Suitcase made, first job in my pocket, I take off in Tasmania with my friend Nacho to discover wild Australia!

The arrival in Hobart is breathtaking! From the plane that lands, I observe these large green expanses where forests, hills and seaside mix. Long paradisiacal beaches of white sand, as far as the eye can see. The sea water is so clear. Outside, I feel the first smells of such clean air. The sun warms me, the airport is almost deserted. Welcome to Tasmania!

I meet my friend Nacho in the city center. We have lunch and now he realises that he has forgotten his wallet in Kmart (Australian decathlon)! He set off for a race against time and after 35 minutes of bus ride, by an incredible chance, he found him again.

Our goal is to get to the farm so we can start working quickly. It’s the end of the day and we have a 40-minute journey by car, but... without a car!!
We decided to spend the night at the inn (really cheap: $13), a guy hands us a beer and invites us on his birthday.
In this inn, the living room is huge with 2 large sofas, pool table, armchairs, guitars... the evening starts and the whole inn is invited! Shared meals, games, alcohol until the end of the night!

The next day, I meet my first big spider!!

As we leave to take the bus that brings us closer to the farm, Nacho finds a great car on Marketplace (Facebook), and an hour later the seller arrives. Testing the car, signing the sales papers at the guy and here we are in a beautiful Subaru, new engine for less than $2,000. Head to the farm!

Tasmania will remain engraved forever in my memories. Celebrating Christmas and New Year’s Day were
such wonderful moments, I don’t usually like this time of year. ~

Gathered in a farmhouse perched on the top of a hill, I wake up with many backpackers, around a large shared meal where everyone has cooked a traditional dish of their culture.
A beautiful night around a great bonfire surrounded by musical instruments, smiles and many other things. Sunrise and my walk with Nacho along the river, in silence, singing birds... On New Year’s Day, it’s a party on the farm and then I join my first ‘Bush Doof’ (like a rave, a festival in the forest) in the middle of the eucalyptus forest, the rising sun between the trees. Hmmm

Understanding the world of Australian bush doof: https://www.vice.com/fr/article/rznbex/evolution-du-bush-doof-australien

Friday 13 January 2023.

This is the big day! I'm not going to work, I'm leaving Hansen! The work is underpaid in relation to the physical effort required: 12 kg of cherries to wear all day for 12 Australian dollars (AUD).

In Australia, since summer 2022 a minimum income for all seasonal farm workers has been introduced and increased each year ($26.76 in 2022 and then $28.76 in July 2023).
It is therefore a superb security because in the past the pay was proportional to the number of buckets filled (piece rate).

For this minimum income (minimum rate), farms therefore impose a minimum quantity to be made per day. In Hansen, the minimum bucket is 18 a day, but for me and many others, it is impossible to do.
To this must be added the ‘copicage’:
Control trees, you return to your tree if you have forgotten some fruits in an inaccessible place;
Control of the bucket, which must be full so very heavy, great!;
Quality control of cherries, prohibition to bring back cherries without tails or doubled.
Come on, ciao! The camp was great and I still leave friends, Yoann, Étienne, Tom, Berlioz, Sarah, Aude and Flo, and Nacho my Spanish friend, who stay at the camp.

Departure on Cygnet!

The village is amazing and the music is everywhere. Here I am in the hippie atmosphere, scene in the park with ‘food truck’ and associative stands, NGOs and traditional productions.
People wander the streets, Pubs are filled with artists. The surroundings are beautiful.
Everything is gathered to blow and enjoy. We are staying at the caravan park, a place that welcomes campers in tents, trucks and vans. The place has a shared summer kitchen and sanitary facilities.
We are located in the heart of the village, along a small river and a large football field for morning sports. I pitch my tent, I breathe the Tasmanian air so pure.

~ From January to March, it is the cherry season in Tasmania. The island is full of hundreds of
Farms where backpackers from all over the world come. ~

Monday 16 January 2023.

The following Monday, I re-attacked picking at Reid Fruits. This is the beginning of a very different new farm: 8kg buckets, unlike 12kg, well-cut trees, easy to access and management so much more flexible! I take a real pleasure on the first day and I exceed 30 buckets, which allows me to
win $315 in one day! Well, we're not going to lie to each other, but on the second day, I'm already tired of it.
In the morning we get up at 5:45 a.m. to leave at 6 a.m. It is 7 degrees and the sun only warms us from 9 a.m.
It is not a complicated job but very mental and so repetitive. You harvest all day the cherries one by one that you put in your bucket, that you empty when it is full, and you start again.
Might as well tell you that if you start thinking about the meaning of what you're doing, the why of how... Many pickers are isolated by listening to their music. I chose to stay connected to the tree and my environment without a headphone, but what is hard!

The importance of group energy.

You pick alone, but you're connected to others. The speed of picking depends on the speed of the group. And the mind of the group has a lot to do with the individuality of the picker.
In a slow team, which grumbles and transmits a negative energy (often beginners), it will be more difficult to ignore his entourage and to succeed in finding his rhythm of work.
In a team that is more or less fast, but cheerful and gives willpower in picking, it will be easier to be driven by collective strength and improve your picking speed by ignoring your inner thoughts.
In Hansen, in the team of the new (1st season), and in addition surrounded by French, it was very hard, if not impossible, for me to keep my cold blood and my motivation throughout the season. It was also one of the reasons why I left.
Because yes, the importance of the entourage is constantly present. The energy transmitted by the group is more powerful, and sometimes even perverts people within it, unlike a duo of two people.
I am very sensitive to this.
In addition, the notion of time (or the question of working time, in my case) occupies a central place. When you pick, the challenge is to be the quickest to make the most money. I then realise that I do not feel comfortable with the idea of having to ‘brutise’ my entire body for almost 9 hours of work on average every day. Worse, I even think the idea terrifies me.

In recent years, I need to be calm and slow. It is a notion that I work on, little by little, and that I feel stronger and stronger inside my being, like a call to slowness, at every moment of my life. A call for slowness to counter our societies in which everything is fast: information, exchanges, production, work...

Is it not time to return to a time closer to human needs? A time more similar to that of the natural rhythm, the seasons, in order also to be more respectful of life and its cycles.

See you soon.