Sunny Sunraysia (Mildura)

It's been a while since i've put a blog up but really i haven't been up to much lately. We are now in Mildura which is in Victoria. The reason we came here was for work. We've been here over a month now but haven't made much money! Usually i make enough to cover rent and food for the week if i'm lucky!!

We had a couple of days without work when we first arrived but then we were over the moon when we were told there was work available if we wanted it. Of course we wanted it, but we quickly regreted it! Day 1 we are picked up by Ray, Turkish bloke, who is just a contractor, so basically took us to all the crap jobs noone wants cos he knows he'll make money from us being there! For the first couple of days we were pulling nails out covers and taking them off the grapevines. Not bad work but my fingers were wrecked after the first couple of hours! My thumb, index finger and knuckles had no skin left on them, very painful! After we done that for 3 days Ray took us to another job, pruning the vines. Absolute rip off! 50 cents per vine, approximately 15 dollars per row. Now, the row took us 4 hours to finish!! We gave up after one row each and went on strike! Pay day came and do you know how much we made for 2 days work on pruning......3 dollars, yes you read it correctly 3 dollars!! They charged us for the cutters and protective eyewear and transport. Soul destroying work! We then had another job with Ray, rolling the vines. Basically you have to prune the vines and then roll the good ones onto the wire to give them support for when the grape grow. This was very hard work and we were paid pennies for this too.

Thankfully the hostel found us another job. We are now working for Steve, really nice guy, with two great dogs (Indie, choc lab and Indie, black lab). We are mainly there for picking oranges but we also do a bit of pruning but nothing like what we have been doing. It's a lot easier, we're just really tidying them up cos a machine has already gone over them and cut them back. Orange picking is quite good actually but we can only pick them if they are 9 degrees or above and also only if the trees are dry. Our ladders are huge and are basically just an a-frame that we ram against the tree for support. Doesn't sound very safe, probably because it isn't! Nicola has managed to fall off the ladder and crash through a tree, funniest thing ever! There i was picking the oranges when i heard a little scream coming from Nicola. I turned around to see what was going on and there she was on the other side of the ladder, how did she manage that one?! Then she came off the ladder and was stuck in the tree! "How far from the ground am I?" Not to worry Nic only about 2 foot! I had no idea how to help her and i couldn't stop laughing, nervous laughter i think! Then crash! She was down and safely back on the ground!

It's great seeing the bins fill up with oranges and once our tractor is full we take it back to the shed and have to unload it ourselves. We were all taught how to operate the forklift, pretty good fun actually. I like driving it but not so keen on having to stack the 3 bins but it is getting easier! I don't drive the tractor much, usually leave that up to Ross cos he loves it but really i put my life in his hands! I never knew how fast those things can move and wow does the trailer fly when going over bumps at high speed!! I was sitting in the back bin on the way back and almost came right off, the bin must have left the trailer by a foot! Actually, i can't quite remember which Edward that was, could've been Nic. (Don't worry Mum i survived!)

Unfortunately, i haven't been working this week cos i hurt my back. So much pain but i'm on the mend and went back to work yesterday and got on fine. 8 of us from the hostel went to see Harry Potter Friday night. Only 3 of us managed to stay awake! We all obviously work too hard!

Only one week left here then we are heading to Melbourne . Staying there for a few days with my family. Nicola's birthday when we are there so going to an AFL game, can't wait for that. Then we are heading to Canberra for 2 nights and then back to Sydney to meet Nic and Ross' mum before heading to New Zealand on 8th August.

Hope you are all well. X X

Forgot to say, we also went to the trots, which is horse harness racing. Very good, cold night. An Aussie guy, Greg from Melbourne, took the 3 of us. He paid us in, bought us food and also gave us $50 between the 3 of us so we could bet on the races. He was staying at our hostel for a few days cos he was here on business.

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