Hello everyone. I am now on the Teece Farm near Mapua and Motueka picking apples. It is very hard work. Mike, the owner, picked me up at noon in Motueka and took me to the pickers' camp where I will be living for the next couple of weeks. The accommodation is very basic and not very clean (for those who know me best you know how big a challenge this will be for me - an outward bound experience of a different sort). Well, I am sharing a room with a very young 20something Czech guy. In fact there are 6 or 7 Czechs working there. There are a couple or three Kiwi and Aussie regular seasonal workers also. Everyone was a bit reserved at first and there is the language barier problem but they are all very nice and have made me feel welcome.
So, on Thursday afternoon after getting settled in I hike myself and a picking bag up the road to an apple patch where I found Red, who drives one of the forklift tractors that move the bins about and take the full bins to the shed. Red gave me a 10 minute picking lesson then went back to work and left me to it. I managed to fill a bin (about 1.5+ square metres) between 2:30 and 5:30. Not great but not bad for a first timer. At the end of the day I was exhausted from being up at 6:30 to get travelling, the bus ride, running all over Motueka to get stuff I'd need and the work. That night I fell into bed at 9:00 and was out cold at 9:05.
Up early Friday for my first full day's oicking. Managed to fill three bins in spite of being moved around twice (ARGH!) which lost me nearly an hour on the day. The patches are far apart and without a car I have to walk from one to the other. There are no toilets around either so if you have to go it is a long hike to the Teece's house, the camp or the yucky old outhouse that no one ever uses. I have had great bladder control while picking. Anyway, I started work at about 8:00 and finished at 5:30ish and managed to fill three full bins. We take a lunch with us to eat during the day. Friday I ate all my lunch, 2 sandwiches, a banana and some trail mix. Drank a 3 litre jug of water. Fell into bed early again and slept almost through the night (except for a sleepy walk down the veranda to the facility).
Saturday, another work day. Pretty much the same as Friday but only picked in one row all day. Filled three bins by 4:10. It would have been 4:20 but Tony (a regular seasonal worker) who was picking the same row from the other end had filled his bin and came by to help finish mine with another bag and a bit. That was such a nice thing for him to do. Then I was able to get a lift back to camp with him. Friday evening as I walked back from this same field I had to cross a field that the cattle (beef steer and a couple of bulls) had just been let out to. When they saw me crossing the field they all looked over and came running in me general direction. Curious buggers scared me into dshing across the field to the other gate. But I managed to avoid all of the meadow muffins (cow patties) and made it through the gate before they got to me.
Saturday night, last night, there wasa dance at the Lower Moutere (pronounce mootree) Hall and Mike and Janet, the bosses, paid the $20 per head ticket price for all the pickers. So we all went to the "Rock'n'Roll" dance. What a hoot!!
Yeah, it was a good dance/party. Much drinking and dancing and everyone having lots of fun. I pooped early. Too tired to party! That has never happened to me before. But the couple I rode to the hall with was leaving early because Lemka got sick from smoking a cigar and threw-up out in the parking lot. David came into the Hall and asked me if I wanted a ride home because they were leaving. I jumped at the opportunity. One of our Czech pickers, Pietra, had a baby... well his girlfriend had a baby, girls, 50 cm and 3.32 Kg... back in the Czech Republic at 6am our time yesterday. So we had an excuse to celebrate (not that we needed one) and he had a cigar and 2 bottles of sparkling wine (pretending to be champaign) so that with all that beer and vodka it made for lots of red, glassy eyeballs this morning. Anyway, I got to go home early because they were leaving. Thank God too. If I had stayed I would have done the most embarassing thing of falling asleep on the table.
Today everyone was having thier favourite hang-over cures for breakfast. For most of the guys this was beer and cigarettes. YUCK!! I was not hung-over because I did not drink much... just beer and only 6 from 4:30 through to 11:30. I had a polite sip of champer to toast Pietra and Suzanna (the baby) and when she was not looking I dumped the rest into Janet's glass next to me. I had no vodka and when urged to have a drag from the cigar as it went around the table I took only the tiniest of puffs. Even then it made me dizzy and sick for a couple of minutes. I don't know how Lemka, a non-smoker, was able to do it. No wonder she threw up.
There is a market in town today and as soon as I finish this I am out to it. It is just across the street here. David and Lemka drove me into town and they are off doing stuff while I do my stuff. I will meet them at the car at 3:00.
I have been talking to a couple of captains about going sailing at the beginning of May. I am going to change my flight to the end of September and then get out of the country (visa expires May 11) by sailing off on a boat headed north. Most will leave around early May either in the May 1st Tonga Rally or around it. The Tonga Rally is for boats going to Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu (sp?). That would be a great way to spend the time and then work on finding a stew job after returning here (get another 3 month visitor's visa). There is one boat that is also offering a small pay on top of all expenses covered... for the right crew. I hope to get on it. Have also been in touch with one of the captains who contacted me in January but after I had made plans to meet John's boat in South. He just had work done to his boat and was planning to leave Auckland in another week but they screwed up some of the work and he says he will now be delayed and may lose part of his crew as a result. If the timing works out and a spot comes available I may join his boat in Auckland.
I am still hoping to get a job on Tiara but have not heard from the captain (sent resume, etc. to him last week) yet. This does not seem like a good thing. I had hoped to get a reply before this.
Many balls in the air... don't know which will land in my lap. Must run now.
Did I mention that this is a very pretty country. Just wait until you see the pics. I know you will all agree. May try posting photos next weekend. There are photos posted from my first 7 weeks in New Zealand.
Posted by gailene at March 28, 2004 02:39 PM