You don’t have to be a Pommie backpacker to get out on the harvest trail in Australia. Jane Wilson and Glynne Matthews hit the orchards to raise some travel funds.

It was the end of the afternoon.  We stood at the bus stop with our packs as the coach drove off, leaving us in shimmering, flat, central Victoria.  The heat was coming to its evening crescendo.  One of us began to melt.

The trail leads to some strange and interesting places with strange and interesting people along the way.  The welcoming committee arrived - an old guy in a tiny Suzuki hatchback.  Somehow, we squashed in. A feat which necessitated the removal of limbs and folding of things never previously folded.  At least there were no goats in the car today, as there were to be on a following day....

We meandered along the high street, shown the landmarks on the way: laundromat, supermarket, and pub.  Pub.  It was Friday afternoon, a time some local folk (and some of the itinerant population as well) associate incontrovertibly with time off and the aforementioned institution of imbibition.  Our driver had, in fact, come directly from the bar.  We wove gently down the road till it left town.  Then we turned left onto the open road and out into farming country.

Some time ago a photocopied notice on a YHA board had pointed us in this direction.  Central Victoria, fruit picking.  Pears, apples, peaches.  A few weeks and a phone call later, and here we were.  Work to begin on Monday.  First, a couple of days to relax, acclimatise (ha!), and settle into the onsite accommodation.  Caravans.  We found that this time we'd struck a fairly luxurious site by most standards of fruit picking accommodation - a shower block (with hot water!), a kitchen "mess deck", and even connections to electricity in some of the vans.

We'd arrived too late for electricity (all taken), but didn't mind since we didn't plan to be up past sundown anyway.  Not when we had to be up at 6am and in the orchards by 7.  In the meantime, our shell of a caravan, fitted out with three narrow ply board beds was like an oven in the heat of the day. One of us relaxed with a sigh.  The other melted a bit more and wondered what she was doing here.

The next morning, however, she was scrubbing the floor and performing various other nesting rituals... so it seemed we were staying.  We even contributed to the fund for the tractor driver's birthday barbecue that evening.  And then set off on foot in the heat to walk the 4km into town for food supplies.

During the day more new additions to the workforce arrived and set up on-site in the remaining caravans, tents, or in their own campervans.  From hardened (and largely pickled) experienced fruit pickers to backpacking working-holiday couples:  Aussie, Pommie, and others.  Us? One of us could (but wouldn't) describe fruit picking as the closest thing he has to a 'career'.  The other was a novice and fully expected to be reduced to a sniffling heap by the end of the week.  Neither of us drinks.  It might be a different story by the end of the week though.

Despite the varying degrees of inebriation of many of those in key organisational roles (buying sausages, cooking them, etc), the barbecue began on time, with everyone who'd put money in the kitty present.  Mounds of meat, the obligatory sliced white bread and industrial size bottle of tomato sauce.  The alcohol flowed.  BYO of course.  The red-eyed weather beaten guest of honour was overcome, and showed little sign of his notorious grumpiness.  The blue-iced tractor-shaped cake even brought tears to his eyes, though everyone allowed him his dignity and pretended not to notice.

Monday arrived.  Up at 6am in the cool of the day.  Dressed in appropriate gear: long sleeve shirt to keep off the sun/insects, long pants (ditto), boots suitable for climbing ladders and wading through mud/decomposed fruit.

Breakfast.  Packed a bag with food and water for the day.  Picked up our hats, gloves in case necessary (we still didn't know which crop we'd be assigned to) and walked to the shed.

There we were handed tax and 'Conditions of Employment' forms, to be filled in and returned the following day.  Then it was time to collect a picking bag: like a backpack worn backwards over the shoulders and hanging in front, with a bottom that opens to release the fruit into a roughly cubic metre bin.  And finally to the crop.  Pears and peaches were the order of the week.  We were directed to the latter, a new experience for both of us.  A lift out to the orchard block on the back of a truck, a ladder each, and off we went.  One row of trees per picker or couple picking together.

Picking was slow - the crop was late, and rather than stripping the trees willy-nilly, we were taking only those fruit of a certain size and ripeness.  It took 2-3 hours to fill a bin.  By the time we knocked off for the day we'd filled two bins and earned the grand sum of $56 between us.  Before tax.  There were few who'd done better.  There wasn't time to pick another full bin before the day's pickings were taken to the cannery in mid-afternoon.

It was not a lucrative first week.  Some people left after only a few days - some in disgust at the meagre takings, some simply because it was too hard.  Suffer no romantic illusions - fruit picking is extremely tough and tiring work.  Some did indeed end the first week in crumpled sobbing heaps, some backpacking partnerships began to show the strain, the heat was unbearable.  On the other hand, new friendships were formed, there was a certain freedom about the work, and slowly the money accumulated.

Experienced fruit pickers know that the start of the season is often slow while fruit matures.  In the next couple of weeks it would be time to strip the trees - an opportunity to earn $75-$100 a day.  Or more.

What to take:

• Clothes: employers recommend long sleeve cotton shirts and long pants, boots or shoes with good grip suitable for climbing ladders, a sunhat/cap, cotton gloves to protect hands if the crop is thorny, and sun block.
• Tax file number
• Patience and stamina
• Good sense of humour

Things to consider when choosing where to go:

• The nature of the crop - do you need to climb ladders/spend all day on your knees etc?
• Pay: generally either hourly ($10-12), or piecework (i.e. set rate per bin).  $50-$100 per day is a reasonable expectation of earnings.
• Is it stripping work (fast) or by colour/size (slower) - are you paid accordingly?
• Hours per day? Days off?
• Accommodation
• Do you have your own transport?  How far is it to shops, etc if you have to walk?
• Climate

Fruit picking.  It can be a great way to finance your travel around the country, to keep fit, and to make new friends.  Advice?  If you're planning to stay for the season relax, ease into it, and keep the big picture in mind.  Don't fall off your ladder.  Enjoy the harvest trail!