When we thought Renmark and the orange picking days were well and truly behind us, on Monday 9th October we found ourselves back there. Why? Well Tom started working with Grainflow in Mallala shortly after we got home from our first trip to Renmark, a couple of days a week doing some pre harvest work. This included clearing away old grain, folding tarps, ground sheets and lots of sweeping across the whole site. I completed my 2 training days in the sampling team. I learnt how to identify different types of grain, examine for any defects and test for moisture. It was pretty full on but was reassured it would all fall into place once I started doing it for real when the grain arrived.
With training complete I was ready to start work properly in the next week or so but unfortunately received the news that harvest was delayed due to weather conditions. This was disastrous for us. We needed to start ticking our days off ASAP and waiting for the harvest to begin (predicted to be end of Oct – Nov) just wasn’t a viable option for us. So I was back on the mad job hunt again to try and find something in the meantime in South Australia which both of us could start immediately. We had no luck anywhere for a couple of weeks, most farms seemed to be in between seasons so it didn’t seem like we had many options at all. Other citrus farms had refused us because we had our own accommodation (Barker the van) and didn’t need to stay in their hostels. That meant they ‘couldn’t’ help us, really meaning they DON’T help us unless we are paying them rent. Another schemey way to rip off backpackers unfortunately.
That’s how we ended up back in Renmark. As much as we didn’t want to, I certainly didn’t feel like we had another option and thought ticking off any days, whether that meant working 3 days picking oranges to tick off just 1 day would be better than nothing at all! We were seriously running out of time. Well unfortunately our luck got even worse as not only did Tom pick up a speeding fine during our 3 hour commute back to Renmark, but we were also told 2 bits of bad news. 1. The farm we have been previously working for didn’t apparently have enough work for us either anymore and 2. MADEC couldn’t even guarantee us any work until the following week even though they told me just 2 days ago to come here as there was plenty of work around!
That night, back in the Riverbend Campsite overlooking the Murray River, we found ourselves thinking about the reality that we might not achieve a second year working visa. With our travel plans in place for next year, I really struggled to stay positive and started to seriously regret not searching for our farm work sooner. It was always our intention to start when we came back from the UK in July, to get it done super early, but getting offered an events job at the City of Salisbury was an opportunity I just couldn’t refuse! Tom had his concerns but as supportive as ever, he went along with it.
We spent our time in Renmark pretty much glued to our phones, searching for work and hoping I would get the call from someone I have contacted, left messages and emails for, with finally some good news. Then during a storm which we spent chilling in the van, we encountered a very unwanted guest. A large redback spider decided to crawl out under our floorboard through a small hole as the foot of the bed. The same end we sleep in at night! If it wasn’t hard enough to sleep already, this was the icing on the cake.
Finally, on the Tuesday, just our second day back in Renmark, we were given a glimpse of hope. One of the recruitment agencies I had previously contacted called AgriSolutions got back to me with contact details for a Strawberry Farm in Myponga and told me to get in touch. Just an hour away from Adelaide and liking the idea of picking strawberries (although we would have picked anything at this point) we were told they could guarantee us some work. Hurray! The strawberry season was just starting out and carries on for 9 months, so when I asked if we would have the time to get our 88 days in before February 13th he lifted a whole a weight from my shoulders when he said there would be plenty of work available to do it.
So we didn’t think twice before packing up AGAIN and heading back to Adelaide. Perfect timing as we were back for Halle’s 2nd Birthday which we spent spoiling her with presents and eating lots of ice cream.
We were due to start work the following morning on the Friday 13th. Unlucky for some, we rocked up at the farm eager at 6.30am after an hour commute to be told it was rained off! Not the best start however we took the opportunity to go and explore Myponga, Murray Bridge and Manum before we went looking for free campsites to base ourselves for the night. After a lot of driving and exploring, we were pretty exhausted. There were no free campsites in the right direction for us so before we knew it we were having dinner in the central chinese markets back in Adelaide and ended up camping in a free car park by the seafront.
We survived the night, and it was another great test run for the van. We had been previously filling spare days as much as possible with working on the van, mainly insulating it and covering up any rust. It’s coming along very nicely with the wheel arches covered, walls built and air vent in place. Remember if you are interested in having a look at our #vanconversion follow us on instagram @hiaceventura to see its progress!
So back to farm life and thankfully on Sunday 15th Oct we completed our first day of work on the farm. Wow it was tough. You may think the idea of picking strawberries would be fairly pleasant, but after 10 hours in the heat, on a rickety trolley, trudging through lots of mud and across acres of fields, my bum was absolutely killing, our fingers were sore and our faces were burnt. I managed to pick a very average 130kgs of strawberries (Tom picked similar) and for our first day wasn’t too bad. This work is also piece rate and therefore we made around $130 each that day, equates to around $10 an hour (less than £6 an hour), but more than we made in the 3 whole days we previously spent orange picking! So we powered on, picking less the following day as there wasn’t as many strawberries out there and by the third day, we had picked only $30 worth. With it being the start of the season the amount of strawberries did flurry a lot and unfortunately we just couldn’t pick enough to make a decent wage.
But with luck finally turning, one of our bosses came over to Tom and I and offered us the choice of weeding the entire farm and put us on an hourly rate rather than picking. We never looked back. Here we are 5 weeks in with over 30 days officially ticked off! With severe bags under my eyes trying to stay awake writing this, we can honestly say we feel extremely fortunate to have found a fantastic farm to work for. Over the past 5 weeks we have met some awesome people, from backpackers to international students to the bosses themselves, we know this is an experience we certainly won’t forget. The 4.30am alarms are probably the worst part, but when you are greeted by kangaroos every morning hopping around the farm, I instantly get reminded of the amazing country we are in and why we are doing this work.
The farm life continues on and we are now on the official countdown until Tom’s sister Kate and her partner Matt join us here in Australia for a hot Christmas! We can’t wait.
Gemma