Finishing up at the Fruitshack

Things are winding up for me at the Fruitshack. I’ve finished pruning my grape vines, finished the final order of valencias and I’ve finished my 88 days required to get a 2^nd year visa, woohoo!

But I’m still here. I haven’t let the farm just yet. Picking oranges is not a very lucrative job – and when I say ‘not very’ I mean ‘completely awful’. Just as my days were ending Marcello’s pickers began harvesting his mandarin crop. He has over 200acres of farmland, and around 600 mandarin trees. Which is around about 400 bins of fruit which all need to be packed by hand. So I’ve stuck around to help him do that because I like Marcello, and he is paying me by the hour.

The days are long, 7am – 6pm, so there’s no time to do anything in the evenings except shower, cook, eat and fall into bed ready to get up at 6am tomorrow. But that’s good, because long days means lots of hours which means lots of $!

The time goes quickly, running around in a kind of semi-organised chaos. I enjoy it, rushing around and keeping busy. But it’s quite frustrating with a guy who has been there for a long time always aiming to remind you of his superiority by interveining when you are in the middle of doing something, under the guise of ‘helping’. And Marcello’s father, Mick, a 65yr old Italian man, is struggling to let go of his farming life, even though Marcello and his brother Dom run the place now. He is a lovely guy with a lot of jokes and long winding stories, but he likes to boss people around and tell them they are doing things wrong.

I’ve been unofficially promoted so Mick does not like me to just work the chutes where we pack the mandarins into boxes and then stack them on the pallets, but he wants me to man the biggest chutes which pour into huge 2x2m  bins. I make sure the right sizes go into the bins, then pull the mounds of mandarins around to level them out. Some bins need to be flat so they can be stack, and some mounded to later be taken out and packed by hand in a 3x3 pattern. When that’s slow I like to help on the smaller chutes because they often get backed up, and it’s fun hopping from one to the other, a crazy dance of people weaving in and out of one another. Or I’ll carry stacks of empty boxes from the other side of the shed, or empty out buckets of split or ugly fruit – the ugly/marked fruit gets sold at ½ price, it’s not just thrown away, phew. But after a while Mick will always yell at me to come back, even if he is looking after that section himself. Or he’ll walk over and say ‘I’ll do it’ and push me out of the way. The key to dealing with him, I’ve discovered, is to say ‘ok’ and either continue what I’m doing, or walk away and start doing something else.

The good thing, or perhaps it’s a bad thing, is that there is a constant stream of tea and biscuit breaks!

In a crazy turn of events, I had my 25^th birthday. It was a beautiful warm day where I was pruning in the sunshine. And I came back to the shack to a surprise party in the shed. The girls had got me a cake and Michael had brought 3 bottles of wine. Jenny had done a postcard painting of the orange trees and everyone signed the back, and I had a gorgeous hamper of chocolates and cookies and Baileys from my wonderful poppa. Throughout the week more cards and parcels arrived, so my birthday stretched out for ages and I felt so special.

The other night Michael wanted to burn some branches so we had a fire in the fire pit Marcello made years ago from an old washing machine drum. And the weather is picking up, though it is still horrendously cold in the early mornings, in the day we’re getting up to around 15degrees now.

But I am very excited to leave. I met somebody. A German boy, Sebastian. He’s the happiest person I ever met, and he makes me very happy too. He’s traveling with Max, the boyfriend of my gay Liverpudlian friend David, and they were both at the Fruitshack for 6 weeks before heading off to Byron Bay where they already had farm work planned.

Now he has left I really miss him, and this place is changed for me. I am heading up to Byron to be with him again, and when they have finished their 88 days, we are going to travel and see what this beautiful country has to offer. I can’t wait for the next adventure.

The Latest Adventures in Fruitshacker Life

I'm still living at the Fruitshack on my orange farm, and things are very busy here. I haven't posted anything in so long because I haven't had a day off in over 2 weeks! Since I last posted I have picked Valencia and Naval oranges and mandarins, pruned grapevines and packed more mandarins. Today is my first day off in a very long time, and I only received it because everyone went out in town last night and the boss messaged us all to say 'If you go out tonight, don't work tomorrow'. So this morning I slept until midday and I feel better than I have in ages.

It got very cold here recently. Temperatures were at 0 degrees in the mornings - very difficult to get out of bed at 6am and into the fields! It's been frosty a lot, I didn't realise that happened over here! It means that for the first few hours of work your fingers and toes just sting! And a hot shower after work makes your fingers feel white hot in the heat.

As the frost melted, it just got muddy.

Mandarins

I've been picking mandarins. It's different to oranges because you have to cut them from the tree with teeny secateurs instead of just pulling them. It takes a lot longer, so you can only fill one bin a day instead of 7 or 8 like we do with oranges. The trees are a lot smaller which means we have to use a different type of ladder. This one is much scarier, as instead of leaning it against the tree, you swing the third leg into a sort of tripod and dig it into the mud. 

Meet the Hunstman!

Huntsman spiders like mandarins. It's a good job I spent so long in Vermont getting used to the big guys, because these fellas are pretty hefty. And close! There were at least 3 occasions when they were running around on me. Twice I picked up an orange with one of these on to have him run around my hand and up my arm. 

Packing

 I've been doing more mandarin packing too, on the Mallamace family farm. Marcello runs the whole things, with his brother Dominic and his dad Mick who is a cheeky old chap who likes to shout. And Momma Mallamace brings the tea and cookies whenever we have a break, in true Italian fashion.


 First we make boxes to pack the mandarins in before they are shipped off to Sydney market. I have to restrain myself from building a giant fort with all the boxes!

After a couple of hours of that it's time to get the conveyor going. The mandarins come down the shoots and we pack them into the boxes and put them onto the pallets ready to go in the truck. 

This is why I like working for Italians =]

Grape Time

I've started pruning grape vines. The farm has 3 varieties of orange and countless types of grapes. My friends are pruning Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and I'm on the slightly less exciting Sultana vines, but I do have the oldest ones; planted in 1913, they're 103 years old.

The deal is to cut away all of the branches from last year, and the ones that are not well positioned, leaving just 6 branches on the top of the vine which are left with just 6 buds. It's pretty easy work, but you have to concentrate and make sure you don't cut the wrong branches. A lot of the vines are very low so there's a lot of crouching down, and your hand hurts after a few hours of repetitive cutting. But I'm working with Lilli, a German girl who I love, and we have a great time while we are working.

Back to the Shack

We get INCREDIBLE sunsets here!

Great news in that John, the farmer whose house I was staying in, is back on his feet already. He only needed a stint instead of a heart bypass so it was only a minor procedure, not the big rib breaking one we expected. So he and Kathy are back on their farm, and I am back at the Fruitshack.

From a beautiful clean kitchen with every utensil you could think of, to one where you have to wash things up before using them, and be inventive in the way you use utensils – for future knowledge, yes you can mash potato with a fork and you can grate cheese with a knife. The kitchen has a mass clean at least once a week, but an hour later it looks like a bomb has hit, even though everyone gets frustrated and says “I don’t know who is doing it, because we all complain about it.”

1 hour later...

I’ve gone from a lovely big comfy double bed in a spacious room to a top bunk in the most crowded room you can imagine. 8 girls and backpacks with everything they own makes for a lot of stuff!

It's been a bit of a scary time, going through the EU referendum. The time difference meant we were able to watch as the votes came in, swinging from Leave to Remain. But the 4 English people here stood united.

We had a visit from Mr RedBack, one of the most dangerous spiders…

And we tried to discover how many idiots you can fit on a tractor?

There is a lot of work right now. I have completed 55 of the 88 days I need to complete to apply for a second year visa, and the days are still coming fast. The orange season has stepped up and orders are flooding in to all the local farmers. Which is great, until the orders start coming too fast. Yesterday I was ready at 6am to pick 5 bins of Valencias before 9am so we could complete a order. And right now I am supposed to be picking 12 bins of Navals for tomorrow’s deadline, but can’t because the trees are still wet from last night’s dew. You can’t pick Navels when the oranges are wet because they immediately start to go black.

I’m starting to count down the days now. I have 33 to do, maybe a month and a half. And then what?! The plan as it stands right now is to head to Melbourne and find a job that pays a decent wage so I can save some money. And then, Australia is my oyster…

Farm 1208

As the days are getting steadily colder I’ve had a lucky break. One of the farmers I’ve been working for has had to go to Sydney for a few weeks for heart surgery. And while he and his wife are away, they have entrusted me with their farm. So I, and another guy, get to live in their big cosy farmhouse in exchange for feeding and caring for their animals. After spending 2 months at the Fruitshack, it’s like heaven!

I have actual walls, a real bed, a proper kitchen and bathroom, and to top it all off, I have heating!!!!!! And a car. Yes my friends, I’ve gone from Citroen C1 back at home, to Chevy Truck in the States and now I have a Mazda. It’s not a bad progression really…

The house is very beautiful, set in a lot of land mostly comprised of grape vines and orange trees and the most gorgeous tree lined garden I’ve ever seen. We even have our own reservoir!

There’s a treadmill in the ‘back room’ where we spend most of our time. The big windows look out on the garden so we can see the frost in the mornings!

Our duty here is pretty simple. We look after the animals;

Meet Floyd

 Montese

 Foxy

                                            (the cat not the boy)

Liliana

 And 7 chickens who are very young and just starting to lay eggs. That’s another duty - feed the chickens and eat their eggs.

It's a great little life. We get to shelter from the weather and properly relax while the rain pelts down and work is slow. A bit of r and r is much needed, and appreciated. And the best part is that we've just got word that John's surgery wasn't as big as expected and he's doing great. =]  

One Year On

I can’t quite believe it. I have been away from my beautiful home, family and friends for an entire year. 1 year ago now on June 6^th 2015 I left England and took flight for an adventure that’s taken me on an incredible path. I’ve met amazing people, visited wondrous places and seen incredible sights. Looking back it seems like only yesterday, but when I think back over what I have done and the places I have seen, it doesn’t quite seem real.

America

I spent three months living in the wilderness that is the beautiful state of Vermont. Literally sleeping under the stars on a hillside beside a lake, I’d spend my days teaching kids to climb a tower, conquer a high ropes course and taking them out into the forest to scale the crags. I’d swim in the lake in the sunshine, hike to waterfalls and a huge bluff high on the mountain side. My nights were full of giant bonfires, drinks and socialising with crazy Americans in a clearing after traipsing through the pitch black forest.

I travelled 3,000 miles across the country with the incredible Faryn Borella. We stayed on a hippie farm in Nashville and saw the home of country music. In Memphis we experienced the soul and blues, saw the influence left by Elvis and visited the spot where Martin Luther King was killed. We drove for hours across the deserts of Arizona, seeing no body else, just lightening storms far in the distance, and eventually arrived at the Grand Canyon, the most awe inspiring place imaginable.

Fiji

Fiji was just breathtaking every day. Lazing in a hammock on the beach, watching the phenomenal sunset over the ocean from a swing in a palm tree, cantering across the beach on a horse, splashing through the waves. Swimming in a waterfall then drinking coconut milk from a coconut freshly pulled from a tree, making jewellery from the husk. Eating pineapple at the market, snorkelling the coral reef, playing volleyball against local boys. Drinking Kava and dancing in a traditional village ceremony.

Australia

Crazy, hectic, whirlwind life in Sydney. Drinking at vineyards in the Hunter Valley, hiking stunning trails in the Blue Mountains. Living my dream at Surf Camp. Picking blueberries in Coffs Harbour. Working at Luna Park with the greatest team of people. Learning acro yoga. Swimming at Manly beach, and sunbathing at Bondi on Christmas Day. Travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane with my beautiful momma bear in our little ol’ camper van – sleeping in the wilderness, surrounded by kangeroos, wallabies, wombats and the most vibrantly coloured birds. Watching dolphins play around our boat, snorkelling with stingrays and holding a sea urchin, cream tea overlooking Byron Bay.  Embracing the surfing lifestyle in Yamba. Kayaking through the everglades in Noosa. Yoga on the beach at 7am every morning, and getting inspired watching Noosa Festival of Surfing. Driving a 4x4 across the sandy beach and trails of Fraser Island. Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and coming up close and personal with giant sea turtles. Jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft. Seeing rivers of bats stream overhead in Melbourne and Cairns. And now, working as a farmer in Leeton, picking oranges by day and shivering by night as the temperature drops and we head into winter.

But it's not all amazing experiences and happy whirlwinds. I miss all of my family and my friends so much. It's so hard trying to keep in touch with time differences and lack of internet connection. And I miss the little things. In the year I've been gone I've missed a family wedding, two new babies and I'm going to miss the birth of Baby Munro (spoiler!) which is absolutely heart breaking. I've missed birthdays and a Christmas and watching the little ones grow up. My wonderful momma is having massive changes; leaving her job and selling her house. It's so strange to think that I will not go back to my home in Loughborough, I won't walk through that life we created together, but somewhere new, somewhere that she has built without me. I often forget that life goes on at home while I am away. I can't go home and find things where I left them. And that's sad. But it's exciting too, to see where time has taken people.

I’ve learnt so much, about this world, about people, and about myself. I'm stronger than I thought. I can do scary things. Not just jumping out of an aeroplane, but taking off with no plans and no one beside me. Making things up as I go along, and finding a way to make things work.

I’ve realised that life is all about finding your feet, and then following them. I’m on this extraordinary, winding path that’s taking me from one breathtaking adventure to the next. I can’t see what’s coming around the corner, but I’m excited to see where it takes me next…

I'm on top of the world

Limes, lambs, and a day at the races

Time is flying. Again. It's hard to believe I've been on the farm for over a month. It seems simultaneously like no time has passed at all, and that I've been here forever. I feel right at home, sleeping in a freezing cold room, cooking in the kitchen where the oven takes 10 times longer and only a couple of the hobs work, and showering in a hut that looks as though it is about to disintegrate.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT to start with… I am now a proper farmer and I can drive a tractor! It’s the best part of picking, driving the full bins back to the shed, either driving the tractor or sitting on the bins as we bump along.

It’s been a long few weeks on the farm, and I’ve been up to a lot, even in the middle of nowhere! I’ve been picking, sorting and packing limes and oranges, picking up sticks ready for a new irrigation system, and now I’m back to picking them again.

Time always goes slowly when you’re working in the packing shed. The bins of fruit are tipped into a huge skip, then make their way up a conveyor belt. The bad ones get thrown out by the person sorting, then they get washed before tumbling into spinning barrels dependant on size. We then pull them out of the barrels and pack them into boxes ready to be delivered to the supermarket.

When you are sorting you can’t take your eyes off the conveyor and after a while you can’t see individual fruits any more. You have to keep shaking your head to wake up. Packing is very fast paced. Different sizes are packed in different formations and you quickly get into the rhythm.

At the minute there are 5 of us picking 32 bins of oranges on the Williams’ farm. It takes all of us between 30 and 40 minutes to fill a bin, and we’re doing maybe 8 or 10 a day – it’s great because we start early and can be done by lunch! The owners of the farm are away at the moment so we are in charge. Normally we’d be picked up then driven home, but as they are away John has given us his car so we have so much more freedom. We can stop off in town on our way home, or start a little later if everyone is in need of a bit more sleep.  

And I have an extra little job which I LOVE! I am in charge of the animals. So I feed the 2 cats, three dogs, and the little lamb, Dotty. She is the cutest thing alive and I absolutely love her. She was left all alone on a neighbouring farm and John and Cathy took her in and hand reared her when she was only 10 days old. She drinks milk, but she’s classy so she has it out of a wine bottle – 2014 Chardonnay darling =]

This weekend a lot of us had a day off so dressed up fancy and went to Leeton Races. It was great to see everyone looking nice for a change, normally we have twigs in our hair, dirt on our clothes and mud on our shoes! And the sun came out for us too. We lazed on the grass with far too much bubbly, bet on horses that never even started the race and went dancing with the locals. Luckily we started partying at about 11am so by 8pm we all think it’s about 3 in the morning, so we were home by midnight. Which is pretty important when you start work at 7am the next morning. Though it was a very quiet day, everyone picking with their headphones in…