Work NZ

NZ Working & Holiday

And another one. I know some people might think that now and I know a lot of people had kind of the same idea as me. The only thing is: When I came to New Zealand I still had trouble finding my path through this big pile of information you can get within the internet. I had to get myself through so many webpages before I even got a clue, where to start. I had just known that there is a huge opportunity to work in the world of fruit. But where start if you are coming to a totally foreign country without any contacts or friends who could help.
One year later I have had a lot of experiences within the horticulture in this country and I would like to help other backpackers find a way through this. At least I want to try to make it a little bit easier and provide some help. There are a some webpages that are really good and can help you a lot. They give you good advice for your travelling in New Zealand and tell you about good spots, accomodation, activites and so on. But if you are looking for work, it seems it is a little bit hard to find information about the horticulture in New Zealand. There are a lot opportunities to find work in New Zealand, but for backpackers is the world of fruit still the best here. So if you want to work with fruits and try to find work around orchards and vineyards, it would be a lot easier if you know when the seasons are for which kind of work and where the regions are for a special kind of fruit. I would like to try to give you an idea about this, because I never had that and as one of my best friends said: 'I wish I had that.' For some people it's maybe just one another blog out of many and for some others it's hopefully more.

(1) General good advice for backpacking and travelling in NZ

First I would like to show you where you can find some really good information about the WorkingHoliday and Backpacker life in general. 

--> www.backpackerguide.nz: here you can probably find articles to almost any topic you need!

--> www.picknz.co: here you can find some good basic information about the different horticulture regions in New Zealand plus a special phone number from someone who might can help you finding a job around the area you where looking at.

--> www.backpackerboard.co.nz: here you can find good advice in general, but unfortunately no information about working in horticulture or working in New Zealand at all ; but still it is one of most famous webpages to look for jobs.

(2) Contract vs. hourly paid work

This chapter gave me the original idea for this. I checked out the web and it was so difficult to find something to it that was actually helpful if you are a 'newie'. So I really wanted to do something about it. A lot of people asked me about it and I was sometimes surprised how less some people actually understood. Now to the different types of payment you will find: hourly paid and the contract work. I think the hourly one should be quite clear. One thing is: Also on a working holiday visa you have the right of receiving the minimum wage, which is NZ $15,75 at the moment (they want to get it up to over NZ $16 in around march 2018)!!! I met so many people not knowing that.

Now to the contract work: this payment is based on a work with a special rate per bin, kilo, plant,...For example in the cherries you are mostly picking with five kilo buckets, for what you are getting around NZ $5,0o (the lowest) and over. The minimum wage per hour is NZ $15,75, so for the $5,00 you would have to pick a little bit more than three buckets per hour to reach that ($15,75/$5,0). For a rate about $7 you would just have to pick a little bit more than two buckets ($15,75/$7). The employers are really looking after that you are able to reach the minimum wage, because otherwise they have to top you up. That means, if you for example pick only two buckets per hour for the prize of $5 you would 'only' earn $10, but therefore that you have the right of minimum wage, your employer has to pay you an extra $5,75 to reach that. 

Another example: on the vineyards in the pruning season you are getting paid per plant. Lets take the case that you are doing the stripping and you are getting $0,30 per plant, you would have to do around 53 plants per hour to reach the minimum wage. 

In the beginning you are normally getting one up to three days getting used to the kind of work and if you can't really improve you are probably not working there for so long anymore, except you have a really nice boss you is giving you some more time to get better ;)

If you are working for someone and you are not getting the minimum wage or the holiday pay you should first try to talk to your employer, maybe there was just a mistake. But if you really have the feeling that you are getting ripped off, you should probably trying to talk to the Labour Department, which is normally trying to help you, also that you 'just' have the working holiday visa.  

(3) The different fruits and seasons - where and when

Next I would like to give you a short overview for the different kind of fruit here in New Zealand. I'm not going to list any kind of fruit they have, I'm more going to show you the most common ones and try to show you that there is not only the picking you can find as work. 

Kiwis:

Here you gonna find three different seasons over the year 

          1. thinning: starts beginning/mid of november and goes til february

         2. picking: starts around mid march and goes til end of may or into june 

         3. pruning: starts after the picking, so mostly in june til around mid September

Most jobs are gonna be available during the picking season, but there are also quite a lot jobs during the thinning. Most kiwi orchards can be found around the 'kiwi capital" Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty region, but there also a lot in the region of Tasman. Be careful about kiwis if you are small! The thinning and pruning work is mostly paid per hour and still you shouldn't be too slow. If you are small you might be slower than other or you aren't able to reach everything, what you should. But there are still some contractors who give you a chance to show that you can do it. Pruning and thinning are hourly paid, but the picking is gonna be paid per contract. 

Cherries:

Here the most important time is actually the few weeks of picking which are from mid of december to february. Most cherries are found in Central Otago around Cromwell and Alexandra. Like most of the time the picking here is also paid per contract. 

Apples:

Here you can find two really huge areas where these are growing; one is Hawkes Bay on the North Island, the other one in the Tasman region around Nelson and Motueka. The apples have like the kiwis three seasons:

         1. thinning: starts around mid november to end of decembero

         2. picking: starts around february to april or may

         3. pruning: starts after the picking so around april/may

On the North island the fruit picking seasons start normally a little bit earlier than on the South. There are not many jobs in the pruning, but therefore a lot of in the picking season. The work is mostly paid per contract during the picking season, sometimes also in the thinning. Pruning is mostly paid per hour in this case.

Blueberries:

You can find them on the North Island around Hawkes Bay or Bay of Plenty, maybe some in Coromandel. Jobs are mostly available in the picking, some oruhards might have work in the weeding available as well. The picking is paid per contract, mostly per kilo. 

Avocados and Citrus fruits:

These are two of the less common ones, but still wide spread so that it is normally easy finding a job in the picking here. They are both more on the North Island, especially Northland and Bay of Plenty. Paid per contract. 

Last but not least: Vineyards:

Here you can find a wide range of work from the pruning to some more random jobs during spring and the grape picking. Most vineyards are found in Marlborough around Blenheim and Nelson on the South Island and around the region of Hawkes Bay on the North Island. Some are also in Central Otago on the South Island. 

The most common jobs you are going to find are in the picking and the pruning season. The first season is starting around march and goes til april or may. It is mostly paid per contract. Soon after this the pruning season is starting and goes for around three up to four months. Here you should know that there are three/four different kind of jobs to do: the pruning itself, the stripping, the trimming and wrapping (trimwrapping). The first two jobs are quite hard and mostly for guys; the last one is more a thing of the mind, if you can be fast or not. All these jobs are paid per contract, so that you have to be fast and its quite hard, because these work is in the months of winter available. In the pruning the  older and bigger branches of the vine trees are going to be cut, so that the strippers can follow and get that stuff, so that only a few cains are left. The trimwrappers are going to work with these ones: the cains are going to be trimmed (not everywhere in the same way) and wrapped around the wires, so that here the new grapes for the next season can grow. 

In the vineyards as in kiwi orchards you are mostly (except a few private ones) working with contractors, so that you don't have to go from orchard to orchard as more from contractor to contractor to find work. In the kiwi orchards its easier to find a job, therefore that the contractor for the vineyards are more looking for people with experience. But that doesn't mean that there are still a few who also employ a lot of backpackers! 

(4) Webpages to find jobs and addresses

--> www.picktheworld.org/location/new-zealand: I found this webpage when I was looking for the cherries and its full of contractors and orchards, which some comments of other backpackers and mailadresses and phonenumbers. There is not everything in it, but it is a lot and a good start to look. 

--> www.seasonaljobs.co.nz

--> www.backpackerboard.co.nz

--> www.seek.co.nz

--> www.pickingjobs.com

--> www.seasonalwork.co.nz

I really hope that this page can help to make it easier to start here in NewZealand into the big world of horticulture. It is hard work, especially in the contract payment one, but it is also an amazing and special kind of work, that brings backpacker from all over the world working together =) 
You have any questions? Just leave a comment and I will answer asap xD