JoelLooking for a way to extend your travel plans? Feel like trying your hand at working on a fruit farm? This article will help to give you an idea of what to expect.
PS – Check government websites for incentives! You may be eligible for a #pickbonus or #relocationbonus 😀
Mango
According to Orchard Tech:
“The main types grown in Australia are Kensington Pride, Calypso, R2E2, Honey Gold and Keitt. Each variety has its own season, most notably Kensington Pride (September to February), Calypso (September to March) and R2E2 (October to February).
I’m not sure that I’ve met anyone who doesn’t like mango. My wife and I love them, and working at a mango packing and export shed sounded like a great idea.
We had the opportunity to work just outside of Mareeba in Queensland for a couple of months for a company called Diamond Star. Space was provided for us to live in our campervan on the farm, which gave us access to a kitchen, showers, toilets and an easy 50m walk to work each day. It is worth discussing with your employer if arrangements can be made.
Our job wasn’t actually picking the mangoes, rather it was preparing the fruit for export to countries like China and Japan.
Hours are generally 7am – 4pm, though some days may be shorter and some days may be longer.
At the time of writing this, we all worked under the casual Horticultural Award minimum of $25.41 per hour. Some may pay more, and may even provide a bonus if you stay for the whole season.
Where possible, the farms try to organise the outdoor work early in the mornings. Temperatures can get brutal in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory during summer – so if you decide you want a picking job, be prepared for it.
Mangoes arrive to the packing shed (seperated into sizes), and we would then grade them and repack them into special crates ready for a special machine called a VHT. This machine essentially “cooks” the mangoes to ensure all bugs and pests are killed, and also to exaggerate any blemishes (so that it doesn’t get sent away).
Generally the ladies would grade and pack the mangoes into the crates, while the men would stack the crates, provide the boxes of mangoes for the ladies and organise and move the pallets around. Everyone seems to learn the system very quickly!
Next, the VHT machine is emptied after the 6-8 hour treatment process, and then placed into a cool room. Fans are stacked on top of the crates and the air is circulated throughout the mangoes.
The process from here on is all completed in an air conditioned building – definitely a lifesaver from the FNQ heat and humidity!
Again, the mangoes are given a final grading, and repacked in special boxes. Each country has their own specific requests – so it’s important to remember this.
Stickers with important information are placed onto the front side of each box, and in some cases each individual mango is labelled.
The boxes are then specially stacked onto custom made pallets, wrapped in a fine net, then wrapped up, ready for dispatch.
It is an enjoyable job that offers enough variety to keep things relatively interesting. We have some great people that we work alongside! We play music throughout the day and generally the tasks are easy enough that we can work and talk.
We haven’t picked mangoes yet (though there could be a couple of days where we need to), but I must say it seems like one of the better fruit jobs!
Just to experience more variety, we did a couple of weeks at the Golden Drop Winery packing shed. We needed to experience REAL mango work…
We had it very good at Diamond Star, preparing mangoes for export to Japan, China and Korea… this new work at the Golden Drop Winery was another level.
Let me begin with a description of my job.
The mango pickers were generally working from 7am to 6pm – in the ferocious heat on Far North Queensland. I was lucky not to be a picker, as it would have been a struggle haha.
The pickers would load fruit into crates (20 per pallet) and then an ATV would race around the property and then drop it off at the shed entrance – where I waited with an electric pallet jack. I would then transport the pallet to the “desapping” station (4-8 guys would individually snap the stems off, let the sap squirt out, and then place on conveyor rollers). I then had to load crates of mangoes onto each station and ensure the guys had sufficient mangoes at all times. With the help of an offsider, I would then take the empty crates, put them through a washing machine, restack the pallet and then with a trolley, wheel the pallet (also heavy and awkward work) away ready for the ATV to take it to the pickers. Sounds okay, right?
Let me tell you – it’s hard work and so is the desapping. Desapping means spending 10-12 hours a day in one spot getting wet and snapping stems – of THOUSANDS of mangoes. Sore backs and sore legs and some craziness from doing the same thing over and over again. This job is usually reserved for those a bit shorter – again, lucky that’s not me.
My job, however, is physically demanding. On my second day, we processed 66 pallets. This means I had to unload 1,320 individual crates onto the desapping station. Each crate has roughly 25-35 mangoes in them – probably 20kgs on average. This means I lifted roughly 25 tonnes of mangoes that day!
Lifting is awkward and you have to move very fast at times – usually there is no rest at all when it is busy. Keeping a straight back and good posture is almost impossible as the speed increases. As new pallets arrived, I also had to ensure the pallets were organised so that the older fruit got used first.
Repeat, repeat and repeat. 7am to 6pm. After this work was done, we spent 30 minutes cleaning and sweeping our work area, then some of us woukd stay another 30 minutes to clean the packaging area.
The other aspect of the job is much easier. As the fruit comes off the conveyors, it is automatically sorted into size, the workers pack, someone else places stickers on each mango and then a few guys would stack the pallet ready for dispatch.
A few times I wished I was doing the easier work – but many have said it is very boring and a bit slow. My job is pretty hectic and requires a high level of “work fitness.”
Don’t let it put you off though – there’s plenty of jobs in the shed and chances are, you won’t get that one. I guess I’m just “lucky” haha – NOT.
Lychee
According to the Australian Lychee Growers Association (ALGA):
“The country has the longest lychee production season in the world, producing fruit from late October to late March.”
Time was short for our experience at the lychee farm – one day haha. We had a few days off from working with mangoes and decided to give it a go.
Again, in the morning we had an early start of 6am to beat the heat while we left in utes to cut the lychees from the trees.
Large nets cover them, so you lift up the net and hop under with a couple of buckets and a pair of secateurs. This part of the job isn’t too fussy – it is about cutting off the clusters of lychees and getting it emptied into crates for treatment and cleaning.
Standing around a series of conveyor belts, the majority of people were given the crates of the lychee clusters, and with specialised secateurs, each indiviudal lychee is cut off at the base of the stem and dropped onto the conveyor.
Again, we had music playing and it’s an opportunity to chat while working – but remain diligent because cutting is dangerous. A few people cut their fingers during the day!
Another group of people graded the lychees as it came up a set of rollers, while a couple of guys continued to provide the cutters with more crates of lychees.
My wife and I found this a bit boring (mainly standing in one spot for a few hours), but we are happy we had a day to try it.
If you decide to work at a lychee farm TAKE GLOVES haha. We weren’t given the heads up, and after handling thousands of lychees throughout the day, our hands were stained.
Only a couple of hours in the morning were spent outdoors, and the rest of the time we were in the shed – which had massive fans working to keep it cool.
Remember, when outdoors cutting the clusters off the trees – there’s always the chance of run-ins with snakes, spiders and insects. The previous day we were told that workers had a pretty scary experience with a taipan!
Cherry
This information on cherry work is from our amazing friends Tracey and Ryan! They’ve been travelling for over a year in their motorhome and have heaps of adventures to share. We’ve had the opportunity to travel with them and even work with them.
Please check them out on Instagram @we_are_nomads.
Let me start by saying Tasmania is simply amazing. We were welcomed with open arms at the Cherries Tasmania Orchards, and parked the van for the long stay. The activities between mid-December to the end of January were many and varied as their whole year leads to this – cherry harvesting!
We started in the packing shed with grading and quality control, then packing operations for both large supermarket retail, and local vendor distribution. By Christmas we were out in the 88 acres of orchard supervising pickers, getting the cherries into the buggies and back to the shed for grading, some of this was then outsourced to a larger orchard with more automated processes as we focused on getting the ripe fruit off the trees. It’s quite an interesting process, learning about the 6 or so varieties of cherries which all ripen at various times of the season, what’s acceptable for local and export markets, and what causes breakdowns on the grading machine.
It was also very humbling meeting pickers, some locals out of work due to COVID (or simply unemployed or unemployable) plus many students, refugees and some enthusiasts who hang out for this time of year, and their share of the cherries for free! One family, of Ethiopian origin, have done 6 seasons, 7 of their 11 family members (the other kids are too young) participated in picking, and all 5 of the older children have had their private school paid for by cherry picking. The eldest boys would pick up to 60 x 8kg lugs a day – phenomenal speed. They would even run up hill with these heavy lugs to empty them and get back to their tree faster. We met pickers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, China, Burma, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Iran, NZ, France, Thailand, and others. It was so very interesting.
The days were long and intense, sometimes freezing winds and 4 degree mornings, then up to 40 degree heat at midday under the nets. We started at 6am and often finished the day grading in the packing shed around 5 with no breaks, snacks on the run to keep going. Lucky we got paid well! We also had some good time off around the holiday season, and were well located in Hobart to sneak in some weekend activities around the beautiful city, which is more like a large regional town.
Don’t forget to check out @we_are_nomads for more!
Stayed tuned as we have contributors to fill you in about other fruits!
Great experience EATING mangoes hehe!!
Haha I saw the way she was eating mangoes Haha 😄