Picking Cabbages
Location: Vinifera (10 mins Swan Hill, 15 mins Nyah West backpackers)
Pay Rate: $15.07ph inc tax
Employer likes backpackers (who get to work on time)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6+
Packers: 6+
Employer provides:
- machete (sharp knife with wide blade)
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Cabbages are full of water and you can get covered with water as you're throwing them around
What to expect:
You start the day by cutting cabbages for about 20 minutes, one cabbage per plant. Depending on the sharpness of the blade you are given, sometimes you get it right from the start, other times, you may need to cut it 2-3 times to get the right cut.
You then remove the outside cabbage leaves that got cut, and, turn the cabbage upside down on the row to let the excess water drain out.
Each time you cut a cabbage and turn it over, you need to make a head-count of how many you've cut as each bin, when filled contains 50 or 100 cabbages.
After you have a fair amount of cabbages up the row, someone drives the tractor and the pickers pack the boxes. This requires someone to be standing up on the tractor catching them and counting them into the box, they have to be packed so that the required amount of cabbages all fit in the box, so it requires some logic as to how to place them. The pickers on the ground pick up each cabbage, throwing it to the next person closest to the tractor, and then throwing it up to the picker in the box.
I thought it was great working there because as I was female, I was given the job of tractor driver so my day was made much easier and it hardly felt like working at all, but if there was more than one female or if the boss was there, I'd say that the boss would probably get the cushy tractor job or the females may take turns or whoever is the sorest or sickest :)
Depending on what company you are cutting for, you either leave the greater outside leaves on, or strip them all off for a nice looking bare cabbage. (of course you'll be told prior to doing this which type they want).
If the cabbage has become rotten, then it gets slashed a few times with the machete and tossed into the tractors path.
Tips:
(1) Bend the cabbage plant over to view the root part of the plant, then slash as hard as you can with the machete at the base of the plant.
(2) Usually everyone swaps places each box or 2 to save back pain!
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West(cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers (right next door to Grand Hotel)
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
Pay Rate: $15.07ph inc tax
Employer likes backpackers (who get to work on time)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6+
Packers: 6+
Employer provides:
- machete (sharp knife with wide blade)
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Cabbages are full of water and you can get covered with water as you're throwing them around
What to expect:
You start the day by cutting cabbages for about 20 minutes, one cabbage per plant. Depending on the sharpness of the blade you are given, sometimes you get it right from the start, other times, you may need to cut it 2-3 times to get the right cut.
You then remove the outside cabbage leaves that got cut, and, turn the cabbage upside down on the row to let the excess water drain out.
Each time you cut a cabbage and turn it over, you need to make a head-count of how many you've cut as each bin, when filled contains 50 or 100 cabbages.
After you have a fair amount of cabbages up the row, someone drives the tractor and the pickers pack the boxes. This requires someone to be standing up on the tractor catching them and counting them into the box, they have to be packed so that the required amount of cabbages all fit in the box, so it requires some logic as to how to place them. The pickers on the ground pick up each cabbage, throwing it to the next person closest to the tractor, and then throwing it up to the picker in the box.
I thought it was great working there because as I was female, I was given the job of tractor driver so my day was made much easier and it hardly felt like working at all, but if there was more than one female or if the boss was there, I'd say that the boss would probably get the cushy tractor job or the females may take turns or whoever is the sorest or sickest :)
Depending on what company you are cutting for, you either leave the greater outside leaves on, or strip them all off for a nice looking bare cabbage. (of course you'll be told prior to doing this which type they want).
If the cabbage has become rotten, then it gets slashed a few times with the machete and tossed into the tractors path.
Tips:
(1) Bend the cabbage plant over to view the root part of the plant, then slash as hard as you can with the machete at the base of the plant.
(2) Usually everyone swaps places each box or 2 to save back pain!
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West(cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers (right next door to Grand Hotel)
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
Picking Broccoli in Victoria
Location: Vinifera (10 mins Swan Hill, 15 mins Nyah West backpackers)
Pay Rate: $15ph inc tax
Work Visa: Required
Employer Prefers: locals or longer-staying backpackers (2months)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6
Employer provides:
- wetpants
- knife
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Sometimes ground is muddy (like quick sand)
- Sometimes broccoli is frosty (hands get freezing, feet get cold)
What to expect:
You walk behind a tractor containing 3 large boxes in a line of other workers. You size-pick broccoli (one broccoli per plant) by slashing it with a knife. The quickest way is to slash the plant below the cut, then hold it in your left hand while you slice it again with the right-hand at the cut required (see supermarket stores to see where it should be cut, but you'll learn on-the-job anyway). Then you pull off the stalks and leaves (leaving a few of the smaller leaves closest to the top for presentation).
Tips:
(1) Being that the ground is sometimes frosty, sometimes it is difficult to cut the broccoli, especially if your knife isn't as sharp as it could be (you're responsible to sharpen your own knife). To make it easier, you hold the broccoli with your hand, bend the plant as far as you can, and then make the slice, it cuts a lot easier.
(2) You can pull off 3-4 stalks at a time using your entire span of your fingers. Your hands will ache for the first couple of weeks, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be faster than any other pickers out there who only do 1 stalk at a time.
(3) Don't worry about presentation of the stalks, the broccoli doesn't have to have a smooth base (this worried me for the first few days and I was always ages behind the tractor while I was trying to "pretty-up" the broccoli, wasting valuable time, and making me go slower because I had to "throw" the broccoli further and always look up to see where the boxes were.
(4) There are 2 pickers to a box, and you only throw into the other boxes if you are asked or if you can see they have much less in it. Never throw the broccoli into the boxes if you are too far away, walk up and place it in so that you don't have to damage it.
(5) You feel like you get the hang of it on the first day, but it actually takes a couple of weeks for the process to become automatic.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West (cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
Pay Rate: $15ph inc tax
Work Visa: Required
Employer Prefers: locals or longer-staying backpackers (2months)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6
Employer provides:
- wetpants
- knife
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Sometimes ground is muddy (like quick sand)
- Sometimes broccoli is frosty (hands get freezing, feet get cold)
What to expect:
You walk behind a tractor containing 3 large boxes in a line of other workers. You size-pick broccoli (one broccoli per plant) by slashing it with a knife. The quickest way is to slash the plant below the cut, then hold it in your left hand while you slice it again with the right-hand at the cut required (see supermarket stores to see where it should be cut, but you'll learn on-the-job anyway). Then you pull off the stalks and leaves (leaving a few of the smaller leaves closest to the top for presentation).
Tips:
(1) Being that the ground is sometimes frosty, sometimes it is difficult to cut the broccoli, especially if your knife isn't as sharp as it could be (you're responsible to sharpen your own knife). To make it easier, you hold the broccoli with your hand, bend the plant as far as you can, and then make the slice, it cuts a lot easier.
(2) You can pull off 3-4 stalks at a time using your entire span of your fingers. Your hands will ache for the first couple of weeks, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be faster than any other pickers out there who only do 1 stalk at a time.
(3) Don't worry about presentation of the stalks, the broccoli doesn't have to have a smooth base (this worried me for the first few days and I was always ages behind the tractor while I was trying to "pretty-up" the broccoli, wasting valuable time, and making me go slower because I had to "throw" the broccoli further and always look up to see where the boxes were.
(4) There are 2 pickers to a box, and you only throw into the other boxes if you are asked or if you can see they have much less in it. Never throw the broccoli into the boxes if you are too far away, walk up and place it in so that you don't have to damage it.
(5) You feel like you get the hang of it on the first day, but it actually takes a couple of weeks for the process to become automatic.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West (cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
Picking Butternut Pumpkins
Location: Nyah (25 mins Swan Hill, 5 mins Nyah West backpackers)
Pay Rate: $12-$15
Employer likes backpackers
Hours: 1-4 days every now & then
Pickers: 2+
Employer provides:
- secatares (like scissors)
- my employer provided a space-like suit (chemical suit) to stop us getting love-grass and other weeds all over us, but that's because his farm was completely infested with weeds taller than my head
Bring:
- THICK garden gloves (just in case you get the 'weed farm')
- Normal gloves are easier to use if you get a clean farm and can be purchased for less than $2 at local shops
- rubber boots
Outdoors work:
- Work even when hot or rainy
- The weeds are the only bad thing about this outdoors work
What to expect:
It's one of the easiest jobs around believe it or not. All you do is find the ripe (non-green) butternuts which are all above ground, and using the secatares provided, you cut the stems off each of them (leaving approx an inch of stem on the pumpkin) and place them in small piles up the row. (well the farm I worked at did this, expect each farm may differ!).
After you have cut off all the pumpkins and made the piles, the farmer got his mini-tractor with just one box on the back and drove up the rows to each pile, then got out and helped us pack them into the box.
We left the really big ones as they are too big to sell, but took a couple of them home to the backpackers hostel to share with everyone.
The hardest part of the job is throwing & catching the pumpkins, but as they are butternuts, they aren't nearly as heavy as jap pumpkins (those halloween beasts!), so it doesn't kill you that much. I had sore legs the next day and bruised breasts from my fellow male pickers' hard throws, but I would definitely do this job again, and definitely recommend it as a job for backpackers.
Tips:
(1) Wear long-sleeves in case of weeds
(2) Invest in gloves, the guys were too 'manly' to wear them at the start, but ended up giving in to protect themselves from weeds and dirt, and the stems when catching.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West(cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers (right next door to Grand Hotel)
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
Pay Rate: $12-$15
Employer likes backpackers
Hours: 1-4 days every now & then
Pickers: 2+
Employer provides:
- secatares (like scissors)
- my employer provided a space-like suit (chemical suit) to stop us getting love-grass and other weeds all over us, but that's because his farm was completely infested with weeds taller than my head
Bring:
- THICK garden gloves (just in case you get the 'weed farm')
- Normal gloves are easier to use if you get a clean farm and can be purchased for less than $2 at local shops
- rubber boots
Outdoors work:
- Work even when hot or rainy
- The weeds are the only bad thing about this outdoors work
What to expect:
It's one of the easiest jobs around believe it or not. All you do is find the ripe (non-green) butternuts which are all above ground, and using the secatares provided, you cut the stems off each of them (leaving approx an inch of stem on the pumpkin) and place them in small piles up the row. (well the farm I worked at did this, expect each farm may differ!).
After you have cut off all the pumpkins and made the piles, the farmer got his mini-tractor with just one box on the back and drove up the rows to each pile, then got out and helped us pack them into the box.
We left the really big ones as they are too big to sell, but took a couple of them home to the backpackers hostel to share with everyone.
The hardest part of the job is throwing & catching the pumpkins, but as they are butternuts, they aren't nearly as heavy as jap pumpkins (those halloween beasts!), so it doesn't kill you that much. I had sore legs the next day and bruised breasts from my fellow male pickers' hard throws, but I would definitely do this job again, and definitely recommend it as a job for backpackers.
Tips:
(1) Wear long-sleeves in case of weeds
(2) Invest in gloves, the guys were too 'manly' to wear them at the start, but ended up giving in to protect themselves from weeds and dirt, and the stems when catching.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West(cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers (right next door to Grand Hotel)
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Click here for Full Post!
