hello from blenheim

well, my view of blenheim improved a bit after we had a few quiet drinks on saturday night (which turned into a few roudy ones later in one of the hotspots! - i think there is only one!) met a few of the locals and made a few friends in the hostel (mainly through giving out about work) and the whole place has become much more appealing. started working in the vineyards on monday for a princely sum of 11$/hour (which is just above the min wage). monday was quite a cushy number, my whole day consisted of following around the surveyor and putting lolly pop sticks in the ground once he 'd found the correct mark using his gps thingy! was quite difficult, 4 white lollypop sticks and then one red one!!! tuesday and today werent quite as cushy, think of doing 1000 squats in one day (and 32 degrees heat, whcih it was today!) with short walks inbetween, that's how my knees feel now. neither of us can sit down with out emitting a groan!! (pieter you would laugh, penguin doesnt even come close to the way we are today!! luckily no stairs at the hostel, so havent had to make a fool of my self yet going down them backwards!Q! he he h!). jenny is AAAAching all over!! the highlight of today was however being chased by a hive of bees, well we werent quite chased, they were passing over, and i was trying to run away from them and then one of the other lads saw me running and he started to leg it, mass confusion in the vineyard, great craic. !! the hostel has turned out grand, if a little cramped. we're in different dorms as the place is choc o block. i pulled the short straw and am sharing with some lad who's a bit of a psycho , snores and has a really (REALLY) bad smelly feet problem. i have sorted it out by chucking his shoes outside the door. he has to go to jail soon for drink driving and he's totally hyper all the time, real jittery!! he's also taking lithium, which i think is for depression?? anyway he's entertaining, once i dont see too much of him! well that's the craic! we have decided to head to wellington on sunday-one week in the vineyard at $11/hour will be more than enough i think! though the weathers nice and we have been cultivating a very nice farmers tan. well that's all folks
m