We are now staying at Port Hotel in Carnarvon. We will begin grape picking from next Monday. I need to commit 3 months of seasonal work to apply for a second WHV.
There are several works to do in this agricultural center in north WA, but it's easier to get one through the hostels here. There are two backpacker hostels here. People say that Port Hotel is better because it has more job offers.
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I left Carnarvon on 16 December. Totally I stayed about 6 weeks there. In the first week I had no work to do. My first work there was picking table grapes, it lasted for only one day, and on the next day I changed to work at a vegs and fruits packing shed. The pay was only 15.30 before tax, and my tax rate was over 20%. After working there for 5 weeks I could save up less than $1000 after spending the hostel rents and living costs. My work in the packing shed was mainly stacking the packed rockmelons, each of the carton could weigh around 20KG, and sometimes I had to stack more than 600 cartons in one day. The work was tough, but not lucrative, and that's why I decided to leave.
Other than working, the only things you can do in Carnarvon is sometimes you can rent a car to go to Coral Bay, Exmouth or Monkey Mia. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money to do that, but I don't think that's a loss because now I think everywhere in Australia looks similar, and I'll not apply for the second visa for the reason that now I reckon one year is enough.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Geraldton
After our 2-night stay in Perth at the extremely rowdy and uncomfortable Globe Backpackers, we, me and the German girl Claudia, went to Geraldton and stayed for one week at Foreshore Backpackers.
At first we went to Geraldton because of that after calling the crayfish factory, they told us to go there and hand in application forms directly to the factory. But we felt that we were cheated by them, when we went to the factory, they instead told us they needed no new workers, and maybe we could go back there everyday, after one or two weeks, to ask if they need some, and maybe some day they will. The foreman of the factory seemed very arrogant and ignorant indeed, and we hated him. Unfortunately there is only one crayfish company left in Geraldton, because it had bought all the other ones. Hence, we had no any other chance to get a seasonal work there.
We spent the rest of the week doing nothing, but stayed at the hostel eating, watching TV and sleeping. The weather in Geraldton in that period of time was not too bad, it's been very hot at 39C for only one day during our stay. Normally it's very sunny but cool with comfy breezes day and night. I don't really like the hostel we stayed, but it's better than the other one beside the information center.
In the room I stayed there were some disgusting bedbugs, I got bit many times, and hell the bites itched a lot, and also swelled a lot. I spent almost 30 dollars bought some medicine to use externally and internally as well. Most of the medicine did not work well, the only thing useful is 100% tea tree oil. The oil is expensive, 10ml for about 5 dollars, but it reduces the itch well, and soothe the swells.
Geraldton has severay beaches. The hostel I stayed is just next to a beach, you can walk through the back door to get to the beach behind. The most beautiful one I think is Tarcoolar beach out of the town center, it's long and there are not many people there, and it's a good place to view the sunset during summer, in winter the sunset can be seen on the beach behind our backpackers.
There was also one day, I rent a car with Claudia to go to Kalbarri National Park which is more than 200KM in the north. We spent around 200 dollars in total for the rental and fuel. It's a big and beautiful park, the seashre is amazing. The most famous spot in the park is the Nature's Window which is a hole between layers of rock, and you can look through it to see the scenery behind. The bad part about the park is that there are a hugh amount of flys everywhere, and the roads lead to Nature's Window and some other lookouts are like rubbish. Nevertheless it is good that we went there.
At first we went to Geraldton because of that after calling the crayfish factory, they told us to go there and hand in application forms directly to the factory. But we felt that we were cheated by them, when we went to the factory, they instead told us they needed no new workers, and maybe we could go back there everyday, after one or two weeks, to ask if they need some, and maybe some day they will. The foreman of the factory seemed very arrogant and ignorant indeed, and we hated him. Unfortunately there is only one crayfish company left in Geraldton, because it had bought all the other ones. Hence, we had no any other chance to get a seasonal work there.
We spent the rest of the week doing nothing, but stayed at the hostel eating, watching TV and sleeping. The weather in Geraldton in that period of time was not too bad, it's been very hot at 39C for only one day during our stay. Normally it's very sunny but cool with comfy breezes day and night. I don't really like the hostel we stayed, but it's better than the other one beside the information center.
In the room I stayed there were some disgusting bedbugs, I got bit many times, and hell the bites itched a lot, and also swelled a lot. I spent almost 30 dollars bought some medicine to use externally and internally as well. Most of the medicine did not work well, the only thing useful is 100% tea tree oil. The oil is expensive, 10ml for about 5 dollars, but it reduces the itch well, and soothe the swells.
Geraldton has severay beaches. The hostel I stayed is just next to a beach, you can walk through the back door to get to the beach behind. The most beautiful one I think is Tarcoolar beach out of the town center, it's long and there are not many people there, and it's a good place to view the sunset during summer, in winter the sunset can be seen on the beach behind our backpackers.
There was also one day, I rent a car with Claudia to go to Kalbarri National Park which is more than 200KM in the north. We spent around 200 dollars in total for the rental and fuel. It's a big and beautiful park, the seashre is amazing. The most famous spot in the park is the Nature's Window which is a hole between layers of rock, and you can look through it to see the scenery behind. The bad part about the park is that there are a hugh amount of flys everywhere, and the roads lead to Nature's Window and some other lookouts are like rubbish. Nevertheless it is good that we went there.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Leaving Farm
After 2 weeks of stay, I'm leaving this farm with a German girl tomorrow. Will be going back to Perth, stay there for 2 nights, and then go to Geraldton on next Tuesday.
The reason we're leaving is that strawberry picking is too tough, and the cherry season is still about 3 weeks away. When picking the berries, we have to keep kneeing or bending down, and then our knees and back hurt a lot after the work. Also the weather is another cause of our leaving, this is really a beautiful place, but the weather is terrible, it almost rains everyday, the sky is always gray and cloudy, and most of the time it's also cold, sometimes even freezing. We're long for warm and shiny days, and therefore we decide to travel north.
After looking for on the Internet, we found that there might be some work at crayfish factories in Geraldton. We contacted them several times by email, but got no reply. We then called them, and they told us to go to Geraldton and hand in the application forms directly to the factory. We're not sure if we can really get a work there, but anyway we're trying, and we really have enough of working on the farm.
We have learned that packing is always better than picking, and pay by hour is far more superior than by contract. We know there are certain harvest works with pay higher by contract, but anyway we hate picking.
The reason we're leaving is that strawberry picking is too tough, and the cherry season is still about 3 weeks away. When picking the berries, we have to keep kneeing or bending down, and then our knees and back hurt a lot after the work. Also the weather is another cause of our leaving, this is really a beautiful place, but the weather is terrible, it almost rains everyday, the sky is always gray and cloudy, and most of the time it's also cold, sometimes even freezing. We're long for warm and shiny days, and therefore we decide to travel north.
After looking for on the Internet, we found that there might be some work at crayfish factories in Geraldton. We contacted them several times by email, but got no reply. We then called them, and they told us to go to Geraldton and hand in the application forms directly to the factory. We're not sure if we can really get a work there, but anyway we're trying, and we really have enough of working on the farm.
We have learned that packing is always better than picking, and pay by hour is far more superior than by contract. We know there are certain harvest works with pay higher by contract, but anyway we hate picking.
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