88 days diaries: Cheating
You never know what actually happens to your food. It happens everywhere; lying and cheating and messing around. A cherry farm is no different. The cherry season has ended, but the cheating continues. The cherries all go through a quality check, but if it didn’t pass, there was always a…
88 days diaries: There’s no escaping Gumeracha
I survived my last day. In the morning I had the shed to myself. There was nobody. It was quiet. At 8AM I already had two customers, brothers. They wanted 8 boxes of second grade. I just didn’t have 8 boxes. The boys were not in a rush, so as…
88 days diaries: When the end is near
The end of my 88 days was quickly approaching. I didn’t want to stay much longer, but how do you talk about this with a stubborn, unpredictable farmer? When the others said they wanted to leave in a week, they were sent away straight away. I wanted to do the…
88 days diaries: From bad to worse to worth it
The atmosphere is grim. It feels like I work at a cattle station, only the people are the cattle. After working on the farm for 8 weeks the farmer ‘likes’ me a bit more than the others, so I have some privileges. I am ashamed to see how the other…
88 days diaries: The cherry carrousel
The cherry season is starting. I am not alone anymore. Two Taiwanese girls and an American boy have joined me in the house. It is so much fun to have people around, even though we all have to wait to use the shower now. It is refreshing to have people…
88 days diaries: Shock and tears
During my travels I’ve met lots of different people. I’ve come across some situations where I felt like I was being pushed around. Somehow people think they can treat you like shit because you are a traveller. I find it hard to deal with this, but sometimes you’ve got to…
88 days diaries: Back to the waterworks
The cherry season was fast approaching, but there was one important thing to finish out in the fields: irrigation. This time I worked with a French backpacker called Ivan. Every day we got a quad bike and a repair kit and were send to work on different areas in the…
88 days diaries: Big bad boss; a manual
When you’ve decided to do your 88 days on a farm, be prepared. Not all farmers are of the happy, cheerful and friendly kind. You might have to deal with a somewhat eccentric boss. If you take things personal, you’d better just turn around now. This isn’t the place for…
88 days diaries: Chores for Cinderella
If you want to stay in Australia for a second year working holiday, you’ll have to do your 88 days of regional work. In the 88 days diaries I tell the story of my three months of farm work on a cherry orchard. I worked out in the fields as…
88 days diaries: Back on the bikes
If you want to stay in Australia for a second year working holiday, you’ll have to do your 88 days of regional work. In the 88 days diaries I tell the story of my three months of farm work on a cherry orchard. I worked out in the fields as…