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Emma's Travels
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Location Date Europe 1300752000 Africa 1300406400 Asia 1296864000 Oceania 
1294272000 North America 1282863600 -
Location Date New South Wales 1294272000 Victoria 1294012800 Queensland
1293235200 New Zealand 1292544000 -
Location Date Townsville 1293235200 Bowen
1289347200 Airlie Beach 1286406000 Kroombit 1286060400 Agnes Water 1285887600 Rainbow Beach/fraser Island 1285714800 Noosa 1285369200 Brisbane 1285110000 Surfers Paradise 1284850800 -
Location Date Wed, 10 November 2010 1289358111 Mon, 01 November 2010 1288600781 Mon, 25 October 2010 1287996621 Sun, 17 October 2010
1287315540 Fri, 08 October 2010 1286528795
Not much to report this week, I ended up starting before Friday so didn't have much time to explore Bowen. Instead I have worked 7 night shifts. They broke me in gently with a nice 13hr shift squeezing tomatoes! There are 3 sections; rubbish, grading and packing. I was on rubbish so had to throw out ripe or diseased tomatoes, very tedious! We get a 10min break every 3hrs and 30mins after 6hrs, so its a lot of standing up, but hopefully after a few more shifts the feet and neck will get used to it!
It is hard work as they expect you to be just as efficient after doing 11hrs of the same thing as you were at the beginning! I have tonight off and start again tomorrow, but I will no doubt be moaning about not getting enough hours soon as it can be very variable, especially as I am working until the end of the season when things will begin to slow down. On the plus side I get my first pay cheque on tues and then it should all be worth it as I am being paid about £10/hr and have just worked an 83hr week! Unfortunately that also means I have no time to do anything but sleep, wash and eat (but at least I'm not spending the money!) and my time off is spent buying food to eat and washing my tomatoey clothes! So nothing exciting to blog about. Hayley didn't want to stay and work here so she is moving on to Cairns, but there are lots of lovely people here, though I don't get much chance to socialise anyway. I have also moved into my new hostel which is fine. It's nice to be in a room with the people I'm working with and I have also been able to properly unpack so I'm not living out a bag for a while.- comments
Frank and Val Hi, you seem to be enjoying your day off, do you get free tomatoes?. Good practice for your "Ology" to be fresh at the end of ur shift as you are at the start. Also the cash register noise seems to be on the up. Keep squeezing..luv xx
Emma Nope, no free tomatoes. Looking forward to oat day. Just been told it's a 13hr shift tonight!!
Catherine ah, Brings it all back to me, but we only did day shift, spent all day looking at bunches of grapes & snipping off dodgy ones, on a good day we got to put the bunches in plastic bags, enough to drive a normal person mad after a while, but we survived and the money you are making will soon add up to several weeks of travel. Are you working and staying right in Bowen or out of town a bit? The weather here has been cooler for the last few days, but I bet the Insects are thick in the lights working at night? Have fun!! Graeme & I work in a Tomatoe packing shed in Bowen for a short time, that sort of how we ended up in Townsville.
Nan & Gdad We sent you a comment yesterday, thanking you for the postcard which we have just received, but it doesn't seem to have got to you so we'll try again... Went to see your Mum and Dad, K and D and all the animals last week. The new horse is very nice and we hope turns out to be what is wanted. Hugo (and Beth and Ice) is gorgeous and the kittens are growing up into very nice cats. (The humans were OK too!) All is well here - we have just been to a wedding reception and are about to go and stay with Brian and Jacqui before going away in the caravan at the end of the month. The weather is bright and sunny but is getting colder. Pleased to hear your new hostel is good and that the people you are working with are nice. Love Nan and Gdadxxx
Emma Glad you got my postcard and had a good time down the farm. I hope you also have a nice time with Brian and Jacqui and in the caravan! The bugs arent actually as bad as I thought they would be and I dont really mind doing night shifts now I am in the routine. However, they arent very good at sticking to routine!! We started to go in earlier the last few days which meant we were in bed by about 3am which was nice, but... it also meant we were woken up to be told we were leaving in 1/2hr, and so have no time to even cook any food or anything!! Then it rained and we got a day off which made me very happy. We all went to the pub and stayed up watching films to stay in our night time routine, to be woken up this morning at 10 (after going to bed at 6) and told we had to go to work asap!!! They then only had 4hrs work for us, so there was no reason why we had to go in during the day, and instead of taking the opportunity to swap us to day shifts, we are going back to nights tomorrow. As a result I am seriously lacking sleep, but know if I go to bed early tonight, I will wake up early and struggle tomorrow night!! They arent very considerate like that, especially as they expect us to be fast and effective, no matter what time they called us in!!! However, on the plus side, you are right about the money. I am now thinking I might have the time and money to go to New Zealand for about 3wks before I come and visit you. If I work here for another 3 or 4 weeks, I can hopefully afford to do a quick tour of NZ and be with you a couple of weeks before christmas. So that is my new plan :)