Broke-o

Well, what can I say? I'm out of money. I knew it would happen eventually. Time to work, borrow money and use credit cards. I can't complain too much because I have made it pretty far. When we arrived in Queenstown on Wed. we stopped in at a job agency to see if they had any work available and they did. She asked us to show up on Thurs. morning at 7am to do some vineyard work. So, the 3 of us worked on a vineyard for 8 hours cutting green grapes off the vines. It was pretty easy, psychologically pleasing work and the day went by pretty fast. I-pods are a necessity. Friday, we got to do some housekeeping work. My job was pretty easy. We had to clean time-share units but they were already mostly clean and we were encouraged to take our time. So, my first two days of work went pretty well. Monday rolled around and I was sent to a different vineyard (this time without Katie and Drew). It took 1 1/2 hours to drive there and the work was really strenuous on our backs. The day went by really slow and we were all in pain by the end of it. With the drive and breaks and what not, I was gone from 6:45am to 6:00pm but only got paid for 8 hours. Needless to say, it felt like a long day. Tues. and Wed. of this week has been rainy so they have cancelled work at the vineyards. Even though Monday was pretty painful, I am glad that I was able to experience this type of work. It is kind of cool to think that I have worked on a vineyard in New Zealand. I know of course that my time working was so short that I have no idea what it would be like to do this all the time, but it was cool none the less. Most of the other workers were just passing through Queenstown and, like me, just needed some money to fund their travels. Some older New Zealanders drive around the country working on vineyards and living out of campers. It would be quite a life.
The vineyards are gorgeous by the way.