We all love Bananas

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Trip Start May 31, 2005 Previous
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  Tully, Australia
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

14th Jan
Arrived in Tully today, after a few days of solid driving. We went from Surfers to Bundaberg which took about 5 ½ hours. Didn't see much of Bundaberg except a campsite. From there to Mackay which took 7 ½ hours, where we handfed possums on the site next to our tent, then another 7 ½ hours to Tully.
Checked into Greenway caravan Park, which will be our home for the next 3 or 4 months. Filled in a form and paid $3 for them to find us work. That afternoon, they called us to say we all had work starting Monday. Mike and I on Robsons farm and Tom on another. Tom to start at 0530 and us 0630. We were chuffed to bits.
So, Tully is quite a small, traditional kind of town. Bit like Shepton mallet I suppose, with a few more shops. The town is set in between two mountains, covered in lush rainforest, therefore it rains. A LOT. Infact, Tully is the wettest place in Australia, receiving 8m of rain a year. It's actually quite beautiful as it's so green. There are lots of local waterfalls, creeks and waterholes to swim in, however, no swimming in the rivers due to the vast number of crocs, and no swimming in the sea because of the deadly stingers! Mission Beach is only 20km down the road, which is a quaint little town too. There's lots of activities to do around here. There's white water rafting down the Tully river, which is one of the best in Oz, skydiving over Mission beach, horse riding, national parks etc. Many tourists based in cairns come down to do the rafting and skydiving. And we're also next to the Great barrier Reef here - all we need to do is make friends with people who have a boat and blag a ride out.


8th Feb
So, we've been working now for 3 ½ weeks - almost a month done. Today I'm off as I have caught a stinking cold. Never thought you could get a cold in 35 degree heat.
Work is going well. It took a while for the locals to warm to us - they're so used to backpackers showing up for 1 day and not going back. The work isn't too bad, as long as you zone out. After the first few days, I did want to scream out loud how much I hated the job. For the first 2 weeks, Mike and I were sorting the bananas. Let me tell you how the banana shed works....
We have a group of guys who go out cutting down the bunches of bananas and "humping" (carrying them over shoulder) them through the paddocks. The bunches get loaded onto trailers. The trailers get bought into the shed. Then there are 2 guys hanging them (one of these guys is now Mike). To hang them, they wrap a chain around the stalk, take off the bag covering the bunch, and the chain is on a conveyor. The bunches get passed through a pressure washer to clean them and hose off any creepy crawlies. Then the guys who are cutting, cut off sections of the bananas and chuck them into a trough filled with soapy water. Then the 'sorters' tear off any bad bananas and break the bunches into smaller bunches. The bananas go down another conveyor belt and the 'packers' (me) pack them into boxes, wrap them and they get sent out to the supermarkets. Wah Lah, the banana process. Other jobs involve being out in the paddocks. We go out 'cropping' off the dead leaves from the trees which is pretty hard work. Also 'stringing', which is where we tie string from one tree to another to help prevent the tree with bananas on from leaning too much from the weight. We spend half the week in the shed and half outside in the paddy's which is nice. It's always a relief to get outside by the end of the week, but then come Monday, we're always glad to be back in the shed. Tom started off with being a plumber for a few days and was sent out into the paddy's fixing all the irrigation pipes. Work has certainly taken its toll and we are in bed by 9pm most nights. We're having fun though and saving money. We tend to go up to Cairns most weekends to get away from small town life where the shops are closed weekends!!!! We love Cairns and can't wait to get up there for a month or so when we move on. It's not too built up which is nice. You can't go on the beach cos of the stingers, but there is a big saltwater lagoon which you swim in - all modernized and well kept. Lots of bars, restaurants, shops and touring agents. Mike can't wait to go diving and is weighing up all the different cruises we can go out on.
Hayley came up to join us last weekend. The van broke down on the way back from picking her up. It was a bit 'wolf creek' ish as we broke down in the dark and right next to a disused sugar cane factory. Luckily there was a house opposite the layby and as it was only 8.30pm, we knocked on their door. The guy was a gem and ran us into the local town - redneckville, well, it could've been. Nowhere was open except the pub/hotel in the middle of town. They said we could have a room there for the night and call the auto mechanic in the morning. So we stayed in one of their rooms which wasn't so bad and was only $45 for 4 of us including air con!! Next morning, we got a new battery and were all set. We managed to get back to Tully on the new battery but need a new alternator. More expense. The van has done well though.
So here we are, still in Tully, working our butt's off. We'll be here for another few months until we have enough money to move on. We've made lots of friends at work and on the campsite and we're still having a fab time - work or no work!!

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