In my previous blog I took you with me on a day of working in an orange shed. Unfortunately there has been a lot of rain lately, so not many oranges to be sorted. The bright side of this is that it gives me all the time in the world to blog 🙂 In this blog I’ll tell you where I am currently living.
The area
We live about 20 kilometers outside of the town Griffith, in southern New South Wales. Everywhere you go you’re surrounded by orange trees and vineyards. About 22 kilometers west there’s a National Park (Cocaparrra), and the nearest ‘bigger’ town, Wagga Wagga, is located about 2 hours away. Griffith is located 6 hours west of Sydney, and about 5,5 hours north of Melbourne which equals about the same distance as from Amsterdam to Paris.
Never before in my life have I lived in such a remote area! From Amsterdam old-west, where you find a shop and and a cafe at every corner, to the middle of nowhere where you have to jump in the car and drive for 20 minutes in order to find signs of human life. It sure is different, but I kinda like it 🙂
The house
The house, or hostel, or farmhouse, or whatever you like to call it is surrounded by greenery, cats and horses. We are currently living here with about 16 people. The rooms consist of two bunk beds but are often shared by not more than two or three people. There are also a few double rooms in the house, one of which is our little home while completing our 88 days. There’s a big communal area with a bar, a pooltable and a ping pong (beerpong) table. The kitchen is fairly spacious and well equipped, and in the living room you’ll find plenty of cosy sofas and a TV. Only downside to this house is that there is no WiFi and phone reception is often limited. Quite the challenge for me as a travel blogger, but so far I’m coping fine 😉 I do miss Netflix though….
My absolute favorite thing about this place is the sunsets I get treated to every day. Sometimes the skies turn pink and purple, other nights they turn fiery orange. And if you’re lucky, on a bright night you might see the starry Milky Way.
The people
The people we are living and working with are of all ages and origins. The youngest people in the house are 19 years old, and the oldest are, very surprising, 30. Most of the people are over 25, which I really like. Don’t get me wrong, I get along with all ages, but living in a hostel with only 20 year old drinking, partying people for three months would be something I wouldn’t survive 😉
The majority of the people in the house come from the United Kingdom. We also live with a few Italians, three Frenchies, a bunch of Australian cats, two Swedes and then there’s me, the only Dutchie in the house (Nederlanders waar zijn jullie?!?).
Tomorrow we’re going to the induction day for a new job, working in Grain Harvest. Depending on the weather it could take a couple of weeks before the season gets started, but since I have been at home without work for the fourth day in a row now, I really hope the grain season will start sooner so I can get back to counting down those 88 days.
8 Comments
Australia – 7 tips on finding farmwork – Eef Explores
[…] Brad, our current landlord, saying we could move into his hostel (read my blog about the hostel here), and the rest is history. Maybe it is stating the obvious but do not forget to include your phone […]
Australia – Four months of farming – Eef Explores
[…] A few months passed by… The second year visa suddenly became an attractive idea again. We decided to give it another try, and ended up in the ghetto of Gatton, where after a day of brocolli packing we only made 6 dollars an hour. We soon found out we had been scammed again. Bummer. This woman, named Mayla Patterson, recruits people for farmwork, let’s them live in her houses for 200 dollars a week and gives them shitty jobs that barely cover half of the rent. After deciding we wanted to leave and placing another ad on Gumtree, we received the liberating phone call from a guy called Brad. 14 hours of driving later we arrived in Griffith, where we would be living in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. Read more about this hostel here on my blog A Citygirl in Rural New South Wales. […]
Australia – Four months of farming – Eef Explores
[…] A few months passed by… The second year visa suddenly became an attractive idea again. We decided to give it another try, and ended up in the ghetto of Gatton, where after a day of broccoli packing we only made 6 dollars an hour. We soon found out we had been scammed again. Bummer. This woman, named Mayla Patterson, recruits people for farmwork, let’s them live in her houses for 200 dollars a week and gives them shitty jobs that barely cover half of the rent. After deciding we wanted to leave and placing another ad on Gumtree, we received the liberating phone call from a guy called Brad. 14 hours of driving later we arrived in Griffith, where we would be living in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. Read more about this hostel here on my blog A Citygirl in Rural New South Wales. […]
Simone
Hi eef
Ik kwam je site op fb tegen. Heel handig die tips voor farmwork. Tnx!! Ben ze allemaal afgegaan.
Want nu dat de leeftijd verhoogd is, nog even proberen 3 maanden mee te pikken.
Lees in dit verhaal dat je in griffith hebt gewerkt. Toevallig een nummertje om me een beetje op weg te helpen?
Veel fun in australie!
Cheers
evelienlangeveld
Hoi Simone,
Fijn om te horen dat mijn blog je een beetje heeft geholpen! 🙂
Ik heb helaas geen nummertje voor je. Mijn oude huisbaas heeft mij aan werk geholpen, maar op het einde bleek hij een beetje een gestoorde vent te zijn dus daar wil je niet wonen.
Je kan altijd costaberries proberen, geloof
evelienlangeveld
Geloof dat die het hele jaar werk aanbieden 🙂
Succes!!
Australia – Four months of farming – Eef Explores
[…] A few months passed by… The second year visa suddenly became an attractive idea again. We decided to give it another try, and ended up in the ghetto of Gatton, where after a day of broccoli packing we only made 6 dollars an hour. We soon found out we had been scammed again. Bummer. This woman, named Mayla Patterson, recruits people for farmwork, let’s them live in her houses for 200 dollars a week and gives them shitty jobs that barely cover half of the rent. After deciding we wanted to leave and placing another ad on Gumtree, we received the liberating phone call from a guy called Brad. 14 hours of driving later we arrived in Griffith, where we would be living in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. Read more about this hostel here on my blog A Citygirl in Rural New South Wales. […]
Australia – 7 tips on finding farm work – Eef Explores
[…] Brad, our current landlord, saying we could move into his hostel (read my blog about the hostel here), and the rest is history. Maybe it is stating the obvious but do not forget to include your phone […]