Goodnight/Tooleybuc June 2010

Goodnight, Tooleybuc, hard times.

Jenny and I, despite our relationship having ended, have returned to Goodnight in order to pick oranges.
The farm we stay on with it's campsite on the banks of the Murray River is as beautiful as ever,
but the year since we were last here has not seen prosperous times for Goodnight or Tooleybuc, nor has it been particularly fruitful for Jenny or I.
Where to start? The locust plague is as good a place as any. People have been driving about with shade cloth covering the
front of their cars, in order to prevent the locusts from fouling their radiators. If the locusts were bad a month ago,
it seems it will pale into insignificance compared to the expected plagues this coming spring and summer,as this autumn the warm weather
and good rains provided perfect conditions for egg laying. These eggs will remain dormant for the duration of the winter, and news of the coming plague is even reaching the ears of city dwellers.
The town of Tooleybuc is not faring well either. The town of around 250 souls is home to a pub, general store, caravan park and post office. All of which are for sale.
The number of groves and vinyards in Goodnight which have been allowed to dry up and die seems to have increased, and the farm we picked oranges on has not escaped. The wine glut in Australia has reduced the price farmers in these
parts recieve for their grapes to below the cost of production, and as this farm is primarily a vinyard, the owner has decided enough is enough.
The farm is for sale and the grapevines won't be pruined nor watered in the summer. They will most likely die.
There is more money to be made selling the farms annual water allocation than using it to grow grapes. The permanant
water rights are able to be sold seperately to the land. Indeed the water is worth more than the land and it is probable
that the water will be sold to another farmer, leaving the farm itself without water, leaving the grapes and oranges to die, and leaving the resulting mess worth little.
As for this seasons orange picking, the oranges were big, some took two hands to pick, but the farm was flooded with
illegal contractor pickers, and the season only lasted a week. We have been to the other farms in the Goodnight/Tooleybuc area,
and they are all employing the services of contractors, who will not give legal workers a job. Today we visited a large
farm in Tooleybuc we picked on last year, and as we waved to the illegal Malaysian Chinese pickers who we met earlier on the farm here in Goodnight, we were told there was no job for us.
Having recieved this news we decided to drive to Swan Hill to comiserate/celebrate the end of picking. Swan Hill seemed
even more depressing than usual, the opressive vibe of despair I usually get from the place being that much sharper.
I've heard it said bad things come in threes, on the way back to the farm from Swan Hill the clutch on the old corolla started
to slip badly, the car we were hoping to sell in the next couple of weeks could be up for an expensive repair, and the toilets at the farm camp have blocked up.
Individually these things vexed me greatly, but now I feel strangely calm and at peace. I don't know if this is good or not.

Treatment Of Backpackers and Illegal Fruitpickers In Australia

Here is a link to an excellent report downloadable from the ABC Radio National website which goes into detail regarding the conditions faced by backpackers and illegal workers in the Australian fruit and vegetable harvest industry. The situation has become rather disturbing in the past two or three years.

going my way?

Picking the Late Apples - May 2010

Some Travelling, More Waiting

A trip to New Zealand was had, which for the past few years has become par for the course around this time of year. The pears have finished and around here there is usually a break between pears, the early apple varieties, and the start of the main apple crop (here Granny Smith, Sundowner, Pink Lady).
New Zealand was great as usual, spent time with Eroica and Jeff, savouring with them episodes of coffee, beer, nightime city wanderings, and their witty banter. With Steve and Renata and little Tiago, nights of meat and beer and blatting in the '65 big block impala hand built and just finished by Steve, sister Karyn the woodchopper and sawer competing at the Methven A&P show, a trip to Rotorua to see Steve and Mel, and meet young Pheadra, it had been way too long, and surprised and overjoyed to see Andrea, Jeremy and Vege aka Darryl after how long? Ten years?............
Now back on the orchard, to be given two days work then a week off because the apples aren't quite ready, and the neighbouring farms all in the same boat. Waiting.
Such is the life of the fruitpicker.

The Pear Season That Was

A while since the last posting, have been deep in the pear picking season, going all extreme once again, starting the days work at around 5am using a "miners" head lamp 'till first light which is now around 6:30am. Pear season has finally come to a welcome end, and once again it's been a strange old season. There has been regular rainfall for one thing, which has been most welcome after around ten years of drought. Indeed there are widespread floods all over eastern Australia.
In a previous post I detailed the situation regarding the rise of labour hire contractors and their preference for employing illegal migrant workers. Mid season the Australian immigration department conducted a "compliance operation" in this area, detaining around 95 Malaysian and Indonesian workers who had overstayed or were in breach of their visa conditions. Within a couple of days of their removal and the departure of immigration officials these workers were replaced by another crew of Malaysians with dubious papers!
As for the pears, the first variety "william" was well down in crop size across the whole district, while the second major variety "packham" was an excellent crop, and with all the rain much of the fruit was large sized, infact there was alot of oversize fruit which can't be packed - not good for the farmer but no complaints from the pickers!
Apples are yet to start, so I'm off to New Zealand for a few days.

On The Orchard Part Four

Peaches, of the imaginatively named "204" variety, grown specifically for canning, shown here ready for harvest. Peaches have a fluffy skin, which may be attractive when you admire a fine peach and bite into its juicy ripe flesh, but this same fine fluff causes a great deal of vexation for the poor peach pickers, as the fluff causes much itching, especially around the neck, nose, and belly. Liberal application of talcum powder allieviates the itch somewhat, but for some pickers a peach is something they refuse to pick.

More Pots

On The Orchard Part Three

The apricots have all been harvested and sent to market. Canning peaches begin tomorrow with a variety bearing the imaginative name "204". Pears are still another ten days or so away. Meanwhile my own modest accumulation of pots and plots outside my workers hut is starting to reward my efforts, this year as well as a few vegetables I tried my hand at growing flowers, here are some of the results, as well as a picture or two from around the yard......

On The Orchard Part Two - Apple Thinning

Most varieties of apples must be thinned when the fruitlets are still small, otherwise the apples will remain small, red apples won't colour well, and crowded apples will rub against each other and leave unsightly marks. Also leaving too many apples can cause branches to snap. Bunches are usually thinned from bunches of four or five down to singles or doubles, mainly depending on the crop load, but sometimes also depending on market fruit size requirements. The thinned apples are left on the ground to rot, as they are of no value. It seems like such a waste seeing so many apples on the ground, but it is neccesary in order to produce a crop of good sized, good quality apples.

On The Orchard Part One - Frost Fans

During early spring the trees blossom. It's quite a beautiful thing to see on an orchard, pink and white flowers everywhere. The problem is that this occurs quite early in the spring, or late winter. If, while a tree is in blossom, or in the early fruit setting stage, there is a frost, then the fruit crop can be damaged or completely destroyed. A frost event can only occur if the air is perfectly still, so one solution is the use of frost fans. When the temperature falls to a certain point, the fans are automatically started, and driven by large diesel engines, circulate air around the orchard, preventing frosty icecles from forming and damaging the tender flowers and fruitlets. When they are running, they are like helicopters that never land.....

Back On The Farm

I've been back on the orchard in Shepparton for a couple of weeks. With harvest of the pear crop not due to begin until late january, I've been doing other things, including counting fruitlets for crop estimates, and thinning apples. The pear crop this year is a little light, while the peach, apricot and apple trees are absolutely loaded with fruit. I'm staying in my usual accomodation on farm, and as is usual for this time of year, the pickers quarters are all vacant. With the new contract labour hire arrangements they may remain so this season.

What I Saw In Taitung

The Tuna Cutter

Treddle Powered Singer Sewing Machine

Dealing with problem parking, Taitung style.

At the harbour.

At the Aboriginal Cultural Center.

Taiwan Tucker.

Look out! Wasps as big as snakes!

Eating this tree is a bad idea.

They teach gambling at a young age here.

Taitung House facades

After spending a few days in Taitung I started to notice some interesting facades on some of the older houses, both in Taitung and surrounding villages. They were all two or three floor houses and I'm guessing they were built in the 1960's or 1970's. Generally the architecture in Taiwan is really ugly, alot of unrendered concrete and bland tiles, sometimes the reinforcing steel is left sticking out the sides. In the past I've only really been impressed by some of the old Japanese era buildings, but it's nice to see that somebody was putting a bit of thought into the external appearance of houses back in the '60's too.

Note the reinforcing steel still protruding from the side of the house! And the later addition of the "tin shed" top floor.

Taitung, South Eastern Taiwan Coast

So, flying from Vienna to Taipei might as well have been flying to another planet. Despite having been to Taiwan several times it still takes some getting used to. I spent a few days in the megopolis Taipei, before boarding a limited express train to the smallish (by Taiwan standards) coastal town of Taitung, home to many Taiwanese aboriginals, and still cleaning up after the destruction caused my Typhoon Morakot, one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in recorded history, which hit in August. The pace of life in Taitung is slower and more relaxed than in Taipei and I'm enjoying spending a few days here relaxing, before I head back to Shepparton for another season on the orchard.

Again, leaving Olomouc and the Czech Republic

It's difficult to believe I have already spent a month here in the Czech Republic. It is with much sadness that I depart tomorrow. I've had an amazing time in this beautiful country. I've visited new places, met many old friends and made many new ones. A part of me will always be in Olomouc, and one day I will return once again........