Door 12 - Hard work in the strawberry field

On the 2nd day of our arrival at the strawberry field, the real dirty work began. We arrived at the field at 6:30 in the morning and first had to choose a few trolleys. Large three-wheeled carts on which you could sit, load them with boxes and push them through the fields. We were assigned a row and shown exactly what to pick (ripeness level 100-90% - maximum one green seed row on the stem) and off we went. We were ridiculously slow and managed about 15 boxes that day. At a price of $2.70 per box (approximately €1.50), that's about $40; not much for a good 6 hours of work. However, we were encouraged. Other people were initially much worse and were already doing a lot now. We didn't really want to believe it, but in fact we did improve quite a bit over the next days and weeks. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to pay the bills and save money on the side, even though we were living at the campsite and rarely went out to eat. Fortunately, the campsite was beautiful. Located in the middle of the forest by a creek and huge, it was run by an older couple. They were very open to clothing and the place was one of the few nudist-friendly places in all of Queensland. And as soon as it got warmer, you saw more and more people as God created them. We had set up our tent close to the creek (our real one, not the rooftop tent. After all, we needed our car daily), decorated it with fairy lights, and built a campfire area. That's how we lived. In the morning, we would get up around 5:45, make coffee, and drive the fifteen minutes to the strawberry fields. Unfortunately, the work didn't get better over time, but worse. We managed to do more boxes per day, but the price fell and we had to work longer and longer. One day, when we had a day off, we set off to see a waterfall. On the way, we were thinking about where we could have a nice lunch, and we chose a Bavarian restaurant in Maleny. When we arrived, we immediately felt comfortable. We were warmly welcomed, everything looked typically Bavarian, there was German beer, and it smelled everywhere. The boss seemed nice and cheerful, and after a short conversation, she offered us a job. Tired of working in the strawberry field and the poor pay, we agreed. Clara's start date was supposed to be the 15th of August, and they didn't need me until 2 weeks later. Everything was arranged so that we would be paid by a friendly farmer for the days on the farm, and she would sort it out with him. So Clara was 'enjoying' her last week on the strawberry field, while I found myself confronted with 3 more. In between, we had a trial day, which didn't last too long, and we got a delicious dinner as a thank you. Thursday the 14th of August was Clara's last day. Luckily, it was only a few hours on the farm, and then I brought her to the restaurant, 40km north of the campsite. We went for drinks with the people from the restaurant, and then I drove back home. The next nights were very cold alone in the tent, but luckily the other people at work were really cool. The price fell even further, the days got even longer, and I longed for the end. Luckily, Clara came to visit twice for her 2 days off, and finally, the last day had come. Friday was my last day. The feeling was indescribable. Finally, I had the hard work behind me. I packed up all our stuff from the campsite and put it back in the car, and set off towards Maleny around 9 o'clock in the evening. When I arrived, Clara had just finished work. I met Klaus, Barbara's husband, and got a brief introduction to what I had to do the next day. After that, we went to our new home, Barbara's daughter's house, which was designed like a shared apartment.