We took the ferry at the end of January to the South Island. It was clear from the beginning - we needed money. The job search was initially very difficult. We first tried the Queen Charlotte Drive, a drive through the Marlborough Sounds, to explore some of the scenery of the South Island. We quickly realized that this took too much time. We only realized at that time that our Work n´Holiday Visa was only valid until April, so we had a bit of pressure to earn money. We initially headed to Nelson in the hope of finding a job there. After a night in a parking lot, we received a response from a hostel in Blenheim, which supposedly had good contacts with vineyards. So, off to Blenheim, was the plan. We initially checked into the hostel in Blenheim, from which we also received a list of contractors from various wineries. Days passed and so did the chance to earn money. After the fifth day in the pretty terrible hostel, we finally received a response. We were invited for a conversation at a garbage dump. We were supposed to sort garbage at a recycling company. Well, better than nothing, we thought. One shouldn't be picky. 😊 In the evening, we received a call from a contractor from a vineyard. "Please come in ten minutes to my house. I am very busy," he sounded really stressed. Sure. And off we went. The work initially sounded unpromising, as he couldn't guarantee us work every day. Nevertheless, we followed our gut feeling and agreed to it and canceled the recycling company. We started the next day on the winery.It was terrible. We felt like slaves. Everything had to be done faster and without mistakes. At the end of the day, we managed 10 hours, of which two hours were deducted because some idiot cut off 110 bunches of grapes instead of 40. Our contractor and boss, Reedy, was so angry and yelled at us terribly. For me and Bibi it was clear: we didn't want to work there the next day. Nevertheless, we forced ourselves out of our little bed in the morning and drove to the agreed meeting point. It was completely strange... we were supposed to wait for Reedy away from the other workers... Bibi and I, and two other Czech girls, were supposed to follow him with our van. He led us to a vineyard with young plants. We were supposed to pull out the shoots and also tape the plants to the wires. That was a pretty cool job. That was the beginning of a pretty pleasant job on the vineyard.In addition to taping, leaves plucking, second sets plucking, fruit dropping, we also had to remove bad rot and clip nets against birds. Then the work started to become fun.Every two weeks, Bibi, I, and the two Czech girls, Petra and Hana, took care of the young plants and pulled out the shoots. I even had the pleasure of tensioning the net with the tractor with the nice Indian worker, Sonny. So I got to drive the tractor.I certainly didn't miss out on that. Sonny was really happy with me. Even after wild party nights, we worked 11-12 hours on Sundays and checked off our 60-hour weeks. The money was pouring in. Our bank account quadrupled after just three weeks. We were happy. However, our boss Reedy often said that we should look for another job because he couldn't offer us so much work. So we were constantly looking for jobs. And from one day to the next, we received a charming job offer, which we immediately accepted. You will find out where the journey took us in my next blog.
