I worked as a aircraft design engineer in Malaysia and in my job ended in Nov 09 as my project has finish. I have to find a job that time when i heard about the working holiday opportunity from my friend. I suppose its a good chance for me to take a break of my hectic life and go visit some beautiful places in new zealand.

I got my visa after 3 days i applied and started to plan my first destination in new zealand. I wanted to find a job first online in my country but i couldnt get one after searching for it in one months time. Most of the employers prefer to choose workers that are already at new zealand by the time of application. And so, i traveled to christchurch without a job and plan to take a few days to settle down and visit the beautiful city. But then i started to worry because i could not find a job for 2 weeks in christchurch.

In order to find a job, i travel to blenheim, where there were tonnes of vineyards. But when i reached here, only found that there were many people here like me, unemployed and cant find a job else where. It took me about a week to find a vineyard work under an agency called Ace Viticulture. The job was hourly paid and it was hard work for me as i have not work under the sun before. My job is mostly to secure the vine on the wires and get rid of any extra branches. It was not a stable job as i went out of work in 2 weeks time. I was told that there were no jobs available for backpackers as the agency decided to employ the indonesian workers for the following jobs.

Luckily i get to join another contractor called Contra after two days and started working in vineyard again for another week. But the work is much harder as its on contract rate. Most of the people here cannot even earn the minimum wage after 8 hours of hard work on leaf plucking. Some say it was against the law to let us earn lesser than we should. But i still had to do it no matter how hard it is because i do not have other options on my hand. This work really worn me of and so ive decided to find another job, which is indoor, hourly paid and secure.

If you are interested in working in vineyard and wanted to see the amazing landscape of my work place, you can see it all in the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51866&id=1173383096&l=3030c78c4d

Just a few days back, i receive an email from a apple packhouse in Montueka, offering me a job. If everything went smooth, i will be working there end of Feb until Mid of May. Wish me good luck!!

Cheers

Melissa