Hello, Iím Vijay Khurana.
Welcome to My Australia, the show about people from overseas having Australian experiences.
Itís all about food today.
Hereís whatís coming up.
Akki earns some cash picking grapes,
Weiping goes crab catching
and Faye digs in at a community garden.
Fruit picking is a popular type of work for young people in Australia and itís a great
way to meet people from other cultures, but itís also hard work.
Letís see how Akki goes picking grapes.
My name is Akimitsu Miyazato.
People call me Akki.
Iím originally from Okinawa Japan.
Itís a little island, southern Japan.
Born and raised there.
Grew up going to the beaches and play sports and I was there til 18.
I have a lot of friends I made.
Well, my room mate is from Australia so first got to meet him and learn a lot from him.
Down the street from where I live
Ssssh!
Thatís the wallabies, theyíre basically small kangaroos.
I didnít know about it but there are so many of them.
Check it out.
I finish university.
I am hoping that I am getting a Masters degree
and Iím now here at the Mundubbera in Queensland five hours from Brisbane
and I am at caravan park, staying in a caravan park,
going to fruit picking which is grape picking now and itís very hot but making money.
So this is my room, itís a big tent and with a small bed
and I brought my guitar and Notebook computer, suitcase,
very simple life, and you know I just come back, work, at night, maybe one, two beers,
play some tunes, some songs and try to compose some different songs my own.
So this is where I always hang out with my friends.
This is the kitchen dining area.
There are so many foreign students, you know, itís a break from the school so,
from India.
There are a lot of Koreans.
Majority of students are from those countries.
They came and working.
I bought Korean curry powder so Iím just going to ask them how I make this curry because
I can't read this Korean.
If for you are three to four, five person you can put everything.
Okay, okay.
Okay.
Good luck.
Yeah, thank you.
We start working at five oíclock am, itís still dark.
Hi, itís 37.
37.
This side.
First day I only picked three boxes, which is,
I couldnít probably tell you the price of what I earned but itís pretty pretty low.
Itís very hot.
Even though we start working at five oíclock, by nine oíclock the sun is,
yeah, very, very high and still, you know, making me burn and just, yeah, boiling.
Recently I just found a little library in town.
Itís very small library but thereís air-conditioner there.
So I just go there to relax and feel the air.
Itís cooler air.
Today Iím cutting the grapes from this vine and Iím doing this row, this side and basically
this is the second pick.
So first pickers already went about a week or two ago and then you know, all the grapes
that are left behind, thatís ripe now and Iím picking.
Ah, this is a beautiful bunch.
Basically, you know, I donít have to cut that much, just the little things.
So itís around six am now, this time of the day is a very, very comfortable to work in
because sun is not too bright and vine is kind of like a shade.
Itís not too hot.
So Iím expecting today hopefully I can make fifteen boxes but usually second pick takes
a lot of time.
So if I do fifteen boxes today, Iím very happy.
Awesome!
Can I have some please?
All right, all right.
How many would you like?
How many donít you need?
Oh, I need everything but Iím giving you.
Youíre sharing?
Oh yes.
Sure, Iíll share with you.
This whole box I pick, these whole grapes I pick, is going to be in Australian familiesí
home.
So all the good work I do so people enjoy.
Now I just want to make sure everything looks good, then itís like a gift.
You go like this, make a lid.
I work usually this fast and put it on.
I usually work like this.
Then I put my bar code on.
This is me, 3241.
Thatís me.
The tractor comes so Iím just going to put it here and those guys, the cart crew, come
and pick it up.
And tah-dah.
Morning Akki.
Hey, thanks, how are you?
Good.
Yourself?
There is so many languages going around while Iím picking, sometimes I feel like Iím in
India, or Iím in Nepal, or, you know, something like that.
Itís kind of fun and I donít know what theyíre saying but it seems like theyíre having lot
of fun conversation.
Donít worry about pay too much.
My supervisor Sue just called the last box so I finish my last box for today.
Look at the sky.
Itís beautiful.
Thereís no clouds.
The temperature is 35 degrees Celsius.
Maybe Iím just gonna go home and ask my friends if they wanna get some beers with me, at the
pub or something.
That would be nice.
Alright,
Cheers.
Cheers guys.
Cheers.
Cheers mate.
Hot day.
Yeah, hard work, after hard work.
You know, Iíve met a lot of people from different countries.
This is Buzz and Ron.
Theyíre from Holland.
People are very friendly in Australia and, you know, they just welcome you and have a
chat and make some jokes and you know, laugh and itís a good lifestyle out here in Australia.
I like it.
I really like it and it was great.
Great experience and Iím really happy that I did.
Like that.
I just made it up.
Itís incredible to think that the next time I go to the shops I might end up buying grapes
picked by Akki.
So thanks Akki.
Next up today a completely different way of getting food.
Grape picking might be hard work but at least the grapes donít run away when you try to
pick them.
Weiping is about to go crab catching.