Bowen - Queensland

So, Fruit Picking!

At 12.00 midnight on the 12 November, Jess and I embarked on our next venture - to head to Bowen, 600km south of Cairns to raise some cash for the Christmas and New Years festivities we would be having in Sydney.

We arrived in Bowen at around 10.30am, tired but excited about our new adventure. We were not going to catch the bus to Earnies tomatoes place until 2.30pm, so we decided to have a nose around the town before we did our big shop for the week. (Earnie would bring us into town every Friday to do some shopping, so it was up to us to get enough supplies for the week). The ladies at Old Mother Hubbards cafe were kind enough to look after our bags for us.

Bowen is a small town; the main industry is farming and coal mining. Fortunately, it is located on the coast so big tankers come and ship the coal from Bowen to Japan. There are a few shops, but the coastline of Bowen is the highlight. It is located at the northern pinnacle of the Whitsunday Islands, and in the distance you can see some of the mountainous isles, amongst the blue/turquoise sea and white horses. Apparently, Bowen was orginally named Blowen but th wind took out the 'L'. Yep, for a sailor or a windsurfer, the winds here are a dream - although strangely I have seen no brightly coloured sails shining in the distance - perhaps the 'stingers' (jelly fish) put them off.

So at 12.00 midday, we returned to Old Mother Hubbards cafe to have a check of our bags before we did some shopping. And now, I can safely say that I am rather glad we did. Standing outside, the main lady of the cafe called us over and asked us where we were heading....

Earnie's we replied.... Well, she said. I have some advice for you....The girls and boys you just saw leaving on the bus stayed at Earnie's for a week. Only a week as he took their passports from them on arrival and insisted that they complete a weeks work before they leave. being 30km out of town with no transport they really did not have a choice.

Why were they leaving we asked?

Well, the lady replied; the beds have bed bugs; people are being eaten alive and Earnie and his wife are choosing not to do anything about it. The water is undrinkable - any one that does is ending up with symptoms of diohorreah and vomiting; the kitchen and swimming pool and dripping in foulness; Earnie does in fact charge you to take you to work and back (all other back packers charge zero); and to top things off, the money he promised was not at all existent.

The cafe lady informed us that there are several in the town who will charge you a cheap rate for accommodation, they have good links with the farmers and will not charge you to take you to work. Well, this sounded like a much better plan. Willing to believe the ladies, Jess and I set on a search of backpackers in Bowen. We were also joined by Canadian girls Jess and Vanessa; they too had planned to head to Earnies and we also willing to give it a miss.

During our search we found Bowen backpackers - they also backed up the cafe ladies story about Earnie. Good we thought, we had not been gullible!. We also found Barnacles, which in the end we (and the Canadian girls) settled on. Owners Christine and John promised of a good variation of work and a good chance that should we not like a job, we can switch. So, by 5pm that afternoon we had settled in and made ourselves at home. 

The hostel itself is pretty run-down, but over the past few weeks I have warmed to the place, despite having food stolen in our first few days. There is a T.V lounge, which has proven to be a great haven after a good days hard labour and you can hire out a DVD for $1. The selection is pretty awesome too.

So the work. Well, I have worked for 5 days doing a mixture of things. This included picking Egg Plants (or Aubergines to you and I), picking plastic; and picking Capsiums (or peppers to you and I). I have to say, I nearly lasted only that week; I was so bored I nearly lost the will to live. I was also suffering from an insistent cough that resulted in having about 2 hours of unbroken sleep a night (not good when you are up at 5.00am each morning); and chronic back-ache. I shall explain why.

Egg Plants grow on small bushes, which are grown in rows. Each row is up to 200m long. To pick them you have to use a small pare of shears. But to do this, you have to wade thorugh the plant (which is prickly), whilst bent over to chop them off the plant stalks. So, not only do you have a very sore back, your hands, arms and legs are constantly cut by prickles. And all of this is done in 32-degree heat! We must have been crazy.

Admittedly, picking plastic is not as painful, but it is incredibly boring (unless you have someone fun to talk to) and you get caked in mud. After a field (or paddock) has been picked of all its fruit, it is ploughed, however, this is with all of the plastic casing (in which the fruit is grown) and hosing, which is used for irrigation of the fruit still in the ground. So, approximately 10 people will line up in a row and together walk the length of the paddock pulling plastic from the ground and placing it into a bucket, which you walk along with. Every so often you have to empty the bucket into the truck that accompanies you as you work. We were also given a lift in this trailer to and from the shed to the paddock, so you can imagine what dirt we were covered in each day.

I squeezed in a day-off on Saturday (only because there was no work available), and it was great. I got up at 10.30pm and did things like catching up on my journal. Then Sunday came and it was time for Capsicum picking. I think that this was harder than Egg Plants, namely because there are really hidden in the bush and you have to severely forage around to find them before cutting them from the stork with your shears (I should add they grow to a low height from the ground just like Egg Plants). I was paid per bucket for Capsicum picking, so I worked by arse off. I filled 30 buckets, only to be paid $83 (minus agricultural tax) - the same money I was making at the Egg Plant and plastic farms. Crazy, when you get more breaks and it is less stressful working by the hour!

Then, on Sunday night the good news came..... Christine beckoned me to the office and offered Jess and I the choice job.... pod picking. I laughed too when I heard this, especially when John joined in the conversation wearing a Bob Marley wig and raster hat - apparently it was Bob Marley day and to be fair I could hear Jammin' in the back ground. Christine let us know that the job would be from 7.00am to 5pm, with a one-hour break. The hourly rate would be $15 and the job could last for up to two weeks - fantastic, Jess and I saw the dollar signs flash before our eyes. Yeeeeesss, we agreed, we would be pod pickers.

The next day, we hopped on the bus (with Legend the dog) and took the 10-minute journey to work, across the dry river bed., which apparently is like a torrent during a cyclone. At the farm we met Elis and Dorothy. Elis must be about 70 years old and since suffering from too much hard work barks his orders from a motorised wheel chair. He is still a pretty sharp tool, and amazes me that he is still diversifying on his farm and taking part in all of the hard labour on the farm.

Gavin and Helen were our mentors for the day. They should us the ropes and how to pick. This was most definitely a dream job compared to the agony that Jess and I had been through the past few days. Pods are like giant Mange Tout, but brown and crispy. The job involves pulling them from the trees. The trees are tall so you have to stretch to reach the higher branches. Sometimes they break, but that is ok as the trees are everntually cut to the ground and used as fire sticks. No dramas and by next year fully-fledged pod forest will have re-grown in the very same paddock.

Once we had filled the bins of pods we emptied them into the trailer. The trailer was then emptied into another trailer the following morning. The next step is to then process the pods, which itself includes a number of tasks (i) thrashing out; and (ii) sorting. On Tuesday, I spent the afternoon sorting. On Wednesday, Jess and I were asked to stop picking and thrash out. All except Lexie had the day-off.

Thrashing involves putting all of the pods into a machine, which then spits of the seeds and the pod cases separately. I had the job of feeding the pods into the machine and Jess had the job of racking the pod cases. It was bloody hard work - there were tons of pods and we spent the whole morning from 7.00 to 12.00 midday moving. It was the equivalent of one weeks worth of aerobics classes! We lunched and after spread the seeds to dry in the sun.

Elis was most pleased with our efforts and decided to drop us off at Barnacles around 2.00pm. On the way he decided that he would take us sightseeing and was kind enough to show us Flag Staff Hill. From there we were on top of the world, with a view of the Whitsunday Islands and all of the beautiful bays that make Bowen what is is so famous for in our sights. I squeezed in a swim at the local outdoor 50m pool and before I knew it I was fast asleep in bed.

The wonderful job of pod picking lasted until yesterday (27 November). Sadly Jess and I were made redundant. Elis new this was coming so the night before he and Dorothy invited Jess and I to see some of the beautiful Bowen coastline and eat Red Rooster for tea (a bit like Kentucky Fried Chicken). It was a lovely thought and it was great to see Horseshoe Bay, Rose Bay and Grey Bay. Elis and Dorothy were lovely company too. Elis explained that another farmer had suddenly released a shed-load of seed onto the market. Up until then, he was the only person cultivating the crop and he had to now seriously consider his economics of production. Sadly, jess and I joined the pod team last, so were the first to go. John and Christine did let it slip that Elis would have liked us to stay and others to go - we were his littl' starlets!

So, today (Tuesday 28th), the plan was to pick Egg Plants for one more day, before a week of rest and living cheaply ion Bowen and a move back to Cairns to take our tour bus to Sydney on the 8th December. All of the Egg Plants had been picked, so there was in fact no work for us. Inside, I was filled with glee as I did intend for yesterday to be my last day - but fate took it course and hey, I had the chance to get my journal up to date and fill you in on all of the gossip!

So, for now, I bid you adieu. I can probably tell you that for the next week I shall be getting up late, going to pool for a few laps and a sunbathe; and once back in Cairns, eating at the night markets and indulging in a Korean massage. Not bad for a few days work ;o)

I hope you are all well - I will endeavour to get my photo's onto the website as soon as it stops being a pain-in-the bum and uploads them for me. It may take a while, but I will get there. They are worth looking at.

Lots of Love, Em x