Wanderer shares Australian work and travel experiences.
BY JENNIFER BOURASSA
Light's Beach in Denmark (australiassouthwest.com).
First off, I’d like to say thank you for the emails and Facebook postings. I know I’ve been horrible at keeping contact individually but the internet isn’t always available or cheap and though I may have champagne tastes, I’m definitely on a beer budget.
And now here we go!
I’m now living in a hostel in the South West of Western Australia called Denmark. I got here on Tuesday and have fallen in love with the place. It’s a tiny village with an artsy culture 10 km from the ocean loaded with wineries—totally my cup of tea. I came here to look for some harvesting work in order to get my Visa extended (I need to complete three months).
I found myself a job for a winery called Latitude 35 and will start Monday doing odd jobs around the vineyard, such as wiring the vines, driving an all-terrain Vehicle (ATV) and spraying them. This vineyard doesn’t handpick their grapes, so my boss said he’d give my name to other vineyards that need pickers—this will allow me to get some money rolling into the bank account until the season properly starts.
My ‘cowgirl days’ are about to begin—I even got myself a cowboy hat to boot. I’ll take some pictures of my attempts at working in the country—it should be interesting, I’d say.
I did cheat a little and went out east to Melbourne last week to visit a friend. We were both pretty strapped for cash, so we planned to visit 15 free attractions around town. I’m happy to report that we saw 12—we would have achieved our mission if we had not taken a couple of pub stops. Okay, so we had a little bit of fun—don’t blame us, they were just there.
But honestly, Melbourne is a vibrant city with loads of culture and a great public transport system which makes it easy to get around. I’m already looking forward to heading back. Definite “must-sees” if you go: Botanic Gardens, St. Kilda, a walk by the Yarra River and around the town itself. You’ll find all sorts pubs, and, yes, even a Starbucks. Seriously, I didn’t realize how much I missed their Chai Lattes. Also, check out all the other cafes in Melbourne, too.
As I’m waiting for work to start, I’ve been wandering around Denmark by taking long walks around the many trails and the amazing beaches. I’ve also been cycling around (did 40 km today and got the sore butt to prove it). I’m restricting myself from doing a wine tour—at least until I get paid.
Tomorrow, I will be going out to one of the National Parks which I’m really looking forward to.
So folks, that’s the news from Denmark. Love you all and talk to you soon. iT!
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