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 !
Howlin' live in Ron!
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 ! 😀
Ronald on stage
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.
The tractor and our machine
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.
Ronald, potato picker
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.
The carpet (statement on the picture)
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.
Preservation Bay evening
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.
Penguin
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.
Acoustic Life of Sheds
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 !
Above Stanley
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 ! 😀
I'll do a big well beef rare to Ronald when you return kisses deNanou
And he will be happy, but don't worry too much, It offers the meat regularly ! 😉
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
Enjoy spring for us, but soon we will also look for better temperatures.
Hugs !