Busselton

Amanda smiled and waved at me as I looked around in front of the bus stop, thankfully I found her on Facebook before I came here or I would have had no idea who to look for.Excitement was pumping. I hoped into her car and she took me for a tour of the main two streets of the city and I got a glimpse of the famous mile long jetty. She seemed nice and friendly and her house was cute, only a few minutes from the beach. We opened an unlabeled bottle of crisp chardonnay that my future boss Bruce had made and talked while eating pizza at the countertop. I was relieved that my new house was cool, my housemate was nice and I was so happy to have a little wine buzz to chill the nerves of newness. We talked for hours until we both realized that the next day was Monday and work would start early. I slept well, relaxed.

Shayne picked me up in the morning and drove me to my first day of work, she was really nice and a great first impression of what work would be like. Everyone gathered around the board in the winery, laughed and said hello before giving the new people a tour. There are only about 12 people who work here, I make up 1 of 4 girls of course. I'll be working with two other interns, Lois from New Zealand and Steven from Washington who both seem really chill and nice, I think we will get along well. After meeting everyone and taking a tour, Louis, Steven and I spent the rest of the day washing huge bins and labeling boxes. I've been working with Melia the past two days; we racked a tank of red and white then I learned to sanitize tanks. Today I sanitized tanks pretty much all day, that's what winemaking is all about. It is so tiring lugging around huge hoses and pipes, cleaning for hours and running up and down stairs in heavy boots, and I know it will get harder once harvest really starts. I did get one fun job though, I hand pressed some grape samples and did analysis for Bome, TA and pH. I had totally forgotten all the analysis stuff but it's easy and I remembered quickly. Bome is a new one though, they use it instead of brix, apparently Bome measures alcohol level while brix measures sugar. I really like how everyone is so focused on teaching us how to do everything, I am so glad I wasn't just thrown in, told to do stuff and yelled at when I messed it up. Everyone is really nice and fun, we all take a coffee break and lunch break together and Bruce emphasized that it is a very important part of the day.I definitely need to work out my food situation because I don't feel like I'm getting any protein lately, a grocery trip would be super nice…too bad all the freaking stores close at 4. I am also trying not to get frustrated that I can't get to the bank to set up a bank account or get the store to buy an internet card. The timing is frustrating and on top of that I can't get anywhere by myself since I don't have a car. Oh well, no use worrying. Hopefully I can get internet this weekend and maybe I can make it to the bank before 5 on Friday (their late night). I am supposed to get my first paycheck tomorrow but they are not sure how they will pay me, oops. Whish I would have know this last week and I would have set up an account in Perth. Anyway, I saw a kangaroo tonight! I have been looking for them, Amanda keeps driving me around looking for them but I didn't see any until tonight. It seemed like a zoo though because they were in a field behind a fence, I'm sure I'll see lots more. It was so nice to take a walk tonight after work. I was kind of glad to go alone although I felt a little bad leaving Amanda, but I really didn't want to have to think of things to talk about. I popped in my headphones and listened to Donovan Frankenreighter sing along with the waves and tried to relax. The beach is so amazing, it makes me happy and instantly chill. I love it. Work and walks on the beach is about all I've done this week and its Wednesday already. I can't wait to get everything set, hopefully by next week, because I feel a little up in the air right now and haven't talked to anyone at home for over a week.It will work out, just might take longer than I wanted it to. It's almost 11 so I really need to go to sleep, hopefully I won't be too tired in the morning.