Photo of the Week: Claas parts assistant swaps wet UK for sunny Oz

This week’s photo comes courtesy of Olivia Hesketh, parts assistant at Rickerby, and captures a day in the life during her recent work exchange programme in Western Australia.

Olivia spent three months working for Landpower at its Claas Harvest Centre in Esperance, a region of mainly arable – predominantly wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

See more: How time working off-farm can bring new skills home

© Rickerby

The biggest contrast to the UK is the sheer scale of the landscape, as well as the Aussies’ laidback approach, Olivia says.

“In Australia, everything is so much vaster in terms of the land and how far away the farms are. One of the nearest farms was 43 miles away.

“The weather is more settled and everyone is far more laidback and chilled, so I did find it very difficult to redirect my ‘get on’ nature and had to channel that into other aspects of my job.”

The dealership, the largest in Australia, will typically sell 20 new Lexion and five Xerion a year, along with a lot of Claas and other new and used machinery.

Olivia says the experience has given her a confidence boost.

“With harvest, it was very much sink or swim, and you quickly learn to adapt to all ways of working.

“It gave me a flourishing self-belief, knowing I have the capabilities to back myself and work things out for myself, without relying on others.”

Olivia had the opportunity to trade tractor cabs in England for Australia © Rickerby

As well as working hard, Olivia was able to experience Australia’s beaches and national parks during her work exchange programme © Rickerby

The lifestyle was another major perk of the programme, with Olivia taking full advantage of Australia’s outdoor culture.

“I made it a habit at weekends to visit other beaches and national parks to get the most out of the experience”, she says.

“Just before I left, I also tried beach off-roading in a 4×4, which was completely different to driving round fields at home.”

To anyone thinking of working abroad, Olivia’s advice is simple: do it. 

“The team at Esperance gave me the utmost support and they really welcomed my outlook and motivation to help them implement change in the parts department, draw upon my organisational mindset and different ways of looking at the systems they used to process parts from the shelf to jobs.”

If you would like to join our photo community by uploading a photo or just browse through the pictures, go to our Farmlife Framed gallery.

Also, keep sending us your photos on our lambing gallery.