“It isn’t until you stop that you realize how fucked you are.”. These words of Sam quite accurately describe how the long days in the vintage feel. During the work days there aren’t really any breaks. One jobs follows the next and the machines are always moving as they don’t make any money while standing around. After work we usually sit in the shed for a beer or two and because it is the first time my body can relax I feel like I had a whole six-pack afterwards.

The weather has improved over the last days and we got some work done. Some vineyards are hit by diseases like botrytis but most are still ok. The rain also left many blocks as big muddy puddles which is quite a problem when heavy machinery has to get through there. The harvesters got stuck a couple of times but with the help of one or two additional tractors they got pulled out again.

At the moment the Barossa area is getting a lot of rain. That’s bad for me for two reason. Firstly the grapes can’t be harvested when it’s raining because the harvester can’t separate the wet leaves from the fruits. Secondly the grapes had enough rain and any more could do serious damage. The grapes get mouldy and prone to diseases. I’m concerned that the harvest might come to an early end, taking away from me the opportunity to earn money for a trip to Asia and Europe.

Back in Adelaide for a couple of days now. There is probably no work till Tuesday and I didn’t feel like hanging around in that old farm house. It’s a fine place to sleep at but there’s not really anything else to do. Work in the vintage is, as already mentioned, highly irregular. Right now all the big wineries have filled up their fermenters and don’t need any more grapes for the next days.

The last days have been pretty busy and working times have been all over the place. Yesterday I started at 2:30 am, worked till 1pm, went home to sleep and came back at 7pm for a couple more hours. As I’ve been told that’s pretty standard for vintage. “Sleep is overrated.” or “Eight hours off? Don’t get bed sore.” is what my co-workers say about it. My work is usually two or three different jobs on the tractor or harvester each day and in between there is cleaning up and moving the machinery to the next job.

One week after my first experience with night work I now have a chance to get used to it. At 3am in the morning I left Adelaide to start work on the vineyard at 4:30. This time not as a tractor driver but on the harvester with Jim. That harvester is a huge 9.5t load of steel and needs a driver and somebody to have a look if everything is working alright - my part.

When I did some research on which farm to visit next I found out that the grape picking season is about to start around Adelaide. That brought up the question of whether I could make some money while accumulating the necessary farm work time for my second year visa. Regular fruit picking is still not an option as it is backbreaking work and shitty pay. I don’t like jobs that involve either of that.

On Sunday some people from my friend’s company went on a wine tasting tour to Barossa Valley and I was invited to join them. There were around 30-40 people and we had a coach organized for us. The bus driver was a really relaxed and funny guy: “Hey everybody, welcome to the tour. My name is Dis but if you forget that, ‘Hey you!’ is totally acceptable.”. Barossa Valley is a major wine producing area in Australia and located around 60km north of Adelaide.