Seasonal Employment
Our season starts approximately in December and continues till April. Weather dependent.
Before you apply for this position, please read first.
Hi, We are Mamaku Blue Blueberry Experience. What this means you can find out in this information sheet.
The Job:
As a blueberry orchard worker, some of the duties you will have are:
The main job is picking. We pick our blueberries by hand to have high quality fruit. Picking by hand it is not physically difficult but you have to be able to learn some important skills and your eyesight needs to be good (you cannot pick if you are colour blind), you have to be able to recognize the red berry from the blue berry. We grow high bush blueberries, but we have some little trees too, make sure you are ok with working on your knees or bending down.
We pick depending on weather conditions (we could pick every day or just once or twice a week as we cannot pick when the berries are wet).
You will be required to pick fast and good quality.
Another very important job is grading. Every week we grade blueberries before they go to the customers. Again, your eyesight needs to be very good to see damaged blueberries to grade successfully and fast.
Other than these jobs you might be asked to work on the picking machine or do general orchard maintenance work ie weeding.
Conditions and Accommodation:
You need to realize that our orchard is based in a higher altitude and cooler climate and it might get cold and wet, even in the summer months. If possible bring with you warm clothes and a good warm sleeping bag. We can provide heaters and spare blankets if necessary.
We have built cabins for our seasonal workers, and each has enough space for a maximum of 3 people. All other facilities are basic but fully equipped, i.e., the kitchen, toilet, and shower, are on-site but separate from the cabins.
We do charge for rent. The price is contractual.
We are based in the countryside, the closest village with a small shop is about 2 km away. Rotorua city is about 20 minutes drive. If arriving by car please shop for enough food for about 2 weeks before you come, we have both, a fridge and freezer, available for your use.
Why:
It is always good to talk to us about your needs to avoid misunderstanding situations. Communication is a very important part of staying informed, happy, and friendly but also avoiding accidents. Please, listen and read all the instructions and make sure you fully understand them. If you do not understand it is always better to ask your supervisor to explain it to you. Everything we do on our orchard/farm has a reason so do not be ashamed to ask WHY.
If you feel this seasonal job and experience is what you have been looking for feel free to fill out our application form and we will get in touch with you if we have a position available. For our updates, you can like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.