Hawke's Bay apple pickers: 'It's just a walk in the park for me'

Olivia Winstone. Photo / RNZ

Huge shortages of pickers coupled with significant staff turnovers, it's been a nightmare of a season for orchard growers across the country, but a few brave souls have come to the rescue. RNZ's Hawke's Bay reporter Tom Kitchin takes a look at the personalities up and around the apple picking ladders.

"It's just a walk in the park."

That might not be what you expect to hear when someone describes apple picking.

But for Dean Gilchrist, it was easier than getting the dole.

"I'm loving it eh, I think what makes this job is the people we work with," he says, after only a week as a picker in Hastings.

"I saw this advertised on the roadside so I went to the reception at the office the next day."

He describes the job as a "piece of cake".

Miles Hales. Photo / RNZ

"Being an ex-firefighter I do a lot of climbing up and down ladders, but it's just a walk in the park for me, eh.

"Just getting up that little bit earlier is the biggest challenge [and] the heat in the afternoons, it gets pretty warm, but you just push through that and carry on."

Apple pickers usually start about 7.30am, finish at 5pm and are encouraged to work six days a week.

Olivia Winstone had a wish to "get out of the air conditioned buildings."

Dean Gilchrist. Photo / RNZ

She left her comfortable retail job in Auckland after three years, dreaming of something different

She started at the orchard two months ago and hasn't looked back.

"It's nice to be outside... I think my first week was quite challenging, but then you get used to it, you get used to being in the sun and sweating and picking apples - you just get on with it."

She described Hawke's Bay as having a "different dynamic".

"Definitely less traffic, definitely less people, it's a different culture down here, you know... you just don't see a lot of travellers up in Auckland."

Karlin Widdell. Photo / RNZ

At the other end of the scale, Gregor Booth's been in the job for give or take 20 years.

For him, the labour shortage has changed his job for the better.

"I find we're getting more money in our pocket which is good. The amount of money has gone up trying to attract people I suppose. It's sort of been underpaid for a time."

However, he said there's one challenge with the picking.

"It's not really regarded as a cool job, so people sort of look down on you I suppose."

Gregor Booth. Photo / RNZ

Karlin Widdell is from Canada and has lived in New Zealand for nearly two years.

"The first week was really hard, it was really hot my first week as well, like 30 degrees or something, so I was super kicked out from the first week as well but I've gotten better with each week so now I'm actually enjoying it, not so exhausted at the end of the day."

It's tough work for those who can cope - carrying 12kg buckets of apples on your chest, back and forth to a bin that can hold 410kg of apples.

Experienced seasonal workers can pick more than 10 bins of apples a day. The average is about three to five.

Johnny Appleseed's operations manager Miles Hales said the shortage is the worst he's seen it in his 21 years in the industry.

He's predicting big challenges over the next few weeks, as the popular apple varieties are ready to pick and staff are a scarcity.

"[The] turnover's huge, we must be approaching 600 staff that have started and are no longer here."

He says that's because students came in the summer, but disappeared when school and university came calling once again.

"It's going to be tough for the next four to six weeks, this is the worst ever and it's the hardest."

He says the company had a group of high school students on the go for Saturdays, but they've just pulled the plug due to weekend sports.

"It's not just enough people ... there's been a whole lot of stress, the managers are all tanking and the permanent staff are doing big hours."