Hello to all! It is 9:30am on Easter Saturday and I am up waiting to go to the famous Barossa Farmerst Markets...once the two boys (including steve) get out of bed! 
so i thort that i would take this opportunity to quickly write.
All is good over. It has been an interesting first week...cannot believe that we've been here a week already. we've only worked 4 days out of that week. our first day we only worked that hour and a half, had sunday off cos our boss jackie said it was gona be way to hot (43 it got to). we worked the next four days, and then have had the past two days off. and i heard from one of the gurls that we mite not have work till next wednesday! its hard cos its the end of the picking season, so theres not neccesarily much work going around. but the days weve worked have been 9 hour days. just annoying tho, cos we both want to work and get the money, even tho the work that we are doing is very hard and quite literally backbreaking work.
The atmosphere is really good here. a mix of 10 nationalities when we are all together, although some ppl dont stay where we are staying. we had bbqs for dinner for the first few nites, and then ppl started being adventurous, starting with steve (obviously) so there have been some nice meals for the next few. i even cooked one! well, helped by my two closest gurl mates rachel and caroline. but me being me and slightly bossy, i took over and made a very nice sausage casserole thing. i remembered seeing steve do certain things, and was trying to copy him. and it actually tasted nice, steve was very proud of me.
we went wine tasting yesterday, for the first time since we arrived here, even went to wolf blass!! it was very nice and exciting....most wineries were closed cos it was good friday tho, so we couldnt go many places. we then went wandering thru the bush last nite (i was the only gurl, making sure i was in the middle of the 5 boys with me) trying to look for kangaroos. was so scary at night, but we did manage to see a few kangaroos...
the actual grapepicking is hard work. on thursday we both hurt our backs becos we were picking bush wine, which is really low on the ground, and the bending over kept hurting! its long days, and monday was the hardest cos it was about 40 degrees and hot!! thank God the heatwave stopped on wednesday, so the days have been a bit cooler....and the nights have been absolutly freezing! everyone has gona from no blankets and van doors open to keep the air flowing, to layers of clothing and everything shut to keep the cold out. in the space of a week!
we watched the grapes we picked get processed! they were riesling grapes (the ones of the ground that hurt our backs) and then we saw them get crushed and everything, and even got to taste the final product, which was a beautiful rich grape wine.
oh and two things to finish with... 1) there are a lot of different vines. its not just cos some have grown more then others (which is what i originally thort) but becos they are actually different types! grenash is good to pick, shiraz is ok, bush wine is low and therefore frustrating and hurts ur back. cabernet is the worst. so many vines hiding the grapes, scratches everywhere. very frustrating. sux cos i love cabernet. .....and 2) i am never getting so drunk off wine that it comes up ever again! now that i know the effort that goes into the process, i am going to fully appreciate the wine that i am drinking!
love to all! xxoo and Happy Easter!!
always love reading your journal but I am sorry I just HAVE to be a Mum and say I do understand that you use lotsa shortcuts now (I have obviously just used one!)and because of shortcuts the grammar can sometimes be a little 'lazy' but when you are actually using the same amount of letters I do think it should be spelt correctly!!!! you spell GIRL with an I and not a U. love you very much xx