Season of the Kiwi

If you've secured yourself a working holiday visa for New Zealand, the chances are that come April ( this is when the season starts) most of the work will be in the Bay of Plenty region.

There are two work options : Kiwi packing or Kiwi picking (or some people even managed both.)




Kiwi packing

Where to go? Katikati, Bay of Plenty

Where to apply? Humes Pack-N-Cool, EastPack & Seeka

We worked at Humes, and it definitely seemed like we got a lot less shift than the other pack-houses, so we suggest trying the others before Humes.

What roles are available? Whilst there are multiple roles available, if you're a backpacker with little experience, the roles you will applying for are ; Tray prep ( mainly girls), packing (mixture) or stacking (mainly boys)

Shifts : Day shift - 6am-5pm   Night shift - 6pm-5am            Pay : $14.25 ph

When we applied, we ticked 'day shift', but as we were a week or two late, it seemed that everyone applying had already did the same and the positions had already been filled. This meant that we had to work the dreaded night shift. There are ups and downs to this shift however, the ups being when you finish you can have a sleep, wake up and still get a few things done ( bank, shopping etc) but the downs? If you've never done a night shift before, like me, be prepared to be cranky, moany, angry and on the verge of tears by 4.55am. IT IS HARD. With just three days left before our planned departure, I quit. Whilst the work is not mentally challenging (not in the slightest), it's very physically demanding which proves extremely difficult at three in the morning.

Kiwi picking

Although we didn't actually do any picking ourselves, many of our friends did and for the most part they seemed to enjoy it.

Where to go? Katikati, Te Puke, Opotiki, Tauranga - All Bay of Plenty

Shift : 8am - 6pm

Pay : For the green kiwis you get paid on how many your team pick, and for gold kiwis you get paid hourly.

Tips :

• In the pack-house, choose to work seven days. It may sound horrible, but the chances are you'll never work seven days as most weeks we were only having 2-4 shifts.
• Get there early (end of March beginning of April)

T2S
x