Off to McLaren Vale

So I'm now getting settled at the house I'm going to be living in for the next three months or so. It was sad to have to leave Sydney but I'm already having a great time out here in McLaren Vale. On my last day in Sydney, I had no idea of what to do when I woke up. I'd already seen the main tourist destinations, didn't really feel like going wine tasting in the Hunter Valley, and didn't know anyone else who wanted to go to the Blue Mountains, so I didn't have much of a plan. What I ended up doing was heading back to Manly Beach with Killian, a friend I'd made at the hostel. Manly ended up my favorite spot in Sydney. It's such a beautiful place and has a fun, relaxed vibe to it that makes it a great place to spend time on the beach and eat some tasty food. Killian and I went out to the beach and body surfed for a while before getting some fish and chips. After taking the ferry back to the main harbor and walking back through the botanical gardens, we joined up with a couple other people at the hostel and decided to put together another home cooked meal. I made some pork dumplings that we had as an appetizer and picked out the Shiraz that we drank, and the rest of the crew took care of the lamb, potatoes, and carrots that we had as the main course. It was a fun last night, but it made waking up the next morning at 4am a little tough.

I got into Adelaide around 8:30am and was picked up by Russell, the winery manager, from the airport. The two of us picked up Chris and Ben, two of the other interns from America that I'll be living with for the next couple of months. Russell gave us a little tour of the area before bringing us to our place, where we met up with our other roommate, Jeff. We totally lucked out with how well things turned out with our living situation. The house has a lot of space both inside and outside, where we have a huge backyard. In the back we have a basketball hoop, a spot to eat, a treehouse, and most importantly, a wood fire pizza oven. I think we're going to have a lot of fun here.

Once we put our things inside, we met up with a good portion on the Mollydooker crew at one of the local pubs. We got to know everybody over some food and a couple beers before switching to some of the wine that we're going to be making. It seems like I'm going to be working with some people that are a lot of fun and really know their stuff when it comes to wine.

I just got back from wine tasting with my new roommates. We went out today to check out some of the local wineries and get a feel for the town of McLaren Vale. Now it's almost time for dinner, so I gotta go get ready to start making some spaghetti.

-John