Earning money while you top up your tan and munch on juicy fruit sounds a bit like a dream, but working in harvest can make this dream come true. Okay, there may be some sweating involved too, but that’s also great because you can lose some weight (not saying you need to).
But often the main reason why people want to pick things is for the chance to remain in this sun blessed land for another year. Three months of harvesting gives people on a working holiday visa a one year extension.
And yet another advantage to harvesting is that, as Gary Locke from Work in South Australiaexplains, “as long as you have got two arms and legs you’re good for fruit picking work”.
While some aspects of the trade, he adds, do need some level of training (for example three days for grape vine pruning), most of the jobs available require no qualifications or experience – just a healthy body.
Plus, if you choose the right farm you can rack up enough seasonal work to complete yourAustralian rite of passage in one big picking bonanza.
“When it comes to apple and citrus farms, the work can easily go on for three months,” says Gary. Harvest work varies wildly in pay. Labourers should expect to earn anything from $60 to $150 a day. “Fruit picking is very easy, but not for everyone. Packing is popular with the girls”.
So to sum up, any idiot can see that harvesting is a great way to get buffed, bronzed, some buckaroos and the chance to stay in Australia longer. Go reap what you sow peeps.
