Friday, March 09, 2012

What i did in NZ (Part 1)

Hello people, it's been so long (3 months) since my last update.

I miss blogging though i tend to get lazy in updating stuff. One thing here in NZ is that we don't get internet or free WIFI easily and hence the lack of update.

And so I quit my first job in the mussel factory as a grader as well as working ot cleaning the machines at the end of December.


The view from our mussel factory's smoko room facing Port of Havelock

Okay...don't laugh when you see this picture!
Haha this is basically our work outfit in the factory - gumboots, white top and pants, apron, earphones with built in radio to protect our ears from the noise of the machines and this i dont know what you call thing that we have to wear to cover our hair.
It's freaking cold in the the grading room and i always wear like at least 3 layers of clothes
Benefit of working there is that we get to buy cheap mussel from the factory at 1.70 NZD per kg.
In this pic, I was cooking seafood porridge

One of my best friend/ colleague. Marion from France
Behind is the locker where we put our belongings during work

Traveled for 2 weeks down to West Coast, Southland and Otago.

Settled down at a lil' town called Roxburgh in Central Otago and started hunting for jobs.

Did one day of raspberry picking in a small orchard. That was my first time trying out an outdoor job.
The raspberry trees were almost the same height as us human and we sometimes had to squad up and down to pick the berries hidden below. After the whole day of picking my knees were aching like crazy *ahem sign of ageing probably ;p

Few days later we got a job in a pack house packing mainly apricots and some nectarines and plums. There were this sign in the pack house saying no eating in the working area but after some time of working everyone started to just take the nice fruits to eat while doing our work half way. *wtf who can stand the temptations of all these yummeh fruits especially when they are right in front of you.....gulp.


Apricots going into the grading belt according to their size.

Different sizes of apricots will then be sent to its own belt


From there, we will pack the fruits into the overseas, local and jam bins.
Fruits are then kept in the fridge and will then reach overseas in 3 days time.


Packing the mini ones which will be sold in the local supermarket.


Work in the pack house for 1 month+, quit the job and me and Chris went to travel again, doing the Southern Scenic Route, Dunedin and Oamaru.
Had the time of our life during this trip.....every place is so beautiful and special in its own way.

We initially planned to head back up to the Northern part of the South Island for apple packing job. Unfortunately, because of some certain reason we had to cancel the plan and came back to Roxburgh.

Here, we got a new job in another pack house packing nectarines and apricots as well. Since the fruits season are reaching its end, we were asked to wash the crates which they use to put the fruits in. I think i've washed over hundred of it in the outdoor no matter rain or shine. The weather was crazy. It can be so cold in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon when the sun is out it gets crazily burning hot or even rain.

During the weekend, we went to the orchard for picking, this time around we picked green cages and plums. We were enjoying ourselves eating the fruits there rather then working hard to pick more because we don't get any GREEN CAGES back at home.


I think i'm good at climbing wtf ;p

Monkey in action ;>

Green cages and plums that we picked!

Ohai, i is plum picker =}

Got tired of washing the crates in the packhouse partly because my hands were aching and so we quit to travel again for another 4 days.

Now i'm back at Roxburgh again and starting the apple packing job next monday. Fruits oh fruits, i can't wait.

That's all for now. Hitting the sack and going hiking tomorrow.