Week 8 – 8th Jan – 14th Jan

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We now have to find work - sharpish!! We’d heard stories over in WA about work being piss-easy to find in SA. The state is full of fruit farms and vineyards - the Barossa Valley, Australia’s most famous wine producing area, is a short drive from Adelaide. We made a few calls before we left but it turned out that our best bet would be just to drive there and ask for work. Yet again, these prophecies of a shed load of work turned out to be crap! The main agency we went to in the main town in the area said that there was nothing around until February - the only lead we got was orange picking in Waikerie, further east. We got the details for that and it didn’t sound like a terribly good deal: $25 per box of oranges - that’s 400kg of the little buggers! We took the details so that we had something to fall back on and drove further east to the Riverland. The lady in the agency said we’d probably have a better chance over there - except a big storm had just ripped through Renmark. There are adverts on the television asking for volunteers to help rebuild farms - whole vineyards had been flattened. I’d have been more than happy to help but I need cash! After trying a few places, we ended up in Loxton late in the afternoon. It’s a working hostel - local farmers have a deal whereby they call up the hostel and the hostel provides them with workers. We went on the list for work at silly o’clock the next day - Tom and Anders would be picking apricots while I would be doing apples. Tuesday morning came round very quickly, but it turned out that there wasn’t any work for. I was pretty pissed off because the others had something and I didn’t, but at least I got to go back to bed until lunchtime!

I was back on the work list for Wednesday, much to my relief - I had to be up about an hour before Tom and Anders, but I didn’t mind that because it meant that more of my day would be in the morning. My first day was a scorcher - in fact the whole week was over 40 degrees. I thought I’d cane the hours on the first day to start getting the cash in - I ended up doing 0600 - 1630 and was well chuffed with that! I’m working on a vineyard doing pruning and training, which means zero shade but not too strenuous work. All of the harvest work is boring - that’s just the nature of it. It’s a case of switching your brain off and getting on with it! My lower back suffered a little bit for a couple of days, but I was used to it pretty quickly. The place is owned by a couple who emigrated from England in the mid 90s, and they’re really nice. They’ve got a swimming pool, so we can go for a dip at lunchtime, which is bloody awesome on one of the ridiculously hot days. I’ve got used to the weather man saying the UV index is an ‘extreme’ 11 - factor 30+, a hat, and a collar are absolute essentials!

Our supervisor is actually one of the backpackers from the hostel - he’s been working here for 7 weeks or so. He’s a top bloke from ‘Sith Ifrica’ and because he’s a fellow backpacker he’s really easy going and doesn’t bust our balls if we’re working slowly. I don’t understand how he could have stayed here for so long - there’s literally nothing to do in Loxton! That’s a good thing though, seeing as we’re here to put money aside. The hostel was converted in 2002, having been built to house police during their training. As a result, I’m sure you can guess what it’s like inside - rather like a prison! There aren’t too many frills - a dartboard, pool table and table-tennis table are about as fun as it gets. But hey, it’s $15 per night - top banana! Sunday was my day off, which I spent doing very little! Tom and Anders were at work so I tidied the room and all that kind of stuff - generally taking it easy!

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