Banana Farming: Week One

Spring Creek Produce

It’s official, we’ve survived our first week as banana farmers! My knees ache, my fingernails are filthy, and my favourite hoody has now become my ‘work hoody’, but apart from that, it’s been a pretty easy-going week. There are ten of us backpackers here in total living in our own block on the farm, who have made getting settled into this totally new environment really easy. As expected, the work is physical, repetitive and pretty dull - but when you’re all doing it together and suffering the same aches and pains, it doesn’t seem half as bad! The days alone drag, especially when you’re doing the 8-5 shift in the farm shop - yet at the same time this first week has absolutely flown by - one down, thirteen to go! 

Spare time wise there isn’t a whole lot to do here, which at first was a pretty daunting realisation. However, we do have our own car to use whenever we like, and have spent our last few days off down at the local creeks and lakes - cliff-jumping, kangaroo spotting, firewood collecting etc… It’s a pretty simple existence, almost taking us back in time by making us actually go outside to find things to entertain ourselves with. We shop together, we eat together, and at weekends the beer-pong comes out and we all sit around the campfire listening to music and toasting to another week gone. 

For a more visual explanation of what we do, click here! 

The End of the East Coast

After two long months on the road, with nothing but a suitcase, backpack and a gradually decreasing bank account, our backpacking journey of the East Coast in Australia has come to an end. There’ll be no more weary morning checkouts, or sixteen-bed room shares - no more noodle dinners, chocolate biscuit breakfasts or McDonald lunches. No longer will we have to sleep curled up in the seat of a Greyhound bus for thirteen hours, or drag all of our worldly belongings behind us as we race to the bus station. But don’t let that put you off, because it’s safe to say that these have been the greatest two months of my life (cliché, sorry!) 

After quitting my job, saying goodbye to family and friends and moving myself over to the other side of the planet, I was soon doing things I could have only imagined. I’ve jet boated around Sydney Harbour and seen where Russell Crow lives. I’ve had surfing lessons from the best instructors in Australia, Mojo Surf, and I’ve hiked through the Blue Mountains with a friend of Steve Irwin. I’ve had a top-notch dinner at the top of Westfield Tower and been able to watch so many incredible sunsets in so many different, beautiful places. I’ve visited Steve Irwin’s zoo in Brisbane, canoed around the everglades in Noosa, and gone camping on the amazing Fraser Island. I’ve sailed around the Whitsunday Islands, slept under the Milkyway on a racing boat, visited the third most beautiful beach in the world and gone snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef itself. Last week I even jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft and did my first bungee jump. So yes, it’s been a pretty great couple of months!

Adrenaline Week

This week, or should I say, these last four days, have definitely been one for the bucket list. After finally making our way up to the top of the East Coast in Cairns, it was at last time to put our Raging Thunder vouchers to use. These included a 14,000 feet skydive at Mission Beach, a day of ‘extreme’ white water rafting down Tully River, and a 50 metre bungee jump at AJ Hackett. Rather than spreading these out, we decided it would be much more fun to cram them all in as close together as we could, leaving no real time to recover from the last activity and prepare for the next! 

All three came to just over $600 in total, and this is how they were…