Working Experiences in Australia (Part II)

 

 

 

Yeah, this is garlic picking! This is a 10-dollar-per-hour job. All the workers couldn’t be slow as a tractor was following at our back.  I hope my friends don't mind me uploaded photos of them :P

 

 

All the workers leaving the field when works done

 

A tractor was carrying containers filled with garlics

Garlics picked by us in a day

 

We love GARLICS!!!

In fact, I tried onion picking as well, I didn't take any photos tough. They were almost the same (in terms of hard work).

Stone fruit picking was much easier for me. Nectarines, peach and apricot seemed juicy and attractive. Many of us worked together and had more fun.
 

Nectarines tree

 

Tasty nectarines

All of us soon filled the containers with the fruits 

 

We love NECTARINES!!!

 

 The job of onion flower picking was none too bad. All the jobs I worked here required speed and energy except this one. The contractor asked us to look in details slowly and pick the ‘female’ carefully. Be frank, it’s pretty challenging to differentiate between the ‘male’ and ‘female’ because they looked almost the same. The onion flowers looked stunning from short or far distance. Anyway, this job only required us to work there for a day. We’re happy with the work of that day.

 

Onion flowers

Close-up of an onion flower



Working Experiences in Australia (Part I)

I had my first job on the second week of my stay in the working hostel. I worked in a small plant where gourmet foods are manufactured. My job was really easy and the wage was not bad. However, the working hours was not guaranteed except the peak season before Christmas. As a result, I hunted for other jobs in between.

My first outdoor work in Australia was……Guess what? Mandarin picking! I worked in a team with 3 Korean guys, picking mandarin from early morning until evening but just earn 30-50 bucks in a day. Hard work!! Yes…I know this was not my first time involved in fruit picking (I experienced it in New Zealand before), it’s still tough for me though. Most of the fruit picking jobs here are paid by contract and not by hourly basis, so you have to work really hard and fast. For this job, we were provided with ladders and we were commanded to pick every single fruit on the trees. End of the day, we’ll get approximately $40 for every full container of mandarin. But don’t forget that it still needed to divide among 4 people. One good thing about working there was we had eaten enough mandarin J

The following job was by contract again. I worked in a nursery field. Every day except weekend, work started at 7 o’ clock while the weather was still cold. I was bending my back, sometimes squatting or sitting on the ground to prune the plants along the rows. Every backpacker was paid according to the quantity of plants they worked on. I still remember that our wage merely worth 10 cent per plant. Thus, we had to prune almost a thousand plants in a row in order to earn $100. Fortunately, I was able to make more than that. Still, the champion was my German friend :)

One thing I really hate about working in the field was the presence of flies. I had no idea where’s the flies came from, they were extremely annoying! The flies stayed on the face or any exposed skin and they came back again and again even I repelled them. Thus, a face net or repellent is well worth prepare if you’re planning on working in the field. Just in case.

A Glance at Arts & Crafts

I love arts and crafts. Below are some of the art works I found around Griffith.

From the design of these 3 pieces of wall arts, it indicates agriculture is the main activity in Griffith.



  

 

Lovely dolls from the Knitted Garden display in Art Gallery…

More distinctive arts could be seen in the gallery…



A bench made with mosaic

Staying in Griffith Town

There are not many selections of budget accommodations in Griffith. However, there are mainly 3 working hostels for backpackers and they are Griffith International Hostel, Shearer’s Quarters Accommodation and The Globe Backpackers. I stayed in one of the hostels for about 2 months until I moved to a rented house.

Compared to other locations in Australia, Griffith is the place where I stayed the longest even the town is none too special. Perhaps it’s owing to the jobs availability or the ease of living there. It’s also probably because I was lazy to move after adapting the environment.

Anyway, these are some of the photos showing the Griffith...

Pathway along the main street, Banna Avenue

Griffith Regional Art Gallery

The Area - a pub and entertainment centre

Griffith City Library

Seeing kangaroos in the next 4.5km

A view of Griffith from Scenic Hill Lookout