Janet and Peter On Tour: March 2015

Not much news except for working. We've been three weeks and maybe only another two or three left. Fortunately there has been no rain so the harvest is going well. We plan on having a big party when it's all done! I only hope I don't have sock tan after this. The only photos we've taken have been at work - that's because we are there from dawn to dusk! We went into Mildura last Wednesday on our day off and Mum asked what sights we had seen - I told her: Bunnings, K-Mart, Coles, Target and Jayco! Thanks for all the Birthday wishes for Peter.

two kangaroos watching us sweep the almonds

I can't believe how hilarious people can be at this time of the morning!

Our sweepers were serviced and cleaned so we had to take photos

some of the crazies I work with!

off the bus (no, we don't lick the windows) and ready to start the day

The lovely Fiona

fueling up

What big ears I have

Peter with his V Sweeper

My sweeper. It looks cramped but I can stretch my legs out and still have room

I broke my machine but it was fixed in the field and I was off again

A Hare watching me. We see lots of wild life, including snakes

The nuts off to be processed. Each B-Double carries almost $200,000 worth of nuts!

Peter and me on the "Mule" This is his new mode of transport since becoming a Supervisor

We arrived in Euston and booked into the Caravan park ready to do our induction the next day for our Almond Harvesting job. Of course, it was delayed for another day so we settled in and met the locals. We did our induction, expecting to start work the next day but alas.....another delay and then another. We woke up on Sunday morning and thought, we are so close to home (5 hours) so we jumped in the car and headed home for a quick visit with the kids and grandies! It was so wonderful to see them all and to see with my own eyes that Mum was back to her active self after her broken hip. She has been busy redecorating her unit and we only had a short time together but it was soooo good. We stayed the night and took Owen to school the next morning before heading back to Euston.
I can't tell you how good it was to spend time with them. We didn't need to catch up any news because we keep in touch but it was so good to hug them all and be with them.
Since then, we have been up at 5am each day and it's great if we get home around 7.30pm but its usually 8-8.30 each night. We are working on a massive Almond Farm owned by Olam and its a 30 minute drive from the caravan park. We are working with a great bunch of people, mostly grey nomads like us who travel but pick up work every so often. They are all around our age or older with a few younger backpackers thrown in. Some of them have their caravan on site but there's no more room left for us so we are at Euston with three other couples who also work there. It's good because if one of the couple is working late the other can get a lift back to the Park with someone else to save waiting around. It's a great atmosphere, we work long hours but when the bus comes to pick us up in the mornings to take us to our machines and bring us back in the evenings, everyone is laughing and happy. After my first day, I thought, why are these people so happy? How do they have the energy to muck around and laugh - I felt like I had been hit by a bus!! But after the first day it got easier and easier so we are in for the duration which might be 6-8 weeks. We could work 7 days a week but they like you to have a day off so we are home today to catch up on a few jobs.
I'm on a Sweeper. I drive the machine down both sides of the Almond trees and the machine blows the Almonds from under the trees and into the aisle and then sweeps them away from the edge of the tree line. Peter is on a V Sweeper which means he comes after the sweeper and has two large brushes and blowers that gather the almonds from the entire aisle into a nice straight line ready for the Harvester Machines to pick them up. The whole process is fascinating and we learn more each day.
Needless to say, we've eaten a few almonds!