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Taking a detour through and area called McRae (town was literrally 5 houses and a pub) I arrived in Alexandra where I was staying for a few nights to try and find work. The hostel I stayed in wasn't the best but I think that had more to do with the residents than the actual hostel.
Having signed up to a local agency I relaxed and explored the town a bit. Although not a small town Alex isn't the biggest either but it's nice enough. Though there are certain things that feel a bit dated.
A few nights in Alex then I moved half an hour up the road to Cromwell for a night. A smaller town but with a nice feel to it and lovely historic quarter. Most of this area has gold mining heritage and its easy to imagine horse and cart and pipe smoking men leaning on corners with a tipped hat.
Still no sign of a job and to save a bit of money I moved to a campsite for a few nights. Low and behold a fell into a job. The owners of the campssite also run a vineyard at Gibbston, near Queenstown, and were looking for another worker. I was given a trial at shoot thinning and after a few days they were happy enough that I knew what I was doing and kept me on! 3 weeks later and I've been dreaming about bloody grape vines everynight since day 7. At least we got weekends off! My last two days were on a different vineyard on the Wanaka road and the owners were lovely but the bud rubbing was torture. Wire lifting was a relief!
Weekends I used to explore the area, chill out and recover. I went gold panning (found 2 tiny pieces but gold is gold!) and visited Glenorchy and Queenstown. Glenorchy is a great drive up twisty roads but the views are fantastic. Queenstown is just tourist central. So busy, crowded and geared towards trips and activitied it's not that enjoyable. Going to try and head back near the end of Summer when it will hopefully be less busy
Throught the agency I signed up with in Alex I'd managed to get a job on an orchard cherry picking. So for possibly a month I will be up and down ladders, filling 5kg buckets of cherries round my neck! The glamour!
Lx
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