So we had a week off from work due to bad weather, the kiwis not being ready, and finally the main kiwi control board canceling the early payments for green kiwi. Our company unfortunately did not have any more gold kiwis to pick and we were out of work for 3 weeks. This was very frustrating for us, especially not learning about it until after a week off where we could have done "something". After learning that we pretty much lost our job temporary, I spent the morning looking for new work. I found another kiwi picking group that would take a bunch of us for a few weeks. They are down in Tauranga and it would require us to move for a bit. But after not working for a week, any work that pays would be nice.
After discussing it with the people in the hostel, six of the nine of us decided to take up the job offer and move south together. We found an Air bnb to rent for ten days and spent a night in Mt. Maunganui having a night on the town before working again. The next day was spent hanging out at the beach, recovering, and then moving into our Air bnb. It then rained so we couldn't work and our potential boss also did not get approval to start picking. Luckily he passed us off onto a friend of his for a day. But being a group of backpackers with 3 females, we were not given the most warm of welcome from the Indian pickers. This is due to the stereotype that backpackers and females cannot be fast pickers. The Indians on the other hand have a stereotype of not taking breaks and being very fast, but are rough with the fruit and do not pick properly. Being rough with the fruit and not picking properly turned out to be true from the three crews we worked with so far but they are definitely not faster than us. Luckily, we have proven ourselves as excellent workers and have gotten great compliments from the orchard owners, our contractor, and even the other crews warmed up and became friendly with us by the end of the day.
After the one day of work, we made a few contacts with some of the other workers who were impressed with us. The orchard we were on did not get approval to start picking the next set of trees and one of the supervisors passed us onto another contractor friend of his. We worked two full days with this contractor and a second Indian crew. We again did not get a warm welcome, and again we proved ourselves. Unlike the last crew where a few people were fired for improper picking or being too slow, this new orchard owner was not being nearly strict enough for bad picking. Too many stalks were being placed into the bin, people were dropping the fruits into their bags, or emptying their bags too roughly into the bins, all with no real punishment. It has destroyed some of our morale since we are picking both faster and better but getting the same amount of money. It was especially annoying after being told by the orchard owner that the pack house complained about the quality of the fruit. Too many fruit were damaged from the stalks, skin was broken, or fruit bruised. Today we got to prove ourselves since we had a quarter day of just our crew and two others. We did a great job and the owner was very happy with the quality of the fruit.
Now we have more decisions to make. We are not making bad money but are not enjoying working with the other crew due to the lack of quality control. One of our contacts put us in touch with his old crew who we will talk with tomorrow. They are a much more organized company who even have two crews, one fast and one slower. Our contractor and the orchard owner would like to keep us but if we are unhappy, it makes it so hard to get up in the morning and go to work. (I really hope the video uploads)
But enough work talk, now our fun times. It is amazing how fast time is flying, I think I've been working on the kiwi farm for almost 2 months already. I have really enjoyed my time in Tairua and hope I get to go back. I love the people, the hostel, and just the area in general.
With work, I haven't gotten out and done as much as I would like. Get home in early evening or only having a day off, usually in bad weather, makes it hard to do larger trips. I have therefore been doing a bunch of smaller things. Not counting trips to towns for groceries or other shopping we need, the beach has been the main activity I've been enjoying. Ocean Beach is a 15 minute walk away from our hostel and after many work days, I'd head down to go for a quick swim. Other than Ocean Beach, I've gone to Sailor's Grave, Hot Water Beach, Opoutere Beach, Whangmata Beach, and Cathedral Cove. It's been a lot of fun getting a group of people together and heading out for the day of sun and surf. Along with that, we also played a lot of volleyball on the homemade court at the hostel
One weekend had two events happening in the area. We spent the early afternoon hanging out in "downtown" Tairua watching the jet ski racing happening in the estuary. Later that evening we went to Whangmata to visit the Beach Hop, a yearly car festival. The amount of american flags and confederate flags was surprising.
I've also gone on a few walks in the area, mostly up Mt. Paku which is down the road from our hostel. It's a nice hour walk to the summit with a great view of the area.
With many of our days off being because of bad weather, we have started watching some movies as a group and playing games. For my birthday we played a few card games. I also brought qwirkle, Annika has Jenga which came with her van, Piotr has Pandemic and Carcassonne, and since Jon mentioned wanting an epic game I bought Teraforming Mars which we have played a lot over the last few weeks.
Other than that, we have hung out around the hostel. Having fires, talking, drinking, cooking, and anything else. One evening during our week hiatus, we wanted to get out of town and went to Whitianga to watch a movie and go to a bar to play pool and dance. When in Tauranga we also went out to play pool and have fun. Three of us ended up at a rugby teams house party. Insanity ensued and we ended up locked out of the hostel and sleeping in our vans.
I really can't believe how fast time is flying. I need to figure out what is going to happen in the future. Do I extend my visa, will I get a job offer, do I go home to stay/visit. I can only take it a day at a time, applying for jobs, and just enjoying my time.
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