Fruit and the City


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Oceania » Australia » Victoria
June 27th 2006
Published: June 27th 2006
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HuntsmanHuntsmanHuntsman

Would you want to pick this Orange?
Helloooooo all,

Its been an interesting, and also hard working month and a bit since the last blog. Ive been picking lots more fruit, infact i dont think there is many more types of fruit that i havent picked and i've even ventured back into civilisation again, and headed back to Melbourne. So heres the story so far:

I hung around in Redcliffs for another 4/5 weeks and was picking all sorts. I started on grapefruits, which i was told there should be some good money in, but it turns out that the contractors we were working for were as thick as two short planks and didnt really have a clue what was going on. I reckon i could probably have run the business better. Unfortunately though, shortly after i was picking grapefruits, the first day of winter crept in and meant every morning when we woke up work was by no means guaranteed and half the time i would wake up and then find that work wasnt on and would have a whole day to kill sat on a sofa staring at the four walls around me!

Once the weather actually perked up a bit i was
Big LizzieBig LizzieBig Lizzie

Redcliffs main attraction
able to move onto, dried fruit, which was just pulling dried grapes off the vine and slinging them into a bucket. This wasnt bad work, a bit tedious but with my iPod in me pocket it made the day go a bit faster. After this i moved onto 'pulling out'. This involved ripping, quite literrally, the dead vines off the wires and untangling them all and bunging them on the floor. This was good for taking out a bit of aggression and wasnt particularly taxing mentally but about every other vine that was pulled smacked you in the face or caught you in the eye so it was painful work. Unfortunately the pay for this was absolute peanuts aswell, so i got myself on the hunt for some other work.

After some fine weather for ducks, which lasted about a week, i finally got the chance to go back onto orange picking. My first couple of days i was abole to pick 6 bins which works out at about $150 a day so i was a happy bunny once more. After a couple of days the trees got bigger and the fruit smaller so meant i couldnt quite make
B-B-Q TimeB-B-Q TimeB-B-Q Time

One of our many midnight feasts!
as much but i wasnt far off the pace. Once again though the weather made it difficult for us backpackers to make a crust and i prob had as many days off work as i did picking. I ended up picking oranges for about 2weeks and then i felt it was time for me to head back to civilisation.

Although, the picking was very hard work (when the heavens didnt open) and Redcliffs certainly isnt the social hub of Victoria i had a wicked time there and met loads of sound people. And the hostel itself was pretty decent. There were loads of events put on during the week including a free quiz, free pool comp, and my favourite of all 'Joker Poker'. This was basically a lucky dip of cards stuck to the wall and you would get a free ticket with every drink purchased. At 7:30 all the tickets were thrown into a bucket and a special guest would draw a ticket out of the bucket. Whoever's ticket happened to be drawn would have the chance to pick a card for the chance to win $2000 or would be offered a series of deals involving lots of
The WeddingThe WeddingThe Wedding

Quite the turnout for a fake wedding!
free drinks, and the backpackers favourite a 'Power-bar' which was free beer to everyone in the bar for anything up to 10mins! I think i definately got my fair share of free beer and it always tastes so much better when you dont have to put your hand in your pocket to buy it.

Unfortunately i didnt have so much luck with the quiz and the highest our team could get to was 3rd, and in the pool comp, despite my dazzling form throughout the week, i never broke past the quarter finals. We also every couople of weeks partnered up with the other hostel in Redcliffs and had the chance to show our silky skills on the football pitch 5mins from the hostel. This was always a good laugh and although a few dubious tackles were normally flying about, was always in good spirits and we would all head back to the hostel for a social beer afterwards.

The hostel one night also staged a mock wedding, which although sounds cheesy, was actually a really good night, with everyone in fancy dress, and really getting into the spirit of things. I think perhaps one or two got
Mother of the BrideMother of the BrideMother of the Bride

Quite the looker!
a little too involved but the usual wedding antics seemed to occur, and yes the best man did sleep with the bridesmaid!

On Friday/Saturday nights the Redcliffs faithful would hop on the party bus, which although sounds quite a novelty, was actually a run down double decker with what i assume had a 8 track for music and was decorated in christmas tree lights that look like they've been around since WWII, and make the pilgrimage to Mildura (the closest city to Redcliffs). There were three clubs in Mildura and was always a good night out, although a little hazy, as about 30 or so people normally went along. On my last weekend in Redcliffs after a beer or three i decided as i was well overdue a haircut that i would just go for it and shave me head. it actually turned out pretty good and i look just as handsome as ever! So I'll attach a photo on here so you can kind of see what it looks like!

On the 8th June i departed Redcliffs along with 5 others and hopped onto the coach for 9hours and headed for Melbourne. We all nearly missed the
Point of No ReturnPoint of No ReturnPoint of No Return

No going back now (sorry nan and mum for doing this to you!)
bus and were just walking to the stop as we saw the bus indicate to drive off, so at a pace similar to that of Asafa Powell, weighed down by two backpacks and a bag of food i managed to catch the bus before it drove off and we got on there safely. The good news is that i have now done 82 of my required 90 days of fruit picking to extend my Visa for another year, so another 2 weeks and that should be the last picking i do (everyone touch as much wood as they can!).

So here i am now sat in a hostel in Melbourne. Ive been here for two and a half weeks now and i am just about learning how to cross a busy road again and interact with normal human beings. Im staying in South melbourne, in a 'Bev and Micks' hostel (which is the same as the one i stayed in at Redcliffs) as they are only $70 a week compared to most hostels which are normally over $130 a week. And they still have the free pool, quiz and of course the 'Power-bar!

I havent really done too
The End ResultThe End ResultThe End Result

All those lovely curls gone! (and yes i have been here 5 months and still not tanned!)
much in Melbourne since ive been here as i did most of the touristy things last time i was here. i have mainly been watching football and having coronarys watching England play and barely scraping through every round! As well as England i have been cherering on the Socceroos ( thats the rubbish name that the Aussie team have giveen themselves!), who until they were robbed of a possible place in the quarter finals by a diving Italian were doing really well. I have been heading down to Federation Square and the Yarra River, where there are big screens, to watch the Aussie games. The first time i went down to Fed Square for the Oz vs Brazil game, there was around 12,000 people packed in and the atmosphere was awesome. I also went down there last night for the Italy game and Fed Sq was too full so we went down to the river and there was about 15,000 down there plus about 15,000 in Fed Sq round the corner. Then atmosphere was good until the 93rd minute which, apart from a lot of swearing for a minute, went extremely quiet.

The hostel is right opposite South melbourne market which is brilliant fun to go in and have a banter over a bag of bacon or a few apples and on a sunday, the stalls have to get rid of as much stuff as they can so it all goes really cheap. I have found myself walking out of there on Sundays with about 3 kilos of sausages, a kilo of bacon, 30+ apples and more oranges than i have probaly picked off of trees for about $10 (about 4quid)!!

I have done three days work in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre which i just down the road from the hostel, at a good food and wine exhibition, and i was working for a famous Australian chef called Donna Hay, who personally i wouldnt have known if i fell over her, but im told shes pretty good. Me and another lad from the hostel were basically just lugging around boxes and goody bags all day. It was really tiring work but the pay was good and we got loads of free food, wine and beer at the end of it. We found that as most of the time we were in the store rooms we could often swap goody bags for items with people off of other stalls. We made particularly good friends with a girl on the New Zealand wine stall, so we did quite well from her. (note - if you come across a Kiwi wine called Oyster Bay i would reccomend it).

I am also happy as a pig in poo at the mo as just round the corner from the hostel is a basketball court, so myself and one of the lads from Redcliffs went halves on a basketball and we have spent every minute of the last couple of days down on the court shooting hoops as i havent played in over 5months!

Think thats everything thats been going on over here. I see the weather is looking pretty good at home so im a bit jealous of that but soon i will be heading to warmer climbs - more than likely Darwin where it is normally over 30 degrees, so na na na na na na!

hope all is well and look after yourselves,
from a now more streamline Dunc!













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27th June 2006

Been a while!
hey dunc, been a while since your last blog mate! Glad to hear that the Huntsman didnt get you at the orange tree! Think Eubank missed the payment to him so he didnt get ya! LOL Bet your relieved to be getting some action at last, well on court i mean! ;) Hope to hear from you again soon mate, take care and enjoy playing ball when you can! Hywel

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