Kiwi Fruit EVERYWHERE!

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I am happy to be employed and I’m even more happy about the fact that I’m doing something that can be called Kiwiana (think Canadiana). However, picking kiwi fruit is fairly hard work. You throw a harness over you shoulder with a large wire reinforced bag that rests in front of your stomach, and start picking your way through the orchard. The vines are supported by wires strung along posts that have been set wide enough apart for a tractor and trailer to drive between. The tractors pull 3 4’x4’x2.5’ bins and we fill them as quickly as possible.

We get paid $12 New Zealand per bin after tax, but it doesn’t matter how many people are working on them. 12 people working means $1 per person per bin. The fewer the people the bigger the cut, but that also means the slower the work. A fairly experienced crew can expect about $80-110 per person in a day, and the 2 days I’ve worked I received $75 the first day and $88 the second, so the newbie crew didn’t do so bad!

We’ve got the day off now because all of the north island here is getting rained on hard and probably will be for the next couple of days. Day one was the worst day for sore muscles but it’s getting better, the unfortunate thing is the bigger the break in between picking days, the more sore you will be. With any luck, we’ll be back out and picking on Thursday.

I’m sorry I don’t have pictures at the moment, but when the work begins there’s no time for pictures. I’ll try to take some at lunch break the next time we’re at work.

Talk to you later!

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Photos

The Orchard 2
Yep, those are kiwi fruit

Kiwis
Pick 'em all day long!

Cat!
This cat belonged to 2 German travelers who were staying in a camper van. When it wasn't basking in everyone's attention, it was hunting kiwi fruit.

Timo
Timo hard at work

The Gang
From left to right: Timo, Anika, Kerstin, Katja, and Ines