Blueberry Ticklers

We got picking jobs!! Matt and I are now working on a blueberry farm!

On Tuesday we left Byron and the Arts Factory (finally!) and took a bus down the coast to this little town called Corindi Beach. Well, technically, we took the bus past Corindi to Woolgoolga and had to take a taxi back up. The only reason I mention this is because the name is so awesome.

Here in Corindi we're staying at the Caravan Park, which is mostly pensioners (old folks) and families here for the holidays, though there are a fair amount of other travelers like ourselves. In fact, many of them also work with us at the blueberry farm, and we were lucky enough to meet two German guys who drive there! The farm is fairly big, and seems to be practically the whole reason this town even exists, though the beach is really nice, too.

After our indoor orientation yesterday morning, they sent us out into the fields to begin working. We met our supervisors, who told us the best way to pick blueberries quickly was to grab a branch and 'tickle' the ripe berries off of it. Though this sounded really funny at the time, we are quickly becoming expert berry ticklers! Hopefully we should be able to make good money doing this and have enough to buy a sweet caravan in no time at all.

We are already making decent money after a small scare, we thought the pay rate was based on trays as opposed to kilos! Our current rate is $2.40 AUD per day. We picked at a rate of $13 AUD a day so far!

We've been trying to think of something special to do or someplace to go for Christmas, but in truth, this seems like as good of a place as any. The beach is beautiful (and right next to the park), there's a pub down the road, and plenty of nice people to enjoy the holidays with.