Working on a Kiwi Orchard in NZ

Working on a Kiwi orchard in NZ

How we found this job? 

There are jobs offered online at backpackerboard.nz. We contacted a guy who offered some jobs on his kiwi orchard. Eventually all positions were full when we called him and he gave us the contact number of Cathy.  Then we got the job after some phone calls. It's easy at the beginning of the season. But it will get more difficult later because everyone wants to work and there will be heaps of backpackers in the country. 

Knastschwestern Crew

What do you need to start to working in NZ: 

1. NZ bank account 

2. IRD number 

3. Contact number 

4. valid work visa 

5. Passport 

6. probably transport (car/van)

7. enough food and water

First day of work: hard but nice! We met Cathy, our contact who organized our job. She is super friendly and explained us everything what we needed to know. The kiwi orchard is about 10 hectares big and we should do around 5 hectares. Our job was to do fruit thinning. That means to pick the bad and ugly fruits and drop them to the ground. Only healthy and nice kiwis can survive. This is one of the important maintenance for a kiwi orchard. The actual picking will start in March. Now he Kiwi fruits are still very small. 

Kiwi Orchard 1

Kiwi Orchard 2

Kiwi Orchard 3

The work is pretty easy: the fruits are growing head high and there is always a bit of shade. We are only allowed to work when it's dry and sunny. If it's raining we would have off. Our neck and shoulders are sore after the first day. But it's ok. Our supervisor Bhalla is nice. He is from India (like all the other workers) and was looking after us during the day. 

We get payed per hour. It's the minimum wage + 8% holiday fee. 

Kiwi Thinning

More Kiwis

Second day of work:

Our neck and shoulders didn't feel too bad. We continued working at 07:30am-06:00pm with 30min break. It was alright and happily it was almost cloudy during the day. That means it wasn't too hot and less sunburn. At our first day of work we only worked 6h from noon because we had to wait until everything was dry from the rain. There were 2 more German backpackers joining our work at that day. We are planning to work here for 2-3 weeks and get along with the Indians very well. They are friendly and we share the bathroom and the kitchen (which is in their bedroom too). We sleep in our cars with a nice view to the ocean. 

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How we feel after 1 week of work:
We only last working for 8 days. We quit. 
Why?
There were a few reasons but the reason for me was I couldn't be bothered to do this boring and primitive work anymore. Others had physicals problems.

Conclusion: 
Good experience but nothing for me. There are a few backpackers working there for months. Big respect for them!! It's easy money but nothing I would do again.