Chapter 4 - All in a Day's Work

Cherry picking/packing started two weeks before Christmas Day, in order to meet the season’s demand. This orchard is run as a family business, and it is not as commercialized as others. They require workers to manually sort the cherries according to sizes that fulfil export and local market criteria. On the contrary, bigger orchards have machines to do the work, whilst they only require seasonal workers to help them choose and remove the spoilt cherries. We expected to be given a proper training on how to sort the cherries before work commences, but ridiculously, there was none!! So, it ended up pretty much a lame work on our first day of work. Sorting cherries count wages as per bucket, which means more buckets, more income. Slower people will be sent to do packing/filling in the boxes job, and the wages will be counted as per hour. And that’s how I ended up doing the latter. But, it was better than getting fired. Some orchards actually did that for not hitting the target amount! Seriously pathetic! Logically, you can’t get quality without compromising quantity and vice versa. *sigh*

 

                                         

It had never come across my mind that working with “mat salleh” can be such a pain in the neck. The management was so horrible that we could see no practical system or standard procedures at all. The staffs seemed like they weren’t trained to handle chaotic situations. In the first place, there shouldn’t be such disarray, more like an aftermath disaster, as this is a well-established orchard/packing house. Frankly speaking, we did feel a sense of discrimination from some of staffs there, and their attitudes were simply despicable. Luckily, not all of them were behaving as such, which otherwise would have us working in hell!! Sorting cherries wasn’t an easy job. Packing the cherries into the boxes was neither. But they were two different jobs with their distinctive job scopes for sure. However, the manager sucked pretty much in telling apart between them. It’s a long story anyway......

Despite that, we still have our feel good moments too! We could just simply grab those cherries and eat them anytime we want to, even during work. No worries, we were already given the green light to do so. Hahaha! Besides cherries, there were peaches, apricots, nectarines and apples. Spoilt, cracked or fallen ones were being thrown away into the bins as food waste to feed the sheep (Yikes, those damn lucky ones!). But often, you can actually find the good and big ones were also being disposed. So, once a while, we rummaged through the waste for the fine ones to make peach and cherry jams during weekends. But most of the time, we pocketed away those large and juicy cherries that cost a bomb back to our quarters! Shhhh……….

        

 

Chapter 3 – It’s Summertime (Well…………Almost >.<)

Summer is coming, and that’s also the sign of cherries harvesting season. We had previously asked for seasonal orchard work through the net and finally it pays off. An orchard owner decided to take in five of us for cherry packing job….Woohoo!! After spending for so many days, our pockets almost dried up. But we did not squander all our money. Half of them still are being kept safely in the bank. In fact, we have been so frugal in our expenditures by opting for the cheapest supermarket to get our groceries, and selecting only the cheapest brands at the most economical prices. The most lavish meal we had so far was at McD – burgers and fries….Darn! Eating out in NZ is utterly expensive, so most of the time, we cooked ourselves. Pastas, breads, instant noodles and biscuits became our staple foods. Rice is slightly pricey, so we had it once in a while. Of course, they weren’t as tasty and scrumptious as that of diners’ standard, but we were glad and thankful enough to be able to stick together, and have food laid on top of the table to fill our empty stomachs. Omitorhood _/\_

From Oamaru, we drove to Alexandra and prepared ourselves for the new challenges ahead. Cherries harvesting period depends very much on the weather, so we will have to wait for the owner to call us when the time comes. Meanwhile, we just laze around in Alexandra, reluctant to travel far as the petrol is damn costly, and it gets costlier down south. Travelling from one town/city to another took several tens to hundreds of kilometres. Our wagon averagely runs at 19 ₵/km and one full tank costs over a whopping $100, which is equivalent to RM 250!! *swt*. So, we only visited several nearby places like Clyde and Cromwell. Other times, we just hung around at our hostels, watching dramas/movies, eating and sleeping. Haha…Bunch of lazy pigs!! It was kind of difficult to get free wifi in small towns and countryside area, which otherwise would have us surfing the net whole day long. This is in contrast to big cities like Christchurch, where free wifi can be obtained at the public libraries and several hotspots in the city. Otherwise, we will have to pay to use the service. The cheapest would be $2/hr and again it gets costlier down south, and in remote areas. 

The weather was not set at all for the cherry season. Cherries need full blast of sunshine to ramp up their ripening process and to increase their sweetness as well. But it was freezing cold and windy for most of the time, especially from dusk till the break of dawn, and the lowest temperature recorded so far was 6^oC. At other times on the contrary, the weather was intensely hot and stuffy. Highest temperature reached up to a whopping 31^oC!!! Darn! We had been shrouding ourselves from the hot weather and not wanting to travel to other places for almost a week. Alas, we could no longer withstand any more of the sheer boredom. So, we head off to a town slightly further away from here – Wanaka. The one place that one would never miss out when step foot on Wanaka, is the infamous Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World. So, what’s so spectacular about this place? As the name tells it, it encompasses several eccentric illusions and puzzles that will dazzle and bewilder your mind. For $15, we obtained passes for the combo package (includes maze garden and illusion rooms). It’s pretty embarrassing to say that we were on the verge of giving up when we got “trapped” in the labyrinth. Fortunately, we still managed to flounder our way out eventually. Anyway, that almost got us spending the whole afternoon immersing in the bizarre world. Next on, we took a breath-taking view at the Lake Wanaka and had a long walk down one of the streets, to and fro, before leaving Wanaka.

Chapter 2 – Encounter on a Stranger’s Land

After some 10 hours flight, we finally arrived at Christchurch. Although the pickup van turned up quite late at the airport, we managed to embrace ourselves through the incessant cold wind that almost got us frozen up. Phew! This city was severely damaged by the quake and it was kind of a waste that many of the places were barricaded. But we were lucky enough that the Cathedral Square was partially re-opened to the public despite the main city centre area still being cordoned off for safety. 

For the first few days, we had the longest walks that we ever had. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island, so getting from one place to another on foot was really strenuous. The effect was even more significant under the hot and cold weather. Yup, the sun was scorching hot especially in the noon and yet when there’s that gust of wind, you’ll just get the chill down to spine!! Just make sure you have some real thick clothes, jacket, socks and gloves. Snug into your cosy blanket and don’t get into the streets when the sun sets……We haven’t got the opportunity to actually check out the sea and mountain views of Christchurch as we were in a hurry to get to another place, but we will be back soon…….Some recommended places are the Botanic Gardens, Hagley Park and Canterbury Museum. The reason: because they are free of charge!! 

After we got our Subaru Legacy 1994 at the price of $1800, we left Christchurch to our next destination – Akaroa. It was a beautiful, quaint village which was previously a French settlement area. The French bay was simply an awesome sight, with crystal clear blue water spanning across the Banks Peninsula. There were some ongoing activities there like swimming with dolphins, penguins viewing, wildlife cruises, sailing and kayaking, but you’ll need to pay some hefty amount for that. As backpackers, that’s a big no-no. So, after spending two nights there, off we go heading towards the south with our next stop at Oamaru. The route to Oamaru took about 4 hours. Driving in New Zealand is so much different compare to that in Malaysia. The state highway allows speed limit of 100 km/h, but in the city, only 50 km/h is allowed. Back in Malaysia with that speed, I’ll be cursed to hell. =.= By the way, being a pedestrian in NZ makes you feel like a king…Hell ya!! 

Oamaru is well known as home for the blue and yellow-eyed penguins, and it’s a must do to catch a glimpse at those cuties. One can choose to pay to view the penguin colony, but there’s a better option of not having to pay a cent for it. We got on to the Waterfront Rd and waited till dusk set in; the blue penguins eventually climbed up to the shore and crossed the road to get back to their colony in the woods. These blue penguins are the smallest in the world. As such, they move in a flock, two members at least. They are afraid of the lights, so it’s advisable not to use flash when capturing them. The next day, we headed down to Moeraki village and made our way through to the Kaitaki point near the lighthouse. Guess what? Several yellow-eyed penguins and fur seals “greeted” us…Haha! It’s just about timing, seriously good timing. We saw some dolphins too, but they were really far off, so it was merely a glance, but hey, that’s better than nothing!! Prior to that, we stopped by at the Moeraki Boulders to catch a few snapshots on the remarkable sphere-shaped stones formed due to geological effects several million years ago. It was another fruitful day. Another not-to-be-missed place is the Oamaru Public Gardens. The landscapes of the garden were beautifully crafted and the bountiful flowers in various shapes and sizes have filled the air with freshness. 

Chapter 1 – Working……….Holiday?

It wasn’t really a hasty decision, as I’ve mulled it over several times before clicking on the “Apply” button. So here I am in New Zealand – the Land under the Wind, under the working holiday scheme, along with another four girlfriends. So, what’s working holiday? Well, I didn’t know about this either, not until two years ago. But the name speaks for itself. It is an offer for not-so-wealthy people like me who cannot afford to go for long holidays that will cost RM XX00 ++. This scheme provides a work visa that allows the holder to legally work and earn money to cover the holiday expenses, there and then. This is nothing new, many have applied before, and many more will be applying. The vacancies are limited, so it’s on a first come first serve basis. New Zealand would be the easiest to obtain, others I’m not sure, but some will have to go through interviews. Several weeks prior to departure, there was a mishmash of feelings – fear and excitement. Despite that, now five of us will embark on a brand new journey on a stranger’s land, not knowing what will be ahead of us for the next few months but it will definitely turn over new pages in our lives.