It was the summer of 2010-2011, the sun was shining pretty much everyday here in New Zealand, leading me to finding a seasonal job at a berry farm in the Bay of Plenty. I usually reside in Auckland but spent the majority of my summer down in the BOP as I have relatives who lived in the area that I was staying with. Of course living down in the BOP, I had to make the most of the beautiful weather with the temperature exceeding 25 degrees pretty much everyday by finding a seasonal job that was outdoors. I did not like the idea of working inside as I am a true outdoorsy 18 year old, so by finding a job at a berry farm was the perfect scenario for me.

Waking up everyday around 6am to travel to the berry farm (which was about a half hour drive from my relatives house) was a tough job as I am not a morning person but as time went on it became OK as I was excited for the day ahead. Picking berries in cloudless blue sky scorching NZ weather was a treat in my eyes and being paid to do so was amazing. The owners of the farm were laid back kiwis who welcomed tourists to their berry farm to indulge in several berry treats such as mixed berry ice-cream, smoothies or just the berries by themselves. I made several friends whilst picking berries at the farm to this day I keep in touch with. Spending hours on end with the same people picking berries and making berry ice-cream etc. meant that you really got to know the people you worked with. Id advise any tourists coming to NZ looking for a job to pick one where youre likely to make life-long friends, such as working at a berry farm.

Every so often we were allowed to bring home a punnet or two of berries home with us which Id take back to my relatives house and we would make berry smoothies on hot days when I was not working. I gained so many useful skills from working at the berry farm as it did not just involve picking berries. We had to run the ice-cream machine, make smoothies and occasionally operate the quad bike. Of course being a berry farm, many Kiwis/tourists would stop past, meaning that I was able to meet many new people, hearing about where they came from, what they were doing in NZ, just plenty of really interesting stories.

For any people travelling to NZ or kiwis looking for a seasonal job I would definitely recommend that you get one as I would honestly say it has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I got paid for it! Living the Kiwi dream! I intend to return to the berry farm to work again one summer as it truly was one of the best summers Ive had here in NZ. I know that when I travel abroad I am definitely going to find a seasonal job due to the many positives that I got out of working at one here in beautiful New Zealand.