Apples, kiwis, and new friends

For the next 5 weeks, everything should revolve around apples for us. We started our promising career as apple thinners on the orchard of a well-known apple producer. Without much knowledge of what we would actually be doing or how much we would actually earn, we set off to the plantation on a Wednesday. Fortunately, it was only a 10-minute drive from our campsite in Clive, where we had rented a spot at a bargain price of $60 per person per week until Christmas (still the best campsite in all of New Zealand ;)). When we arrived, we were divided into "gangs" and assigned a supervisor. Our small group consisted of several Maori and other German, English, and Korean backpackers, as well as our supervisor Sandy, a stereotypical Indian with the funniest accent, blasting Panjabi MC music from his car. After being "trained" by him (the top goal was "big doubles," meaning a couple of apples on the outside of the branch), we started plucking all the small apples from the tree, and there were a lot of apples hanging on one tree... With the size of our trees, we had to pluck about 500-600 apples. Initially overwhelmed by which apples needed to be removed, we managed to pluck a whopping 5 trees together on the first day. While we were initially handled with kid gloves for the first 1-2 days, it became clear by the third day that if you weren't getting faster, you had to leave. Accordingly, the slower workers were put under pressure multiple times to be fired if they didn't speed up. So, the working atmosphere was not very pleasant, especially in the first 2 weeks. On top of that, the work itself was already very irritating and exhausting, with 6-day weeks and all imaginable weather conditions. Our knees and shins were bruised and swollen from leaning against the ladders, and our hands and fingers ached and developed calluses from picking apples. And yes, that's what you could now call it because, in order to even come close to the average requirement of 25 trees per day, we quickly developed a rough technique. This meant that up in the top, where no supervisor looked too closely (because no supervisor climbs a ladder), we just grabbed handfuls of branches and ripped off whatever came between our fingers. So, in the third week, we finally managed to reach our required number of trees without being fired beforehand. As we gradually found our rhythm at work and got used to getting up early at half past 5, we approached the task with more and more fun. Our little thinner team grew closer and closer, and our supervisor became more bearable due to his slightly foolish but also lovable manner. Fortunately, we were also incredibly lucky with our campsite as well as with its long-term residents and the other working backpackers. So, we spent the evenings playing UNO and Yahtzee or crowded together in a tiny kitchen with only one properly functioning stove, where everyone tried to cook somehow. Since it was already December, but due to the mostly sunny and very warm weather, there was no Christmas atmosphere, we often spent our free Sundays at the beach, but also at the New Zealand Aquarium, where we could see penguins up close for the first time. Nevertheless, we were still looking forward to Christmas because we wanted to celebrate it all together at our campsite with a barbecue and beer, and the day before was also supposed to be the last day of work. However, our work already came to a sudden end a week earlier when our supervisor informed us that there would be no more work for our team as it would be finished by Samoan helpers. So, being unemployed, we considered what we should do the following week until Christmas because we wanted to stay in Clive until then. Luckily, we hadn't had a chance to explore the highlights of Hawke's Bay yet, so we tackled that now. We walked to Cape Kidnappers at low tide to see the huge (and stinking to high heaven!) gannet colony, hiked up Te Mata Peak and enjoyed the view over the region, or simply basked at the beach. We were also eagerly awaiting a package of goodies from Mom because Christmas Eve was just around the corner. When Christmas finally arrived, we put on our Santa hats at 25 degrees, wrapped our secret Santa gifts, and fired up the grill. Since everyone had contributed something, we ended up with way too much food and drink again, but that's how it is at Christmas, even at the other end of the world. A few days later, it was time to say goodbye, and so we sadly left beautiful Hawke's Bay after nearly 2 months, but we were also looking forward to the next adventures and didn't mourn the work.