Fruit Picking Jobs in Australia

About fruit picking jobs

Fruit Picking Jobs in Australia: How to Get One

The fruit picking jobs above are live listings from Australian farms and labour hire companies. Apply directly to the ones that match where you are, or where you're willing to go. That last part matters more than anything else on your application. Picking jobs go to people who can start soon and get themselves to the farm.

If nothing above fits, check all jobs for the full board, or jump to a specific crop or state below. There's picking work somewhere in Australia every month of the year.

How fruit picking jobs work

Most picking jobs are casual. You're hired for the harvest, paid weekly, and the job ends when the fruit runs out. That can mean two weeks on cherries or four months on citrus.

Pay comes in two forms. Hourly jobs pay a set casual rate no matter how much you pick. Piece rate jobs pay per bin, bucket or kilo, and since 2022 every piece rate agreement must guarantee you at least the minimum hourly rate for the hours you work. Fast pickers can earn well above it. Slow days, bad rows and learning weeks can hurt, so ask how the rate is set before you start. Our farm work pay rates guide breaks down the award rates, casual loading and what a fair payslip looks like.

Do you need experience? No.

Most picking jobs take complete first-timers. Farmers train you on day one, usually in an hour or less. What they actually want is reliability. Someone who shows up every morning, works through the heat, and stays for the season instead of quitting in week one.

You'll need a valid visa with work rights, a tax file number, and usually your own transport. A car opens up far more farms than buses ever will. Some regions and working hostels run transport to the farms, which is worth asking about before you arrive.

How to actually land a picking job

Applying is easy. Getting hired comes down to timing and persistence. Here's what works:

• Apply two to four weeks before harvest starts, then follow up. Farmers hire close to the start date because the fruit sets the schedule. Applying months ahead rarely helps.
• Call instead of just emailing. If a listing has a phone number, use it. A two-minute call where you sound keen and say when you can start beats fifty unread applications. Farmers are practical people. They hire whoever solves their problem fastest.
• Say your start date and location in the first line. "In Bundaberg now, can start Monday, have a car" gets read. A long cover letter doesn't.
• Use working hostels as a job source. In towns like Bundaberg, Mildura, Stanthorpe and Ayr, working hostels have standing relationships with farms and place guests into work. Quality varies a lot, so read recent reviews, confirm there's actually work before you pay for a bed, and never pay big upfront fees for a "guaranteed" job.
• Be where the work is. Employers strongly prefer people already in town. If you're committed to a region, getting there can be the move that gets you hired.
• Stay flexible on the crop. If picking jobs are full, packing shed work in the same town pays the same and often leads to picking work later.

What picking work is really like

It's hard physical work, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't done it. Expect 5am or 6am starts to beat the heat, 6 to 9 hours on your feet, and repetition. Bend, pick, carry, repeat. Ladders for tree fruit, crouching for strawberries, full bag straps digging into your shoulders on citrus.

Your first week will hurt. Hands, forearms, lower back. Almost everyone adjusts by week two, and plenty of people end up loving it. You're outdoors, you get fit, you finish early most days, and the money is real if you stick with it. But go in with honest expectations. Bring sunscreen, a wide hat, gloves and more water than you think you need.

Pick your crop

Different fruit means different work, different regions and different pay structures. Each crop page below has its own live listings:

• Banana picking: year-round work around Tully and Innisfail in far north QLD. Heavy, wet and steady.
• Cherry picking: short, sharp summer harvests in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. Often good piece rate money.
• Strawberry picking: big crews needed around the Sunshine Coast, Caboolture and Bundaberg. Low to the ground, tough on the back.
• Blueberry picking: Coffs Harbour is the heartland. Gentle fruit, piece rates reward fast hands.
• Citrus picking: long seasons around Mildura, Griffith and the Riverland. One of the easiest harvests to get a start in.
• Mango picking: hot, fast and well paid in the NT and north QLD. Watch the sap, it burns skin.
• Apple picking: autumn work in Shepparton, Batlow, Stanthorpe and Tasmania. Ladder work, steady crews.
• Grape picking: table grapes and wine grapes across Mildura, the Riverland and WA's Swan Valley. Vineyard work continues after harvest with pruning.
• Avocado picking: growing fast in QLD and WA. Often pole-picking, usually hourly.

Every crop has its season, and chasing harvests around the country is how experienced pickers stay in work all year. We cover when and where each crop runs in our fruit picking seasons guide.

Where to look, state by state

One thing first-timers get wrong: the jobs aren't in the capital cities. If you're searching for fruit picking jobs in Brisbane, Melbourne or Darwin, the actual farms are hours away in regional towns. Use the cities as a base to organise yourself, then head out.

• Queensland: Bundaberg, Stanthorpe, Ayr, Tully, the Atherton Tablelands. The busiest picking state, with work in some region almost year-round.
• New South Wales: Coffs Harbour, Griffith, Orange, Batlow, Young.
• Victoria: Shepparton, Mildura, Swan Hill, the Yarra Valley.
• Western Australia: Manjimup, Donnybrook, Carnarvon, Kununurra.
• South Australia: the Riverland, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale.
• Tasmania: the Huon Valley and Devonport region for cherries, apples and berries.
• Northern Territory: Darwin's rural area and Katherine for mangoes and melons.

Fruit picking for backpackers

Backpackers and working holiday makers fill a huge share of Australia's picking crews, and farmers know it. Being on a WHV is normal here, no apology needed. Bring your passport, visa grant letter, tax file number and an Australian bank account, and you're ready to be put on the books. If your English is still developing, picking is one of the most forgiving jobs in the country. The work is shown, not explained, and crews are full of people from everywhere.

One warning. Only work for employers who pay into your bank with a proper payslip. Cash-in-hand work can't be counted towards your 88 days, and it usually means you're being underpaid too.

Visas, accommodation and seasons: the quick version

Three things people always ask, each with its own full guide:

• 88 days: fruit picking in regional Australia counts as specified work for a second working holiday visa. The rules live in our 88 days guide.
• Accommodation: some farms house workers, most don't, and working hostels fill the gap. Full breakdown in our farm work with accommodation guide.
• Timing: every crop and region runs on its own calendar. Check the seasons guide before you book travel.

That's the whole game. Pick a region with a harvest coming up, get your White Card-free start (picking needs no tickets), apply to the jobs on this page, and follow up with a phone call. The work is there for people who go get it.

Where are the fruit picking jobs?