The Aussie harvest calendar
A rough map of when each crop kicks off across Australia, so you know which direction to point the van this month.
May· 12 crops on
Pick a month below to see what's being harvested then.
Year-round in north QLD. Packing-shed shifts and field work. Heavy lifting involved.
Watermelons and rockmelons. Physically demanding, paid by the bin.
Autumn staple. Steady hours, picking bags and ladders.
Oranges, mandarins, lemons. Good winter option when hot-climate crops shut down.
Table and wine varieties. Vintage season — early-morning picking. Pruning comes later (Jun–Aug).
Long season spread across states. Ladder work, paid per bin.
Fields in winter/spring QLD, then south in summer. Mix of picking, packing, greenhouse.
Mostly machine-harvested — work is module-building, ginning, farmhand support.
Machine-assisted harvest. Processing shed work is common.
Autumn harvest, often mechanised with hand-sorting.
Dry-season work on big stations. Horseback, motorbikes, choppers. Remote living.
Wool work. Shed roustabouts and wool-handlers — physical, fast-paced, team-based.
Windows shift a few weeks each year with the weather. Treat this as a hint, and always confirm directly with the farm.