I think it boded quite well that the town where I ended up going to volunteer as a WWOOFer was named Orange since I am a distinguished alumnus of the Syracuse Orange(men). I arrived in Orange on the afternoon of November 11th via train and coach (bus). The proprietress of Lofty Vineyard, Loretta, came to pick me up at the station and bring me back to the farm. The vineyard is located on the top of a hillside with a beautiful panoramic view of the vines and valley below.
The first day I arrived, I was reprieved of any farm duties and was able to relax and get to know two of my fellow WWOOFers, Marylaine from Holland and George from England, once they came in from their afternoon shift in the vineyard. That night Loretta and her husband Charlie, the winemaker, went out for dinner so Marylaine, George and I made our own pizzas out of French flatbread and a wide array of toppings. For dessert Marylaine had made Dutch cookies which disappeared in a matter of minutes.
In general, WWOOFers work four to six hours a day on organic farms in exchange for their room and board. At Lofty Vineyard, we worked five hours each day--generally three in the morning and two after lunch. The rest of our afternoons were free. When I woke up on Saturday morning, my first task was to dig a hole around a leaky pipe in the front yard so Charlie could get in there and repair it. Loretta loaned me an old pair of paints, boots and dish gloves, but I stupidly wore my own shirt initially. It was quite a challenge to get down to the pipe because it was next to a tree so I kept hitting tree roots and the hole continuously filled with water. After not too long I was pretty well covered in mud and made the wise decision to change into an old shirt to finish the job.
After I finished my digging, I joined Charlie in the winery to help clean up and wash some of the work spaces. I then spent the afternoon helping Charlie's friend, John, to pull empty barrels of the racks in the barrel room and wash them in preparation for the next batch of wine. We had a nifty machine that Charlie had borrowed to clean out the barrels that worked kind of like a car wash. Unfortunately some of the barrels were a bit stubbornly dirty, but we had to wait until the end of the day to clean them with hot water. To use the hot water you had to turn on some sort of generator in the machine, which created a strong fuel smell. We decided that was probably not the most appealing for visitors coming to taste and buy wine in the the Cellar Door tasting room next door.
I ended up working a bit long on Saturday afternoon because I didn't want to leave John by himself with the barrels. By the end of the day, though, I was rather tired and my arms were sore from all the heavy lifting. That night Loretta made dinner and I finally got to try some of the vineyard's wine. Charlie poured some Chardonnay and one of his red blends, which led us to drinking long after dinner had ended. Loretta started putting old records on the player and we listened to music until the wee hours of the morning when we finally headed to bed. Of course, Charlie was up at 6:00am in the fields with the vineyard. The rest of us slept till nearly 9:00.
On Sunday, I worked out in the vineyards for the first time, desuckering the plants. This basically entailed cutting off all of the small branches and growths that were coming out of the trunks of the vines and sucking energy from the rest of the plants. Marylaine and George had electronic clippers, but I was using manual ones so my hand was a bit tired by the end of the day. George, who was feeling the pains of the late night, took a long siesta and ended up working in the winery with Charlie in the afternoon.
That afternoon another WWOOFer, Sarah from Germany, arrived in Orange. She had the day off, but joined us out in the vineyard desuckering on Monday. Then on Monday night, a fifth WWOOFer was added to the crew. Nicolas from France made us all feel rather dense when that night at dinner he started waxing on about the percentage of oak in the wine we were drinking. Apparently he was from a fifth generation winemaking family. Sadly, Charlie was out of town at a conference for the week so there was no one else at the table with whom Nico could truly confer.
While I was WWOOFing, I would head out every day after work on a "kangaroo hunt" in search of Australia's famous animal. Sarah started joining me and just about dusk we would walk to the paddock on the edge of the property to try to catch sight of the hoppers. The first two nights we had no luck and by the third day I was ready to give up. Then George decided he wanted us to show him the spot that Charlie had told us was the ideal place for seeing the hoppers. We headed out yet again and paused midway down the hillside to try to see the 'roos in the valley down below. For the first ten minutes or so it seemed as if our luck was going to be the same as before. Then all of a sudden, George pointed to the top of the hill and said, "hey I think I see something." At first I thought he was bluffing, but sure enough there appeared one and then two and then three kangaroos coming down through the woods. They seemed to be watching us as much as we were watching them. Of course, my camera chose this exact moment to stop functioning properly. Eventually, the kangaroos made their way down to the bottom of the hill and we watched four of them hop past, though George swears there had been as many as seven at one point. It was definitely quite a sight and once and for all dispelled my theory after the first two failed attempts that kangaroos are just a myth.
During my final day at the vineyard, Loretta agreed to let me film a short segment on WWOOFing with hopes of submitting it to the Travel Channel. By the time I finished filming, ate lunch and went back to the vineyard to get signed releases from my fellow WWOOFers, I was running late to catch my bus back to Sydney. Loretta drove as fast as she could to the station, but just as we were approaching we saw the bus heading out in the other direction. It was the first time since I started traveling that I have actually missed my ride. Luckily the nice man at the ticket counter let me exchange my bus/train ticket for the next direct train to Sydney for only the additional cost of the ticket. On the way home, I saw dozens more kangaroos hopping off in the distance. This time, the train was moving too fast for photos. Despite lack of photographic evidence, I promise, they do exist!
In general, WWOOFers work four to six hours a day on organic farms in exchange for their room and board. At Lofty Vineyard, we worked five hours each day--generally three in the morning and two after lunch. The rest of our afternoons were free. When I woke up on Saturday morning, my first task was to dig a hole around a leaky pipe in the front yard so Charlie could get in there and repair it. Loretta loaned me an old pair of paints, boots and dish gloves, but I stupidly wore my own shirt initially. It was quite a challenge to get down to the pipe because it was next to a tree so I kept hitting tree roots and the hole continuously filled with water. After not too long I was pretty well covered in mud and made the wise decision to change into an old shirt to finish the job.
After I finished my digging, I joined Charlie in the winery to help clean up and wash some of the work spaces. I then spent the afternoon helping Charlie's friend, John, to pull empty barrels of the racks in the barrel room and wash them in preparation for the next batch of wine. We had a nifty machine that Charlie had borrowed to clean out the barrels that worked kind of like a car wash. Unfortunately some of the barrels were a bit stubbornly dirty, but we had to wait until the end of the day to clean them with hot water. To use the hot water you had to turn on some sort of generator in the machine, which created a strong fuel smell. We decided that was probably not the most appealing for visitors coming to taste and buy wine in the the Cellar Door tasting room next door.I ended up working a bit long on Saturday afternoon because I didn't want to leave John by himself with the barrels. By the end of the day, though, I was rather tired and my arms were sore from all the heavy lifting. That night Loretta made dinner and I finally got to try some of the vineyard's wine. Charlie poured some Chardonnay and one of his red blends, which led us to drinking long after dinner had ended. Loretta started putting old records on the player and we listened to music until the wee hours of the morning when we finally headed to bed. Of course, Charlie was up at 6:00am in the fields with the vineyard. The rest of us slept till nearly 9:00.
On Sunday, I worked out in the vineyards for the first time, desuckering the plants. This basically entailed cutting off all of the small branches and growths that were coming out of the trunks of the vines and sucking energy from the rest of the plants. Marylaine and George had electronic clippers, but I was using manual ones so my hand was a bit tired by the end of the day. George, who was feeling the pains of the late night, took a long siesta and ended up working in the winery with Charlie in the afternoon.
While I was WWOOFing, I would head out every day after work on a "kangaroo hunt" in search of Australia's famous animal. Sarah started joining me and just about dusk we would walk to the paddock on the edge of the property to try to catch sight of the hoppers. The first two nights we had no luck and by the third day I was ready to give up. Then George decided he wanted us to show him the spot that Charlie had told us was the ideal place for seeing the hoppers. We headed out yet again and paused midway down the hillside to try to see the 'roos in the valley down below. For the first ten minutes or so it seemed as if our luck was going to be the same as before. Then all of a sudden, George pointed to the top of the hill and said, "hey I think I see something." At first I thought he was bluffing, but sure enough there appeared one and then two and then three kangaroos coming down through the woods. They seemed to be watching us as much as we were watching them. Of course, my camera chose this exact moment to stop functioning properly. Eventually, the kangaroos made their way down to the bottom of the hill and we watched four of them hop past, though George swears there had been as many as seven at one point. It was definitely quite a sight and once and for all dispelled my theory after the first two failed attempts that kangaroos are just a myth.
During my final day at the vineyard, Loretta agreed to let me film a short segment on WWOOFing with hopes of submitting it to the Travel Channel. By the time I finished filming, ate lunch and went back to the vineyard to get signed releases from my fellow WWOOFers, I was running late to catch my bus back to Sydney. Loretta drove as fast as she could to the station, but just as we were approaching we saw the bus heading out in the other direction. It was the first time since I started traveling that I have actually missed my ride. Luckily the nice man at the ticket counter let me exchange my bus/train ticket for the next direct train to Sydney for only the additional cost of the ticket. On the way home, I saw dozens more kangaroos hopping off in the distance. This time, the train was moving too fast for photos. Despite lack of photographic evidence, I promise, they do exist!
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