In Mildura we find a great camping: we get a site close to the river, there are very clean toilets, there’s a nice pool and a camp kitchen with all necessary kitchen appliances. We see ourselves staying here for a while and hope to find a job close by.

Camping by the River

Two days later we start picking oranges. We get a tractor with a trailer with three large bins; per bin filled we get 21.50 euro. We each have a bag around our necks where we put the picked oranges after which we empty this bag in the bins. It soon becomes clear that filling the bins doesn’t go as fast as we had hoped and so it is that we have made only 65 euro with two people, after six hours of hard work.

Orange Picking in Curlwaa

Initially we thought that maybe we should gain more experience, as we have read a lot on the internet about picking fruit. However, we ask another picker with many years of experience how much he can earn. He tells us that he can earn about 7 euro / hour and we decide that this is not worth the hard labour. The next day is a free day on the farm and we look for another job through the local Madec office. They give us the number of Bill, a grape farmer, and we can start the next day on his farm. We have already given our word to the orange farmer that we would be there on Sunday so we agree that we will start on Monday with picking grapes. Back at the campsite, we meet three farmer couples who have a week's holiday, Megan and Michael, Sandra and Ross, Kerrie and Steven. They feel bad for us and promise to ask around in their neighbourhood for work. Megan and Michael also propose to come and stay with them at the dairy farm and to teach the craft so that we can more easily find work in it. They themselves have a small farm and have no staff but there are many larger farms that are looking for work people. We keep the option open but we first want to see how the grape picking goes...

Grape Picking in Red Cliff

It is a small farm so there is only work for two weeks. The money is as bad as with the oranges but the work is less hard. We finish the two weeks to have some pocket money and then we leave for Cohuna, where we are invited by Megan and Michael...

Buronga Riverside Caravan Park

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