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Published: September 17th 2019
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Blueberry fields in Woolgoolga After our amazing day eating in Sydney we still hadn't heard back from (or even met) our host at the house we were staying at. We made a decision to head northwards to a coastal town called Woolgoolga for a blueberry picking position. After a "short" 9 hour bus ride we arrived at an empty bus station in Coffs Harbour, 1/2 hour away from the fields. With no transportation, we messaged our work contact who sent a car to pick us up (after much haggling on the price). A student-aged South Korean couple picked us up and were both surprised that we had left the U.S. to work abroad at a blueberry field. This should have been a warning sign but we ignored it and all the subsequent red flags. We arrived at a dilapidated farmhouse and were shown to our rooms.
The next morning we awoke early and made our only food we had with us: salt-less pasta with canned tomato sauce. After this uninspiring fare we headed to the fields to pick blueberries. The going rate was $1.7 US dollars per Kilogram of berries. Alec was in high spirits and declared that he was definitely going to stay
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Our "luxurious" $90/week accommodations. Which didn't even include TP. the planned-upon 2 weeks while I was definitely going to reconsider after a single week. The berry bushes were scrawny examples and yielded around a half cup of ripe berries per bush. Within 2 hours, we picked a 2 Kg bucket each and started to realize that this wasn't going to be the most profitable position. Alec's positivity took a nosedive when he brought his second full bucket to get weighed and the man in charge said the berries although ripe, were too small to sell. The man unceremoniously dumped Alec's bucket on the ground, and shortly after crunching some numbers we decided that an escape was in order. As we didn't have a car we asked around for a ride from the other Europeans working there. Thankfully a Spanish man offered us a ride after the days work was over and after an hour-long argument about paying for the accommodations (the owner wanted us to pay for the entire WEEK when we only stayed a single night), we were on the road and away from the farm. We never got paid for our single day of picking either. The Spaniard dropped us off at a grocery store in Woolgoolga
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Realizing we fucked up. next to the bus stop. As we were in the parking lot we saw the bus pull into the station across the road and leave. This was the last bus to Coffs Harbour and we were once again stranded in a small town with no hostel. After getting some info from a bus driver, we started a 15 minute walk to a different bus station to catch the last bus to Coffs Harbor. Along the way a kindly man with a pickup truck gave us a lift all the way to Coffs Harbour where jhe dropped us off at the enterance of a youth hostel. A warm glow emanated from the common room where other young travelers relaxed on couches playing games and chatting. We had finally arrived at the Promised Land... or so we thought until the man at the counter informed us that every room was full and we would have to try our luck elsewhere. We walked into the cold windy evening towards a nearby shopping center to figure out our next move. There were no rooms available in town. We called hotels, messaged hosts on help X, and even looked for night train tickets back to
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Jamming out waiting for our ride out of the fields Sydney. After exhausting all possibilities we had narrowed it down to a pair of choices. First, we could walk 30 minutes to the highway (with our 50lb packs) and try to hitch a ride 8 hours back to Sydney, or second, we could sleep on the beach and get a train ticket the next day. As I didn't have a sleeping bag and it was 50 degrees and windy I reluctantly agreed on the beach option. To stay warm and make the best of a crappy experience we stopped at a liquor store to get a bottle of wine.
I asked the guy working there about a beachside WW1 bunker as a potential sleeping spot out of the wind. He was horrified and after confirming that we exhausted all our options he (Connor) invited us to his house to spend the night. We spent a luxurious night at his place, got showers; he even did our laundry for us!! The next morning he drove us around Coffs Harbour to see the sights (including the creepy bunker we almost slept in), and helped us find a car to buy! We got a 2001 Nissan Pulsar with a manual transmission. And
after repeatedly reminding ourselves that we needed to drive on the LEFT side of the road, we started the drive back towards Sydney and the Blue Mountains. After spending a night in Katoomba, we went to a hostel recommended to us by a friend (thanks Arnis) called the Flying Fox where we're currently residing.
The owner, Ross is hyperactive and undoubtedly OCD randomly runs through the house, picking up and putting things down, throwing miscellaneous items things away and talking to whoever is in earshot. He helps customers find local work when possible, and Alec and I have both had gardening gigs to earn some cash. I have also started working for Ross cleaning and doing chores around the house in exchange for room and board. We will likely stay here several more weeks until we go to our host family a town over in Blackheath. The climbing here has been amazing and the weather has been conducive except for today when it snowed!!
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