We spent about two weeks at Walpeaup. It felt like about two months. I had a couple of 12 hour shifts, and about 8 trucks came through the weigh bridge on each. The first day was just bearable. The second was slightly less interesting than watching grass grow. I don’t mind cleaning kitchens and toilets, and pulling weeds and sweeping up spilt grain. But it does have to be in the right percentage to the real work.

We had decided to quit, but our bosses Karen and Troy said we were needed back at Pinnaroo. So, back we’ve come.

Paul has worked everyday since coming back, I’ve worked everyday except two. The season was just starting to get going, and then we had a thunder storm. The crops got wet, and the farmers had to wait for the sun and wind to dry them out again before the harvest could re-commence. So, we’ve had another couple of days that made watching paint dry seem thrilling in comparison. These were only seven hour days though, so not quite as mind numbing as the 12 hour days at Walpe.

Today, the trucks were coming in again, so the day passed reasonably well.

I don’t think the seasons going to be very long. We’re expecting to leave for Adelaide no later than 20 December, but if the season starts to die down sooner, we’ll leave sooner.

Whether or not we’ll return to this work again next year is still to be decided. Currently the feeling is a definite ‘no’, but that’s because the long, tedious days are still too close in our memory. A week or so with so many trucks coming and going that we hardly have time to scratch ourselves, and perhaps we’ll be more open to the idea of returning. The pay is okay, and it definitely is for a short, finite period of time.