Grapes, Tractors, and Travel: A Fun Ride! Pt. 6
Get ready to pop the cork because we’re diving into the world of wine and travel! We’re chatting with James Hammond, who’s got some juicy tales from his time working in the vineyards of Margaret River, Australia. He’s spilling the beans on grape picking, tractor driving, and even the art of stomping grapes—yes, the old-school way! Whether you’re a wine lover or just curious about the vineyard life, James has tips and tricks for snagging a job in the wine biz and enjoying the stunning scenery. So grab your glass, kick back, and let’s toast to adventure and a little grape gossip!
Traveling is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get, unless you’re James Hammond, who’s all about the sweet nectar of the gods—wine! This episode dives deep into James's vineyard adventures in the beautiful Margaret River region of Australia. From grape picking to grape stomping (yes, you heard that right—think of it as a very fancy foot massage for grapes), James shares his hands-on experiences in the vineyards. Trust me, you’re gonna want to grab a glass of wine while listening to this because he spills the tea on the best parts of vineyard life, like getting free bottles of wine at the end of a long week. Who wouldn’t want that?
But it’s not all fun and games—James breaks down the nitty-gritty of vineyard work, the challenges of grape picking during sizzling hot days, and the difference between hourly jobs versus those tricky pay-by-bucket gigs. Let’s face it, this isn’t your average 9 to 5, but if you’re quick on your feet and have a love for the grape, there’s a whole world waiting for you in Margaret River. So pop in those headphones, and let’s stomp our way through some of the best travel tips while we sip on that imaginary wine!
Takeaways:
- Traveling can be a blast, especially when you pack your bags and explore!
- Working in vineyards can come with perks like free wine every week, which is a nice bonus!
- Grape stomping is not just a fun event; it's a classic winemaking tradition that many people enjoy!
- If you're heading to Margaret River, having a car is a total game changer for vineyard jobs!
- Picking grapes is no walk in the park; it's an early morning hustle to beat the heat!
- Getting a job at the cellar door can be a fantastic way to earn while learning about wines!
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Margaret River
- Vine Power
- Winging It Travel Podcast
- Voy Escape Network
- Skyscanner
Transcript
Pack your bags, let's take a ride. 5 minutes fly and we'll explore the wide with forest. Kelly, it's travel time. It's the best five minute travel podcast. Let's go.
Forrest Kelly:What's your wine experience in your travels? Have you got any?
James Hammond: ed in Australia for a year in:So if you look at a map, probably put Perth maybe into your map, and three hours drive south is a little area called Margaret River. It's really nice. It's got little towns, a load of beaches, but even more vineyards dotted around this little peninsula.
So I was there in the township of Margaret river about four months and I was working on different vineyards, doing different jobs. So I was doing stuff like picking grapes.
I then moved on to netting, which is putting nets over the vineyards to protect them from birds because birds can attack the vineyards. And then I moved on to a bit of driving tractors and picking buckets of grapes up.
So that's kind of my experience, working with grapes, but also with wine. I've got to learn a little bit about the process and work at different vineyards and taste different wines.
But I, I really loved working on vineyards because if you work there, you tend to get at least a free bottle of wine every week. At the end of your week, nothing to them in terms of cost. So you get to taste all these wine and then sometimes you get to even taste the grapes.
And I think even one shift I was jumping on the grapes, you know, the old school. So now they have machines.
But back in the day, you'd collate all the grapes and put them in a big tub and people would squeeze them either by hand or you go in there by, you know, jump on them like a trampoline and squeeze them by foot. So I did that for like a shift. That's pretty cool. Pretty weird. But yeah, I was in there doing the old school techniques of crushing grapes for wine.
Forrest Kelly:They still do that. A lot of wineries have that as an event. They don't do it, you know, mainstream.
Forrest Kelly:Okay, yeah, they.
Forrest Kelly:As an event, you know, hey, we're going to have a band here and we'll play music and then we'll allow. They call it grape stomping and.
James Hammond:Oh, okay, great. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yep. Makes sense.
James Hammond:So my understanding is that some of these wineries offer parts, a part time job or a seasonal job where you can just, you know, apply.
James Hammond:And so I do have some tips, actually, if you're looking to go to Market River.
Forrest Kelly:Okay. Yeah, go for it.
James Hammond:Yeah, yeah. If you're looking to work down there, I would have a car.
If you have a car, you're in quite a good position because you're going to either be transporting people or the agency who kind of plates all the workers and dishes out the jobs. Know that you can drive to vineyards. That's a massive plus point. And then the jobs itself. Yeah, it all depends on your experience.
But I think you can learn this if you're quite switched on and quite a quick learner. You really want to get the paid by hour jobs, not the paid by bucket jobs. So picking grapes is tough.
That's going to be sunrise till midday because it gets so hot. So if you're quite a good picker, that's great. But if you're not great at that, it's going to be tough to earn some decent money.
So what you need to do is go to. In Margaret River Wagyu, there's a. There's a big agency called Vine Power and they have all the jobs of the big wineries in the region.
And you need to get the jobs in the cellar door. They're 20 to 30 DOL now, which is like helping people taste wine.
You probably have to learn a little bit about the winery and also what wine you're giving out and taste that yourself. But that's a good job to get as a seller door. That's a nice job if you're good with equipment. Like I was kind of all right with tractors and netting.
So you can do the paid by hour work, which is a bit tough, but it's better than picking grapes. And that's kind of getting stuck into maintenance of the vineyard.
So that could be driving tractors, which is picking up buckets of grapes, but also just making sure that you can drive the nets down the vineyards and obviously attach to that. I was doing netting, which means you're just hauling nets over vineyards.
And then in the pruning season, I think that's paid by the hour, where you start pruning, which is basically getting the vine ready for the. For the growing season. So that's trimming the vineyards, putting new prunes in and stuff. So that's in the morning off season, but in the on season.
Yeah, I would make sure you have a car and say that you can drive a tractor or you know something about wine and then it might put you on a cellar door.
James Hammond:So. And what was the website again?
Forrest Kelly:So the agency is called Vine Power.
James Hammond:Okay.
Forrest Kelly:Or one word. They're Based in the town of Margaret river in the southwest and they have so many different types of jobs throughout the year for the vineyards.
So get signed up and keep pestering to get your job.
James Hammond:Appreciate that.
Forrest Kelly:My website is winginnitravelpodcast.com but you recently just joined a network called Voy Escape Network, some part of their network of podcasts. So you can go to either to check out the podcast. The Voy Escape Network.
It is like a collection of podcasts which I'm part of and that's media and that's the same handle for all the social media. So Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, it's the word.
James Hammond:Winging and then it travel podcast dot com.
Forrest Kelly:Yes.
James Hammond:Read about your adventures and advice and etc.
Forrest Kelly:You can book an airline through my skyscanner link.
James Hammond:Oh, really? Okay, good deal.
Forrest Kelly:Yeah. So if you head to, there's a resources page on my website. It's got a lot of links to help you book your travels.
It could be hotels, flights, experiences, insurance, whatever, it is all on there. So you can click that. But yeah, there's loads of pages on there about a bit about me.
There's blogs about relating to each episode that I do and also the links to each of the show notes and different platforms that you might listen to and YouTube as well.
James Hammond:Ladies and gentlemen, James Hammond of Winging It Travel Podcast. Great job. You're calling from. We're talking. You're in Vancouver, Canada, by the way.
James Hammond:That is. Yeah, that's correct. Okay, thanks so much for inviting me on. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Forrest Kelly:We touched down and landed. The episode's done with 5 quick minutes of travel and fun.
Forrest Kelly:This is your captain speaking. We have touch down. That completes this episode.
Forrest Kelly:Join Forrest Kelly for the next big show, The Best 5 Minute Travel Podcast. Let's go.
