Finishing Well.

Finally, finally the kiwifruit picking happened last Thursday and Friday in fabulous fine weather - so lucky! Since then BOP has had appalling weather.

 A picker emptying his load into the bin. There were 2 ladies in the gang of 22 .

 They were a happy lot on the whole and worked very hard to make the most of the fine days. They have been having lots of down time this season because of the many, many rainy days.

 We had 4 tractors ;each tractor pulls a trailer that holds 3 bins. All our tractor drivers were older chaps one was 83! He did so well.

 Rob doing some adding up as they go.... Tallies must be accurate.

 The drivers levelling out the top of a full bin.

 The bin trailer gets tilted and the bins slide off as the tractor moves forward.

 The truckie talking to the forklift driver who stacks 3 bins high and lifts them into the truck.( 30 or 32 to a truck ) 

 We were happy with the bin tally. There was some sooty mould we knew that would show up but the fruit is big and the final dry matter test came out very high so that means the fruit will taste good.

 For us this is huge! This was the 36th Export crop of kiwifruit we have grown. We have lived here 40 years and planted it all when we arrived here. So our FINAL crop. .....as we have sold the orchard. It becomes unconditional in 2 days time. The new young owners have been here watching and learning while  picking happened. They are very keen.

 Strangely the selling didn't prove to be the hard part as we thought....finding a new place to buy is far harder. There is one we really like but are not sure if our offer will be enough. I do so hope so cause we can find much else that suits our needs ( must have a workshop / shed and a sizeable garden for fruit and veges. ) that's the hard part there are lots of lovely houses with tiny sections.

 Other things. The carpet layer STILL hasn't come back to finish the part around the fireplace! 

 The new grass seed / lawn is looking fabulous . It's such a bright green colour.