So here we are in the lovely Kyabram

Kyabram, the introduction
We were quick to find out that in our hostel in Cronulla Beach we may find work, but we were sure we would spend a lot of money every night on booze. So again we hit the internet to find another job, something in the middle of nowhere so we wouldn’t spend a lot of money and something that would garantee us we could work almost everyday. As I said before, working hostels aren’t a good place to stay, because they’ll rip you off. We found some phonenumbers from farmers and started calling, ten minutes later we were welcome to start in Kyabram, picking pears, earning $32 a bin.
Kyabram is located about two hours up north from Melbourne, so after Queensland and New South Wales, we’re in Victoria, the place to be. We’re staying about 3 kilometers from the city centre at the Salim Orchard in camp set up for the fruitpickers. Accomodation costs $60 a week. Accomodation includes a four dorm room, beds with pre-World War II matrasses, use of the kitchen with its 2 out of 4 fridges that work, use of the television with its three channels, use of the laundryroom with one very old, very questionable washing mashine and use of the toilet and shower. It’s an experience, but we’d still rather spend our days at the Hyatt.

Picking pears
Picking pears is something like rocket science, only much simpler. You take the pear, put it in a bag, repeat action untill bag is full, go to your bin, empty bag, start again. As I said, we get paid $32 a bin, one bin holds about 500 kg of pears. The best picker in the camp gets 5, maybe 6 bins a day, an average picker gets 3 bins a day. That’s about $80 after tax for ten hours of work. You do the math and start crying with us. On a good day we can pick 4 bins so we at least have earned a 3-figure sum. And we’re starting to become pear experts, first we’re picking the Williams pear, next one is the Peckham pear, than probably switch to apples (Granny Smith), than back to pears, back to apples. A lot of work…

What do we do all day?
Not much actually. We have to get up at 6AM so we can start when the sun comes up and there’s enough light to start picking. Be sure we have plenty of water with us, it can get up to 38 degrees over here. And after picking pears for 10 hours straight, go back to the camp, take a shower (thank god we have one with hot water), watch some television and by 9PM, everybody goes to sleep. After 10PM there’s not a soul awake here… very strange.
Other than actually picking pears, we bitch a lot about the pears. They’re too small, there are not much pears on one tree, we had to wait too long to switch to another field,…

What will we do the next few days?
Even less than what we have done so far. We’ll probably spend our days working, or bitch about work. When we have a day off, we’ll probably get some beers and meat for the barbie and that’s about it. Nothing much we can do. After work, everybody is exhausted, takes a shower, has some dinner and that’s about it. This will be our home for the next few weeks… untill we have enough money to spend a week in Melbourne and take the Great Ocean Road to Perth, the western part of Australia.

The story of the shaven heads
What happens when guys talk about hair? It results in one Kiwi who dares them to shave it all of. We’re starting a new trend by the way, already three guys are walking around the camp like talking condoms. They’re all convinced it looks good, wait till they get a sunburn…

Last days at Cronulla Beach

Hanging around at Cronulla Beach
So after a few days not finding work or a decent bar in Glebe we decided to leave this place very quickly. Our plane to New Zealand departs from Sydney, so we would have visit this place again in the future.
We found a hostel on the most southern beach of Sydney, Cronulla Beach, home of the famous 2005 Cronulla riots, where a lifeguard was stabbed by a Lebanese immigrant, followed by some of the worst riots ever (think Hutu – Tutsi style but without the casualties)
We stayed at the Cronulla Beach YHA, one of the most easy going, no worries kinda hostel we EVER stayed in. Kitchen with a free pool table, lounge/tv room with plenty of free movies and nobody seemed to have a worry in the world. Nice.

Party at Cronulla Beach YHA
Everybody tells you stories about when they went to a place where it was party all day and night, but you always kinda imagine it’s a load of crap. However here… it isn’t.
The evidence is provided… The picture shows you Tommy, passed out (again) and what happens when one person says: “Hey, I’m feeling creative, give me a pen”. Compared to 12-steps Fergo from Forrie Hills, Tommy really had a problem. One night it seemed funny to cut his hair and put a bottle in his arse. Hey it was safe, the bottle wore a condom.
Obviously, passing out drunk in here is very dangerous…

We found work
After some phonecalls we found work and we learned another valuable lesson.
The first weeks in Australia we hooked up with the Harvest Hotline for $ 120, a one year membership fee. What they do is give you phonenumbers from working hostels, who provide the work. So just like Woodstock Manor, they gave us the number of Vickey from Mildura. This time we checked it out on the internet, and this is how they work: Vickey promises you on the phone that you will be able to work 5, even 6 days a week. But when you get there you just get enough work to pay for food and your accomodation and to have some extra cash in your pockets. That way you stay longer and they earn more from the accomodation.
That was the last time we phoned the Harvest Hotline. Instead we looked up some farmers and phoned them directly.
That’s how we got a job in the lovely KYABRAM, Victoria. About two hours north from Melbourne. We will be picking pears for a few weeks, sounds fun… and hot!