Nice Pear!!!

Hello!

Not so off the radar after all! It turns out our Orchard is a short drive from the Maroopna Library, so free tinterweb and blogging!!

Well, the first week of fruit picking is done. We survived with a few scratched (actually quite a lot) and bruised shins – mainly from walking into well camouflaged sprinkler spouts, which REALLY HURTS!!!. The picking is actually good fun once you make it past the 3 day pain barrier. We managed 17 bins (one bin holds half a ton of pears) between us this week at 36 dollars each, and bonus, we found out we only get taxed 13% instead of 40% due to a government incentive to get people picking, as fruit farms are struggling to get staff!! (Why guys, these blog entries are getting more and more riveting by the week I hear you say!;) Yeah sorry at least we aren’t boring you with Pear varieties (willaims and Packhams for those who are interested), where they go and how they are stored!! Although Coca Cola use Pear skin as an ingredient! Interesting huh!

We owe most of our pear knowledge to our quality controller, Mick. Who can be seen in one of the photos next to a bin. He is a bit of a leg-end, and I’m sure sick of our continual pear related questions! Turns out there is more to pears than meets the eye!!

We have fallen on our feet really, not many orchards have campsites on them like ours (which is really nice) and when we arrived we saw loads of pickers from other farms having to hitch hike back to their campsite! The crew are all really nice and not cracking whips, we pick at our own pace and basically do as much – or as little when it’s 38 degrees - as we like! There are some really cool people here from all over the globe, so we have befriended a couple (Craig and Sarah) from Leeds! (always doing our bit for international relations!!) who have emigrated, and have an awesome 7yr old British bull dog, we will try and get some photo’s. he picks pears off the tree, eats them and then farts all night!! Hilarious!!

Anyway, free tinterweb time is running out, so bye for now, hope you are all well and check out all the new photo's, some of Canberra - which we passed through on the way down - there too.

J&J

Off the radar....

Van at wollemi
Strike a pose!
Where next?!

mmmm attractive!!

Hi All.

This may very well be our last post for a month or so, as we will be picking pears for the next four weeks, and weekly photo’s of soft fruit may not be very exciting!!!

The Photos above of us are to remind you of us, and also a little “tan comparison” before shot, as four weeks in the sun is going to improve our current factor 30 aided tan considerably!!!

Right! Update! Last wed – fri was spent in the Wollemi National Park at a place called Newnes, which was an old Oil shale mining town from 1904 to 1939(see the photo’s) We were quite shocked to find a bit of intact history! The campsite was the most remote we have been to yet, 40km gravel road to get there, bless the van it got a bit of a shaking, but, again, well worth the drive. We were right under huge cliff faces.

We walked a total of 30km in 2 days. One walk around the old ruins of the buildings and one along the old train route in to the valley, with the highlight being the glow-worm tunnel. Awesome!!! (see photo’s)

We have now left the Northern Beaches, and are now currently retracing our post Christmas steps that we took with Tali and Nick. We departed the Croan household (Thanks again you guys) on Saturday and set off on the Princes Highway south in the direction of Melbourne.

On the Saturday evening –after visiting Kiama with it’s famous blow hole, that decided not to blow that day- we stayed at Green Patch campground (V-Busy) at Jervis Bay. Beautiful, white (possibly the whitest yet) beach and inland lagoon.

In the morning we set off to Pebbly beach (Kangaroo colony on beach you may remember) where we have now decided to stay until Friday morning, firstly because it has the perfect body surfing sized waves and 20 degree sea, and secondly it will allow us to visit Canberra on the way to the fruit farm without backtracking and adding extra journey time blah blah blah… riveting post huh guys!!!!.....

For anyone interested we will be picking pears at 36 dollars per bin at the McNab fruit farm somewhere in the region of Sheperton about 140km northeast of Melbourne from Monday 12^th Feb until Fri 9^th march!!! Wooo Hoooo. I detect pear consumption may be quite high!!

Right, Love to all, hope you haven’t all frozen to death!

Xx J&J