farmwork – Joe Bloggs

Eager Endings

December 2, 2023Tagged 88days, adventure, Australia, beach, Bonus, Cotton, farm, farmwork, Irrigation, outback, Oz, solotravel, sunset, travel, traveller, travellingLeave a comment

After working on the Avocado farm for 6 months, I left with a bottle of gin, a flash looking gin glass and a cheeky $1000 bonus. I also left with a new job to go to, Penny and Ernst who I worked for on the avocado have a family relation who is employed on a cotton farm. They said that the needed someone for the season which is 6 months but I agreed to 3 months to start with. On the very basic phone interview I was told that there would be tractor driving with chaser bins, which I was looking forward to as I was excited to gain experience in this. Turns out he has people to do the Tractor work and my role was the classic ‘basic bitch’ farm laborer.

So the owner owned 3 farms within 8km of eachother, Karamea is where I stayed in a donga (shed like building) on the farm. Edithville which had a disease in the soil so you had to constantly change your boots when working on that farm and Miegunyah where the owner lived.

My first week on the cotton farm was just cleaning out various pump sites and sheds and helping move farm equipment between the different farms. I was then told that we would be working for the next 10 days straight, getting the paddocks ready for irrigation. This involved me digging out between the furrows so the water could get through. 10 days was a lie though as by the time I was given a day off I had worked just 18 days in a row and just short of 200 hours in total.

So the owner is one of those hot and cold bosses, never know which side of him your going to get. I had a really uncomfortable situation with the him, He was asking me something but I didnt understand what he was talking about (they talk in riddles here so he was talking about the pipes used for irrigation, he was asking me about the “2 inchers” and the “63’s”) so I said that I didnt know what he wanted from me. He then turned to his second hand man and said ‘Am I speaking fucking english’ I was rather shocked and just stayed quiet. Afterwards he went to his office so I went to discuss the incident with him asking what I had done wrong. He just shouted and said I had no innitiative, which made no sense to me. So for the rest of that day I just felt like shit and I didnt really want to work. At the end of the day which was around 8pm, he came to me with his half assed apology and said that it was nothing to do with me and that he was annoyed with another employees mistake. So basically I spent the whole day feeling as if I’d done something wrong when really he just cant manage his emotions.

After this I wasnt inclined to stay longer so I decided to give him his requested 4 weeks notice and leave. I didnt want there to be any bad blood so I told a little white lie and said to him that I had decided to go back to the UK in december to visit for 2 weeks, to which he seemed fine with and then I always have another contact if I’m struggling to find work. Little did i know there would be further questions…

The owner and his employees would ask me various questions about my plans, how much my flights cost and when I was flying. So after they had asked this a few times and my answer always just being I haven’t booked them yet, I thought perhaps I should just check flights and costs. So I went online and checked so I could give an average of what I would have spent on flights if I was actually leaving and give them some dates. They would still continously ask about the flights and plans I had, so I had to pause and think to remember what I’d told the first person who asked so I didnt slip up. After a while I think I’d convinced myself that I was actually going home. I would then get questions on what I would be doing when I returned as they had offered for me to come back and work with them. I had told them I was returning before Christmas on the 23rd and heading down to Tassie on the ferry. Although I then needed to check the ferry’s at that time as its so close to Christmas and it turns out there arent any. So then I had to say that I’ll be going early January.

So, long story short, I’m currently travelling slowly towards Melbourne, ready to get the ferry to Tasmania on the 9th december, where I will then look for and find another Job.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to decieve“
Sir Walter Scott, 1808

I have other reasons for leaving early too, the tractor work I feel I was promised was non existent, It got very lonely being the only backpacker there and it was getting a bit warm for me, digging holes in the 38 degree heat all day is not fun I can assure you.

The last month was pretty shit, I got pretty lonely on the farm, for the whole 2 months there were no other backpackers or travellers around so I’d just finish work, shower, eat some food and a have a cheeky gin, watch some TV, then sleep and repeat until the last month was over.

I’ve literally spent hours trying to work out how to write how the irrigation works as it is a rather interesting (well to me anyway) so here goes on a basic approach: basically water is pumped out through the river and flows through channels all over the farm. It runs along the top of the fields and this is called a head ditch. Along the head ditch are pipes known as siphons but in all honestly look just like basic black pipes to me. The water is then drawn out of the head ditch by a use of the siphons. Below is a few brief steps to start one.

1. Submerge the siphon in the head ditch

2. Pushing the siphon into the water with your hand slightly over the open end but with a small gap for air

3. Pull the pipe out of the water leaving the end of the pipe in, with your hand covering the open end (field end) of the siphon so its fully sealed

4. Repeat this action until the siphon is filled with water (usually takes 1-3 thrusts depending on the length of the pipe)

5. Once the pipe feels full, let the pipe go as your are pulling it towards the field, removing the seal and letting the water flow, The pipe will then lay on the head ditch and run until you stop it

We would usually do around 100-250 siphons per shift on a field. Each field requires a different amount of shifts depending on size. I think the most shifts that were done on one field was 6 shifts of 12 hours, so to irrigate the full field it would take 72 hours.

So after 2 months of shovelling dirt, throwing pipes, picking up pipes, sweeping, weeding and other general jobs I decided that I’d had enough, I am however happy that I took the opportunity with this job as it was interesting to have the experience and acquire more knowledge about agriculture.

A Series of Fortunate Events

April 14, 2023April 14, 2023Tagged 4x4, 88days, Australia, Avocado, Car, Driving, farmwork, Oz, solotravel, sunset, travel, travellerLeave a comment

I’ve recently begun work on an avocado farm or avo farm as they would say in Australia. I arrived in Australia just short of 2 months ago and have already seen quite a bit. I was fortunate to meet someone at my sisters wedding in early March that said his parents were looking for people to work on there farm. So obviously I said yes.

Im lucky enough to have my sister already living here in Australia and her and my brother in law were very helpful in getting me set up and sorted. I managed to buy a car quickly and set off not long after I received the call saying the job was available when I was.

I drove from my sisters house and arrived in Comboyne where the farm is located at the end of March along with a french backpacker who arrived via train, we were both given a warm welcome by the owners Penny and Ernst, they had cooked us a lasagna and we had a few drinks and introduced ourselves and our lives and so on. They have had an incredible life traveling, Ernst being Dutch and Penny from Australia both met whilst working in India, and have done a lot of travelling between them before they settled down back in Australia and bought this farm.

My plan is to stay here for a couple of months so I can save some money to travel elsewhere but to also complete my 88 days farmwork which will then let me apply for the second year visa.

I had arrived first so got first dibs on the accommodation, It was a choice between a caravan or a shed like building! I chose the shed as it was much roomier and looked comfier. The accommodation is only $50 per week which includes the living quarters, a fully equipped kitchen and a toilet block. My shed which is called the Olympian due to the fact it has Sydney Kings Olympic basketball court as its floor and walls. It has a small veranda as I walk out my door which has an amazing view of the hills far away and perfect for a sunrise.

So… to the work, there’s plenty of it, our first job is to tackle the weeds and other trees growing around the avocado trees. On our first day we were given a bucket with a pair of secateurs, loppers, a pruning saw, a recycled spray bottle filled with round up (a poison to spray on the cuts we make to prevent them from regrowing) a jar of salt, some insect spray and a pair of gloves.

Below is an example of before and after

It’s not a skilled or difficult job it just takes patience and hard work, some of the trees are pretty easy and have little to nothing underneath them but some are heavy with undergrowth, we have done a couple of blocks of weeding now and are about 3 weeks in.

The worst part is Choko’s, a fruit that grows on climbing vines that gets tangled in the trees, they are a nightmare to untangle and trim but we also have to collect all the fruits as they are full of seeds which will just make the amount of vines next year, even worse. I’ve managed to collect around 25 sacks full just by myself so there is quite a lot of them.

In Comboyne it tends to rain quite a bit, we can work easily in light rain but once your soaked it’s pretty uncomfortable so tend to stop if we get too wet. We usually have days off when it rains all day and that’s when we go to the nearest town of Port Macquarie to see sights and do our shopping.

The other lad I’m here working with takes everything a little slow. When we work I tend to do 3 times the amount as him, his excuse is that he’s on holiday but last time I checked it is still a job and should be putting a little more effort in. But the owners leave us to it so hes free to do what he wants. When we go shopping he tends to take an hour for a 15 minute shop, I mean I drive him an hour to the shops and he still makes me wait. I mean It may just be me as when I have things to do I like to get them done so I can relax and enjoy the other parts of travelling.

He recently told me that he used to be a firefighter in Paris… so now we know why Notre Dames roof burnt through, everyone was waiting on him to get ready. Just a giggle I have to myself when he’s going super slow.

There is plenty of wildlife on the farm from leeches to the occasional wallabies. The leeches are very annoying, attach to you out of nowhere and start sucking your blood, it feels almost like an ongoing ant bite. I had one the other day inside my belly button which was pretty grim, we are provided with salt (which you are supposed to put on the leech so it drops off but I tend to just rip them off) and insect spray but they still find a way to get to you even if you cover yourself head to toe.

Only managed to see a few wallabies as they keep pretty far away but they are here and hopping about.

We were warned at the start, of the snakes. The brown snake, black snake and python but have thus far only seen 3 pythons, the least deadliest we are told.

The farm is 500 Acres, 200 of the acres are avocado trees and the rest is empty space full of trees, small weirs a river and some waterfalls that I’ve not actually yet seen. so we have a 4×4 mule to get ourselves around, somehow two have broken down on us whilst we’ve used them, so third time lucky.

“To be a farmer is to be a student forever, for each day brings something new”
John Connell

Farming and Fishing

September 17, 2019September 22, 2019Tagged adventure, bluecod, cycling, dagging, drenching, drinks, explore, farm, farmwork, fishing, food, hostel, lambs, manawatu, manawatugorge, newzealand, PalmerstonNorth, palmy, river, shark, snapper, travel, whanganui, workLeave a comment

Where to begin…

I’ve been in Palmy for around 8 weeks now, unfortunately due to my schedule at work, I tend to not have many days off which is a huge difference from when I was kiwi fruit pruning as I couldn’t get enough days of work. Anyhow, I’ve just completed my 28^th day in a row, around 2 days a week I only do around 4 hours work and don’t start till 11:30am so have started counting those as days off, but for but the rest of them I’m working full days. Anyway, the whole time (8 weeks) I’ve worked here at the pack house I’ve only had 5 days off.

However, I’ve handed my notice in and will move on with my adventure on the 6^th October. Moving on always seems so difficult but its always exciting. Although I am struggling on where to explore next.

I’m staying at Pepper Tree Hostel, its only around 2 minutes walk from the square (town centre), it’s a sort of quaint little hostel set in a 100 year old villa, one floor, several rooms and pretty cheap considering some of the other places I’ve stayed in at New Zealand. Unfortunately there’s not many people staying here, perhaps because its winter or because there’s nothing much to do here, although I wouldn’t know as I spend all my time working.

Whilst I’ve been in Palmy I haven’t really done much, I’ve been for a few bike rides whilst I’ve been here, if your in need of a bike in Palmy you can rent one pretty cheap from Green Bikes, I planned to be here for 3 months and it only cost me $75 for the whole 3 months.

I cycled along a new cycle way, which is along the Manawatu river and through some woods and to Linton army base, it was a pleasant ride and only around 5km each way, unfortunately when I was returning the chain on the bike I rented snapped and I had to walk back, luckily I had enough time to take it to the shop and get it fixed, I then cycled up to an observatory and sat down to take in the views of the river meandering around the corner. I then crossed the river and cycled the opposite way where I found a bike park in the woods.

I cycled to Manawatu Gorge which is just next to a small village called Ashhurst, it took around 50 minutes to get there by bike and then I did a short 3km walk around the woodland and gorge, there’s a larger trail you can do but it was 20km round trip and I arrived there just after lunch so I didn’t fancy walking in the dark. There were some beautiful views from the lookout points and a large Maori statue on the trail. The walk wasn’t very strenuous, some steep bits but altogether it was a lovely walk and something nice to do on my day off.

I have had some really cool experiences. Jill and Tony the owners of the company I work for are extremely lovely and friendly people. They have been supportive with my issues with my teeth and the problems I’ve had with the manager.

Anyway, I’ve visited their lovely farm and home three times now and had some rather unique and enjoyable experiences with them, they call themselves hobby farmers as they downsized their farm around 3 ½ years ago. They must have 200 or more lambs though. When I first visited I was going mainly to cycle around as the roads are peaceful and the fields go on for miles. Unfortunately by the time I arrived after work that evening, it was dark. Tony cooked me an amazing meal and we had some beers and chatted. The next morning when I’d had a lie in I awake to the most amazing view, hardly anything around apart from fields and lambs. I helped Tony feed the sheep and then picked up around 50-60 fence posts and loaded them into the trailer as Tony drove slowly along the edge of the field.

My second experience felt more unique, I was invited along side another backpacker to stay at their farm and help with some sheep work. When we arrived we went out onto the fields and helped round up the sheep, we then led them to the pens ready for weighing, some of the lambs went straight into the pen whilst some of the others made their way across the cattle grid and towards the house, we just waved our arms and shouted to move them to where we needed them to be. After this we sent them down the race to get weighed one by one, then, we checked to see which lambs were clean and which ones were dirty, we gathered a few in a separate pen and then sent two down the race together so they wouldn’t be able to move, we then used a set of shears and sheared the shit of there bottoms to prevent them from attracting maggots and to make them more presentable for selling at market. This action is called “dagging”. It was incredibly fun to do and the experience was just amazing. After we finished we showered and relaxed and then were cooked an amazing steak for dinner and I had a few gin and tonics because, why not?

Recently had another amazing experience, so I was invited to stay again, I went on the Friday night after work and helped with drenching (giving medicine) the lambs on the Saturday. The view from the farm was even better this morning as the sky was clear and I could see both Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu in the distance. Tony got his boat ready and then we then headed to Palmerston for a short 4 hours work making noodles and then at 14:30 we left and made our way to Whanganui where we launched the boat and drove about an hour up the coast before stopping for an hour to fish. Ive never fished before so this was an incredible experience for me. Beer in hand and relaxing with the amazing views and sunset. I managed to catch 2 Snappers and 4 Blue Cod, I also caught two small sharks. From the area we were in you could see amazing views of both Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu.

Unfortunately when we were just bobbing around on the boat and fishing, I got a little sea sick which is just a curse that seems to run through my family. We then returned to the Wharf and then back to Tony’s. Tony showed me how to fillet the fish and then he fried it in breadcrumbs. It was really nice and tasted perfect.

“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced”
John Keats