If you’re reading this and you’ve heard of Moriarty, it’s probably because you’ve been there. If you haven’t been there, I can’t think of any reason why you’d have heard of Moriarty. It sounds like an artistic graveyard. It was for the remains of thousands of broccoli plants that…
Read MoreBackpacking your way to Antarctica?? Are you serious? Yes! Antarctica is without doubt the most amazing place I have travelled to, to date. It really is like another world and anyone who has been there will agree with me. It’s a white continent of superlatives, it’s magical! But can you do it on a backpacker…
Read MoreWith travelling comes strange and amusing stories. This one, though slightly disgusting just highlights the amusement you can look back on, and in this case laugh at myself a couple of years down the line. Did I really shit myself in a broccoli field? Yes! I ended up doing extensive broccoli farming for about 3…
Read MoreIt was a pleasure to have worked on the world’s first broccoli harvester – we were the first ever team to use it. There are two broccoli harvesters in existence, the brainchild of Joe Cook, our employer. The broccoli harvester was made by Tasmanian company Dobmac. They operate in Tasmania and New Zealand. Dobmac Website…
Read MoreTo be honest I only remember hearing the name “Walabadah” and thought it was some kind of joke. I don’t reckon I’ve even spelt it right there you know. But the fact is there is a farm close to Cressy called Walabadah and I worked there cutting broccoli. It happened to be the last field…
Read MoreNext up was Formosa Farm in Cressy. Located just off the main road from Cressy to Poatina, this farm meant a drive along a very narrow mud path and then down a steep hill, which in wet conditions was pretty dangerous! Ironic name too, I thought. The irony only to be lost on those not…
Read MoreA rough map as to where Lakehouse Farm is…it is actually quite a historic place to have worked in Tasmanian history, although when you’re spending your days slogging away cutting broccoli, the glamour of such as location eludes you. Lakehouse farm was a wee bit of a drive – it was in the middle of…
Read MoreOnce I moved to Poatina, Woodside was the first broccoli farm I worked on in this area. That’s the entrance to Woodside farm, with my colleague Jenny sitting on the back of my car having her lunch. The entrance to Woodside farm. The lonely road that Woodside Farm is on – a tranquil road which…
Read MoreAsk me 12 years ago if I thought I’d be working as a broccoli harvester when I’m 30, and I would simply have laughed at you! But there I was, aged 30, working on farms in Northern Tasmania as a broccoli harvester. Loving it. I got into it totally by chance, but through my insistence…
Read MoreDepending on your knowledge in life, Sassafras is either a type of tree, a type of tea, a type of soap or a village in Northern Tasmania. So where does that leave East Sassafras? And why? About 20 kilometres outside Devonport is where it leaves it. Broccoli farming being the reason why. So East Sassafras…
Read More