This week we are doing our work exchange on a macadamia orchard. The couple that are hosting us have their home, orchards, and a small shop/factory on a piece of land near the Bay of Plenty.
We are working 4 hours a day in return for a room and food. Our work is harvesting and processing the macadamias. It's pretty interesting to see the differences and similarities between macadamias and pecans. The nuts have to be picked from the tree, and since this is a 'small' orchard, everything is done by hand, except for husking which is done by a small machine. Our day begins with breakfast at 7am, then we head down to the factory to husk the nuts from the day before. After that we head over to the trees that need harvesting and pick until lunchtime (around 1pm). We are only here a week, and can get about 4-5 trees done in our working hours. They will still have a lot of trees to harvest before the spring/summer tourist season starts. They are currently closed for the winter but sell the nuts here on the property in the summer as well as macadamia spread, brittle, covered in chocolate, etc. as well as local honey and fruit from the orchards. Paul also makes nutcrackers that can come attached to handy trays, made from NZ Rimu wood.
Here's their website.
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| Chris loading the de-husker |
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| Wes sorting out the husked nuts |
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| Weighing before they go into the drying bins |
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| prickly leaves |
That looks so cool guys!!!
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