train to Blenheim, New Zealand.

The time difference from New Zealand to CST is only 5 hours but remember NZ is a day ahead and the time difference from NZ to PST is only 3 hours and NZ is also a day ahead.

Check out the map of NZ.

Cheers!

Becky

Goodbye

To my Friends and Family:

The best move I have ever made was back to the Midwest. At the time, I really didn’t know what to expect. All I know is that I wanted to be closer to my family and to the few friends who I have been rock solid with throughout my life. After a few months back in Wisconsin, I grew bored (go figure, huh?) and decided to move to Chicago. All I can say is that I love Chicago. I have been truly blessed to have met so many great people here. To all my new friends I have met since I moved to Chicago and to all my old friends, you are all great people and I have thoroughly enjoyed the time we have been able to spend together. You are each unique and wonderful people.

For most of you who know me well enough, you know that I have a hard time sitting still. Well, the adventure continues. This time the move is more like a working vacation. February 15, 2008 is my last day of work at Bargetto Winery. I have worked at Bargetto Winery since August of 2004 and have learned so much about the wine industry. Not only did I find my passion in life, wine of course, but it has also influenced how the the rest of my life is going to be spent. On Monday, February 18, 2008 I depart from San Francisco to New Zealand where I will be spending the next three months working the harvest for Delegat’s Wine Estate in Blenheim, Marlborough. Then I am off to explore New Zealand and Australia. If all goes well, I hope to stay abroad until the end of August (Don’t worry Nikki…I will be back in time). I plan on moving back to Chicago in September...just in time for fall, my favorite season, and the Chicago Marathon which I hope to be able to complete by actually running this year. I am guessing I will not have a problem beating my time from last year and setting a new personal record.

Thanks to my family for helping me get things together for yet another move. Thanks to my awesome brothers, Ryan and Robby, for driving down to Chicago to pickup all my stuff. I owe you a Cub's game. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting me store my belongings in the basement and thank you to Nikki for taking care of Javier. I love you all.

Here’s to Nashville and “The Shed”, flooding basements, late nights out in Chicago, the Funeral Dinner, Festivus, Cub’s Games, Thanksgiving in Seattle with a dinner bill of $10 and a drink bill of $150, and more memories to last a lifetime. Whether we met at a bar (even Nick’s Uptown), on the Red Line train, at the batting cages, playing soccer, at work, in Florida or what have you, I am glad that I have had the opportunity to have met you at all. I hope we stay in touch via email (rochester_rebecca@yahoo.com), my blog (http://nzwineadventure.blogspot.com ) or myspace or facebook. My cell phone (831.325.1395) will be shut off on February 18th, so if you want to get a hold of me do so before then.


Love and Friendship,
Becky

Wanted: Cat Sitter

I have a 4 year old male cat named Javier who needs a temporary housing arrangement while I am in New Zealand. My parents cannot take him because they have two hunting dogs who don't know the difference between rabbits, cats and squirrels. If you know anyone who is interested, please email me at rochester_rebecca@yahoo.com. It would be from February to mid-July. Thanks.

Vintage Cellar Hand at Delegat's Wine Estate New Zealand

I begin work at Delegat's Wine Estate as a Vintage Cellar Hand on March 3, 2008. Here is the job posting that I was hired for.

Vintage Vintage Cellar Hand - Marlborough

Delegat's Wine Estate is a leading New Zealand winemaker enjoying global success with its Delegat's and Oyster Bay brands. We have exciting opportunities for Vintage Cellar Hands in our 20,000 tonne, state of the art winery set in the Wairau Valley, Marlborough.

We are seeking dynamic and motivated people with industry or vintage experience. Applicants will require sound attention to detail, solid time management, strong interpersonal and team skills, a self starting attitude with the energy, motivation and stamina required to be effective in a challenging and rewarding workplace.

Employment typically commences in February or early March with peak work patterns of 12 hours per day and 6 to 7 days per week. Vintage typically concludes in late May.
We support our vintage team by providing competitive pay rates, immigration support, location information packs, access to accommodation, daily transport to and from the winery, work clothing and safety equipment, vintage meals each day, and inhouse training processes.

If you have the skill and motivation to be part of a dynamic and professional team please apply.

Introduction to Delegat's Wine Estate

Delegat's Wine Estate is one of New Zealand's largest family owned and family managed winemakers. The Managing Director is Jim Delegat and the Executive Director is his sister, Rosemari Delegat. Their parents, Nikola and Vidosava, founded the family wine business in New Zealand in 1947 after emigrating in the late 1930s from what is modern day Croatia. The original vineyard and winery was established in 1947 at Henderson, west of Auckland city. The grapes have long disappeared but the site is still home to today's modern wineryOur extensive winemaking experience has taken us to New Zealand’s premier wine growing regions, Hawke's Bay and Marlborough. Our vineyards were among the first to be established in these regions, and are now regarded as some of the best in the country. We focus on producing a limited range of super premium wines from the grape varieties that thrive in the cool maritime growing conditions of these regions.Our Delegat’s Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are grown in red metal and gravel soils in Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of the North Island. Our Sauvignon Blanc is grown is on the ancient alluvial river deposits in the world renowned Marlborough region.Our wines benefit from ongoing research, an investment in winemaking and viticultural technology and processes. We were the first New Zealand winery to ferment Chardonnay in a barrel, and we continue to use only the best French barriques for our Reserve wines, as well as temperature controlled tanks to capture the concentrated cool climate flavours that have made New Zealand wines so popular throughout the world.