Adelaide Hills Apple Pickin

There was one box left to tick on the harvest bucket list – Apple Picking. We had heard from seasoned pickers back in Gayndah that it was the best harvest gig. Heavy and demanding work but generally speaking orchard farmers are nice people and apples pay well.  So we headed to Adelaide Hills, SA’s Apple Central.

We got lucky. Found a good job at Filsell’s Apples in Forest Range picking Bonza Gala’s. Filsell’s is family run operation picked and packed onsite and supplied to Independent Adelaide Grocers and Foodland/IGA.  Nice farmers, working with good people and staying onsite – score!

They don’t call it Adelaide Hills as a joke. There are hills next to hills, on top of hills, behind hills and beneath hills. This added a new challenge to the job, climbing a ladder on a steep hillside and lugging your 20-30kg bag of apples up or down a steep hill to the bin.

Oh and the other thing, freezing at night, misty in the morning and stinking hot in the arvo. 3 seasons in one day! But as good as harvest work gets so we hooked in and worked hard.

East to Adelaide – Esperance, Nullarbor and the Eyre Peninsula

Time to head east for a change! After one last surf out Margs Main Break we headed east for Esperance. The photos probably don’t do this place justice, maybe some of the most spectacular beach scenery we have seen (2^nd to Redhead). White sand, brilliant blue crystal clear water and waves. We slotted in a surf session at Observatory Beach before hitting the Nullarbor.

Thankfully we were blessed with cool weather and able to drive during the day to take in the view of the Southern Ocean and the Nullarbor Plain. Little disappointed that we didn’t see a camel but all was made up when we saw the goon tree at Ceduna. Impressive.

On the Eyre Peninsular we hunted for waves but with no swell and none forecasted we just checked out all the spots. There’s so much potential here and no one around. A bit spooky though with a 5m great white shark replica (with original jaw and teeth) and stories in the service station. Just around the corner from Streaky Bay is the only mainland sea lion colony.  Inland on the Eyre Peninsula was the most barren landscape we have seen all trip. South Aus is apparently the driest state and you could definitely see it. Most of the scrub was cleared in early settlement times and replaced with wheat and sheep. Run down colonial houses dot the yellow fields.

Arriving in Adelaide and officially back in civilisation, and the closest we have been to home in 10 months.  Sydney is even on the signs at about 1300km. Time to get our apple picking finger licking groove on in Adelaide Hills for a couple of weeks. Ciao. 

Margaret River and Duckstien

After working for an organic café in Denmark didn’t quite live up to the most basic of expectations we moved on to Margaret River on Christmas day. It turns out that a better hospitality work environment can be found in a German Brewery – Duckstein! The serves of meat were monstrous, the plates heavy and numerous.  On the busiest day we clocked 450 meals in 3hrs. The Duckstien gang were hard working cool cats and although it was not part of our regular daily intake the bottomless bowl of hot chips and the free pint at the end of each shift made it all worthwhile.

After the area was scorched with fires during November the first signs of regrowth were starting to show. Holiday time and Margs was crawling with tourists and surfing hellmen. This was good for finding work but no so good for finding a home.  After our first official Rangering (lucky only a warning of a $500 fine) friends of friends helped us out and we had a home at Clare’s house with her 2 kids, Nellie and Jesse, and husband Mark – thanks again Clare you’re the number 1 super mum of Australia!

A month of working, sunshine and west coast waves…