THE season for grape picking is underway, attracting a mix of local residents and back packers to the Cobboboonee.

There were 20 grape pickers at the Cobboboonee Vineyard last week, 11 of those local to the area and nine being back packers.

Six of those back packers were from France and three travelled from England.

Vineyard owner Larry Vaughan said he usually goes online to find backpackers looking for work.

“This is classed as farm work, they come here for a couple of weeks,” he said.

“They’re looking for a few days here and there.

“We took them on last year as well. The year before, we didn’t because there was COVID.”

Friends from France, Aurora Laborde and Laura Sarramia, are visiting with other friends who were grape picking.

So far, they have been to Indonesia and Sri Lanka on their travels

“It’s been one month since we arrived in Australia,” Laura said.

“For the moment, we don’t see a lot of things (because we’re too busy working).”

They have come to like the beach, seeing the koalas and kangaroos.

After earning some money from grape picking, they will travel to the Gold Coast for surfing, they said.

One of the backpackers from London, Nathan Callis, came to Australia solo.

“I'm backpacking on my own, but I'm staying where there's four of us in Heywood, just with a guy who is hosting us,” he said.

“We do some work for him during the week, renovating a cheese factory.

“Then the days I'm not working there, I can come here and get paid.

Mr Callis plans to stay in Heywood for six weeks and then drive a campervan up the east coast to Darwin.

“I'm only here for three months. I'm going back home in June.

“Before, I worked in an office and just sat down all day. It's nice to be out and about and using your body.

“It’s also nice just to have a bit of peace and quiet and crack on with what you're doing.

“It feels rewarding.”

Vineyard co-owner Angela Vaughan said they would pick the grapes now they are ready,  and prune then for about three months.

“They'll fruit, they'll lose all their leaves and then they'll go dormant.

“Then you prune them while they're dormant.

“Then the buds will start bursting in September, they'll shoot the canes again and then it takes until February or March to get the fruit again.”

Mrs Vaughan said they sell their picked grapes to various wine makers, in Victoria or South Australia.

“People that we've been selling grapes to, we've selected some of them to make some wines for us and so we're selling them out of the Cellar Door.

“We do platters and we've got tables and chairs out on the lawns so people can sit out, relax and enjoy a couple of wines and look at the vineyard.

The Cellar Door is a lovely setting the Cobboboonee Vineyard which is located at 376 Catons Flat Road, Heywood.