Time to get my hands dirty!
Trip Start
Mar 15, 2006
1
36
42
Trip End
May 30, 2007
Cygnet,
Australia
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Basically, in order to deserve to stay, the clever Aussies came up with the idea that we should be put to use in doing the jobs that it is hard to lure their own folk into. Hence, I have spent the last couple of weeks attempting to avoid a soaking, whilst standing for hour after hour under a cherry tree or over a strawberry bush, picking fruit after fruit for not a lot of money.
1. Cataract Gorge, Launceston
It appears the colder and wetter than usual December put picking seasons on hold a bit. So after spending the best part of 2 weeks in Sydney attempting to figure out where best to head, I decided to take a risk and fly down to Tasmania, that smaller, greener state floating off the bottom of mainland. My theory being, even if I failed to find work, at least I would be getting to see another beautiful part of the country. Plus, it would hopefully have a slightly better climate for manual labour than my other possible option, tropical Northern Queensland.
Despite my knowledge that I will be returning in the not too distant future, leaving Sydney turned out to be a much more emotional experience than I had anticipated. After 6 months of living in one place and such a huge number of experiences, this has become a home away from home, with friends becoming family. When I left England, the trip was something I had always known I wanted to do. I felt ready and excited, but this time my departure was more out of necessity. Therefore, I can honestly say my first day in Tassie was quite a rollercoaster of emotions.
Having now been here for over 2 weeks though, you find that you soon get back into the swing of things, moving on and meeting new people
2. The bizarre thing you find deep in the gorge
.I spent my first 2 days in Launceston, to the north of the island. This is the second biggest city in the state, though its fair to say the term 'city' is a little deceiving, 'nice town' perhaps. After a couple of days in 'Lonny', I found out about a hostel in the south of the state that would help you with finding fruit picking work. The next day I traveled down to Hobart (the state capital) and headed on a further hour into the Huon Valley.
This is a beautiful area, very picturesque, and doesn't look a bit like how you imagine Australia to be. Its very green and fertile and almost Alpine looking in areas. So here I spent a week and a half, on top of a hillside, a one hour walk into the valley to find the nearest small town. I also couldn't have got much more removed from the tropics idea, it has been so cold at times, with a fierce wind blowing through the hills.
Fortunately there was work around, which we would be ferried to each day by Mini-bus. I say fortunately for more than one reason. I needed to get it started and the money would be handy, but aside from these there is nothing here to do!!
Picking cherries actually turned out to be a pretty decent job. It soon became apparent though, that I had arrived right at the end of the season, and that moving to strawberries would not bring in enough money to live on, nevermind breaking the back. So with the discovery that I could also WWOOF for my visa I soon decided to move on...
Comments
Fruit picking at Huon Valley
Hey I am considering working there for a month come mid nov to dec this year but only strawberry and possibly raspberry and apple thinning would be only available.
Would you recommend I check out this place?
Thanks heaps!
Re: Fruit picking at Huon Valley
Hi.
I found that Tassie was a bit limited in terms of the obvious places/hostels to use to find the work, but there are a few and this one was good. They tried to find you work as much as possible and ferried you to and from it. You are not going to make loads of money but as a place to use to see the another part of Australia its cool. Facilities are minimal but perfectly adequate. The main problem is that you are miles from anywhere and its definitely a working hostel so it depends what you want. If you have a car and tent then a number of the plantations will let you stay at their place to work.
Hope that helps!