The previous night one of the staff from the hostel, Hannah asked me if I could do her a massive favour and work on a zukini farm the next day, two places opened up and I was one of the few people who accepted the offer. She said in return after however long that farm work goes, after she would put me on to better work and make sure I get my second year visa.

The next morning I got ready for 5.30 to be taken out to the farm, unfortunately mark, the other staff member had been out drinking last night and after agreeing to be a stripper for a hen party in the evening carried on drinking until the early hours, he was suppose to take me to the farm but didn't have a clue about life when I woke him up, he told me to go back to bed but an hour later he woke me and told me to head off. Turns out he made me an hour late which made the introduction to the farmers a bit awkward. There was another guy who came along who I'm sure he said his name was Alice, but he was Korean so you probably spell it a different way.

We got straight into it and basically there is a tractor with two conveyor belts at either side where you pick the zukinis out the plant and pop it into a conveyor belt which sends the zukinis to a big water tank, at the end of a run the zukinis are clean after the water and you put them in a large crate and then it's taken away, you keep repeating this process until the field is done. I wasn't warned that I should wear long trousers and shirts because your moving at a fast pace trying to keep up with the tractor so you have to get your hands right in to twist and pull but the plants have lots of prickly stems so I was constantly getting cut on my legs and arms, with the sun baring down it was hard to tell if I was getting burnt or just stinging off the zukini plants, or both and after 3 hours of picking we had finished the field.

After about two hours the Korean guy got sent back to the hostel, and another guy came along, apparently the Korean lad wasn't a hard enough worker so he got sent home, they didn't even try him out for a day which was a bit cut throat but the farmer asked me how long I was planning to stay in Griffith, I said 3 months to get my visa and he told me he wanted me to work for him over the 3 months because I'm a hard worker. And at 14 dollars an hour it was great, especially better than onion picking and I knew if I stuck with it I could save loads over 3 months and get my visa.

The farm was run by an Indian family, with a kid driving a tractor at one point and a grandad doing the picking with us, but not in a gypsy way they were hard workers and really nice, when they decided to speak English, but even when they did I struggled to understand.

The packing part was next and there is a big tub with a conveyor belt, all the crates that are full of zukinis would be dropped off and a few people would work there way through all the zukinis, chopping off the head and throwing it in the tub, the bad zukinis would be thrown in a bin and the good go into a tub and up a conveyor belt where they would be put into boxes then put into storage.

It got to 12.30 and the family decided the day was done, the weather was getting too hot to work in. Later that day I got a txt from tony saying I should ask reception about garlic cleaning because apparently that was what I was getting put onto. I asked Hannah and she told me what time I would be getting picked up and stuff and she told me the rate of pay is much better than most jobs around here so I was curious to find out the crack.

The Indian family turned up at the hostel to pay anybody that had worked on the farm that week, then an awkward conversation ensued when they told mark they wanted me to work for him for 3 months because I'm a good worker but he said he had 2 German guys instead and that I wanted to try another job, which wasn't true. I went along with it trusting him because I had been told the night before that I would be put on to a better job if it came along.

Shouldn't have trusted them.