“The projects are the promises the imagination made in the heart.” Jean-Louis Vaudoyer

Photo massif The Nut

Tuesday could be one day like any other in the Apple picking, except that we ask to finish earlier because we must roll up to Launceston. During his tour of pubs there is nearly a month, Ronald said that he was a musician, quelques jours après le patron du Royal Oak Hotel l’a appelé pour lui demander s’il pouvait jouer le soir du 10 March - without even hearing !

10 mars | 15h53

Howlin' live in Ron!

10 mars | 21h29

Ronald at the Royal Oak Hotel

At 9: 00 pm, We are greeted by Tim the bartender, first and foremost makes us enjoy free different Tasmanian beers. It is left for two hours of show before an audience of passage and delighted regulars. In addition to the free beers, While we had planned to sleep a few hours in the car before returning to Parramatta Creek Orchard, Tim offers us a room on the floor, allowing us to sleep from midnight to five o'clock in a real bed ! Two hundred dollars paid stuff, What we do not even manage to do in a day of picking ! 😀

10 mars | 21h40

Ronald on stage

10 mars | 21h59

Behind the bar

Picking will still not be easy Wednesday, particularly as we are in aisles where you select the apples because they are not ready for harvesting in contrast to other rows where just about pick up without thinking.

We are fortunate to have the 14 March holidays and after a good lunch-wholesale, I take Ronald in a store of music at Devonport for her birthday. Sunday evening we will drink a beer at the Forth pub where at the break of the music group the boss allows Ronald to play three of its pieces.

21 mars | 16h47

The tractor and our machine

21 mars | 18h53

Closure of a trailer

Our three days in the apples go in the rain and we are very happy when Suzie calls us to tell us that we are starting Saturday 21 March in potatoes, paid 18,97 net $ per hour.
A final round at Devonport for a shower and a laundry - where we recroisons our colleagues of strawberries, It is small Tasmania ! – then we drive to the area of Bracknell, as the potato field is located just south of Longford on the Panshanger farm.

23 mars | 8h37

Ronald, potato picker

23 mars | 8h38

Claire, potato picker

By the second day we ask Max, our friendly driver of tractor – even when the slightest mechanical concern understood swear to the four corners of the field… façon de parler car le champ est rond 😛 – If we can camp on-site : no problem ! If there is neither water nor electricity, It is much more convenient because they are usually between nine and eleven hours days. Despite the length of the work itself is rather quiet, We are three at the rear of the tractor in a harvester to watch potatoes scroll : It is necessary to remove the pebbles, sod, plants or still too green tubers. Those extravagant shapes are accepted since all finishes in chips. Between the quiet moments, the rush and the closure of the trailers that come and go throughout the day, the latter takes place fairly quickly. Our co-workers we are even able to travel : Queensland, Malaysia, Japan, California… Gloves, mask, Hat protect us but we finish well dusty day.

23 mars | 8h40

The carpet (statement on the picture)

24 mars | 19h43

Until late in the evening....

Fortunately as soon as it rains we do not work and can go to the Launceston cataract where warm and free showerss, then to Bracknell where we meet Manon, Isabelle and Lucas, three french who also work in the potato. We spend several evenings with them, sometimes to shivering together around the barbecue where we organise aperitif and evening meal. Because if in France, spring is here and the trees are budding, Here they lose their leaves and the cold arrives by wave.

27 mars | 18h55

Preservation Bay evening

28 mars | 8h06

Preservation Bay clock

As the 14, the 27 March is a day of leave for us, better yet Max announced us that we will not work until Monday. We decide to enjoy the weekend and drive to the north shore, then towards the West where we find the Sun and the ocean. We spend the night after the town of Penguin, preservation Bay, où nous nous cuisinons un couscous – enfin légumes et semoule 😉 – on bottom of sunset on the Bass Strait for my birthday.

28 mars | 9h53

Penguin

28 mars | 10h44

Near Wynyard

The Sun also accompanied us Saturday while we continue our discovery of the North-West of Tasmania. After a stop at the Table Cape lighthouse, a gentleman made us signs on the side of the road : in a few minutes a short free concert starts in a barn. We came across one of two weekend d’Acoustic Life of Sheds organized by Big hART, families of farmers and artists gathered in five barns of the region to rediscover music and hearing, create relationships with people who are not necessarily consumers of art usually.

28 mars | 11h03

Acoustic Life of Sheds

28 mars | 10h56

Table Cape Lighthouse

After brunch at Sisters Beach in the Rocky Cape national park, We drive up to the town of Stanley to climb the Nut : a volcanic remnant 143 meters high. Once fallen, We enjoy an excellent ice cream at the boysenberries, which we still do not know the translation. After a little research the translation is easy, c’est une mûre de Boysen 🙂 ; What we have learned is that it is the result of a cross between raspberry and BlackBerry, yum !

28 mars | 15h06

Above Stanley

28 mars | 15h39

The Nut

While we decided to go spend the night at Marrawah to be on one of the points most at West of Tasmania, a phone call from Suzie puts an end to our epic : We finally have to work tomorrow at eight o'clock, decision of the higher spheres. Return of almost three hundred kilometres which we conduct each half, a little disappointed with the end of aborted weekend. Re-entry into potato, think of us the next time you eat potato chips ! 😀

13 Comments on ““The projects are the promises the imagination made in the heart.” Jean-Louis Vaudoyer”

  1. PS : and well ouej for the Veggie couscous <3 Henri-Simon, sheep of his State, Thank you. Big kisses.
  2. PS2 : I've not really celebrated the birthday of my favorite brother-in-law… I know how to repair the error once our feet on the same continent. Lots of love, and bravo for the concerts which were to be famous I doubt not (whether they are improvised or surprise).
  3. Yes I thought of you of course ! Seeing the name on the map, I thought huh Let's “Brunch” There ! Baked beans and bacon… Vegetarian smoked slice for me. 😉 Coles a un rayon végétarien sympathique : sausages, tofu steak, chick peas or other vegetables, soy spreads cheese… 😀
  4. Ronald would have liked some meat haha, but we had not, There, This is ! 😛
  5. We will do a shot grouped at Christmas, big fiesta for other dates not spent together ! 😉
  6. I thought that you were working in a nuclear power plant ! Why the mask to pick potatoes ?Dust ?
    I'll do a big well beef rare to Ronald when you return kisses deNanou
  7. Yes for dust ! ! It's going to the morning but as soon as the Sun heated us much cleaner, It is not pleasant to smell and it avoids clogging our lungs. Windy days were quite unpleasant !

    And he will be happy, but don't worry too much, It offers the meat regularly ! 😉

  8. Vous allez êtes les pros des fruits et légumes et autres féculents !!
    Donc la pomme de terre serait plus facile à attraper que la pomme simple ?! M’étonne pas que Parmentier est exploité le filon..
    On vous envoie de la chaleur, car les beaux jours arrivent par ici, les t-shirts et les motos sont de sortie, even if there are still a few days when we shouldn't let go ..
    Kisses
  9. It was not the same kind of picking. Harvest potatoes without machine was surely much longer ! 😛
    Enjoy spring for us, but soon we will also look for better temperatures.
    Hugs !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *