Milton Vineyard

After only two days off, we are already starting to work at Milton Vineyard. Milton Vineyard is located just a few kilometers behind the walnut farm, across from Freycinet National Park. Together with Leila, we rent a house in Swanwick, a tiny little village at the entrance of the national park. So Swansea is actually right across from us, but since we don't have a boat, we have to take the long way around. It takes us 30 minutes by car to get to the vineyard and 40 minutes to Swansea. The house is huge. There are four bedrooms with a total of 15 beds, so plenty of options for the three of us. It has a nice big kitchen with everything you could need and then some, a living room with a fireplace and a huge TV. We enjoy the size of the house and I spread out a bit in almost every room, just because I can. The work at the vineyard is good. The vineyard is small and manageable. The owner, Michael, a man in his 60s, is a friendly and helpful person. He often works with us and shows a lot of interest in us. We work from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm. The first few days go by so quickly that I can hardly believe it. The grape harvest took place in April, and then we have to wait until all the leaves fall off the vines. First, Michael sends a team with electric garden shears through the rows of vines to cut off all the arms of the vines. Here, three to four arms should remain. Then Flo, a Tasmanian, and I come into play. Our task is to pull out the cut-off branches and leave them on the ground. The work itself is not particularly difficult, but it still drives me to madness! We do have a small pair of garden shears that can be used to cut tangled branches, but grapevines have many little tendrils that cling to the many wires that are supposed to keep the plants in shape. In the worst case, I just freed the branch from one wire and when pulling it out, it clings exactly to another wire. When the branches hang just a little, I always try to pull them with a little more force and they usually slap me back. Yeah, I didn't enjoy that at all! Actually, the work is easy, and actually the day goes by very quickly. However, it is difficult to get out of bed in the morning and find motivation. After two weeks at the vineyard, our walnut friends have also made it, and we invite them all to spend the night together in Swanwick. We have a nice fire on our covered terrace and thus bring the walnut season to a successful end. Then it's back to the wine. We learn from Michael that he doesn't want to hire any more people, which is a shame because we would have liked to bring Leila on board as well. Leila cooks a lot in the house and is often alone. We work during the day and are tired in the evenings. I feel like I can't do justice to her. After three weeks, she decides to leave Tasmania and go to Melbourne. Said and done, on a sunny Thursday, we take her to Hobart Airport. It feels strange to say goodbye to another family member in this place. Finally, something happens at work. We move on to the next step. All the branches have already been pulled out and now we have to select two arms to wrap around the lower wire, called the fruit wire. This work is more challenging and more fun, and as a little bonus, I don't have to endure as many slaps. We work with many Australians, they are all a bit older and mostly talk about hunting, chopping wood, or cars. We try to connect, but we also realize that we may not want to. From day to day, it becomes difficult to get up and just keep going. One week after Leila left us, we move to a one-room apartment in beautiful Bicheno. Everything suddenly feels much smaller, but also much warmer and cozier. The commute to work has maybe been shortened by five minutes for us, and there is a small village store right in Bicheno, but still it is hard to keep us in Tasmania and at the vineyard. It's strange how difficult it can be to do such a simple job every day. After just one week in Bicheno, we decide to trade in our car for a van and leave Tasmania.