A world away: Rory Marshall wrestles a 27kg jackfruit infar north Queensland.
By Rory Marshall
IN MAY 2021, I fled my home town on Phillip Island. This was the year I had planned to travel to South and Central America on my post-university graduation adventure.
I finished my bachelor’s degree in public health and health promotion in October 2020. With no sign of international travel commencing soon I bought a van and spent eight months designing and building it into my house on wheels. The COVID19 mandates meant tourism, the primary income for the island, was non-existent. Victoria suffered some of the harshest lockdown laws in the world and our community felt it. Work hours were scarce. Depression was at an all-time high, businesses closed daily and our island could see no light at the end of the tunnel.
IN MAY 2021, I fled my home town on Phillip Island. This was the year I had planned to travel to South and Central America on my post-university graduation adventure.
I finished my bachelor’s degree in public health and health promotion in October 2020. With no sign of international travel commencing soon I bought a van and spent eight months designing and building it into my house on wheels. The COVID19 mandates meant tourism, the primary income for the island, was non-existent. Victoria suffered some of the harshest lockdown laws in the world and our community felt it. Work hours were scarce. Depression was at an all-time high, businesses closed daily and our island could see no light at the end of the tunnel.
I knew I couldn’t survive another winter of misery locked down in Victoria. I was aware that farms at the top of Australia had been struggling to find employees due to the decreased number of backpackers within the region. I saw an opportunity. I left my work, family, and friends behind and told them I was going to far north Queensland. Even if the government mandates locked me down there, I assumed this was going to be a better environment to ride out COVID19.
Two days after I left everything and everyone I knew, the Victoria-New South Wales border shut again. I thanked the universe that I was on the NSW side. I enjoyed nomadic freedom up the east coast of Australia and arrived in FNQ at the beginning of August. I immediately noticed the fresh fruit and vegetables honesty box stalls scattered amongst the regions. We don’t have a big roadside stall culture in Victoria as our primary farming industries are beef and dairy. But there’s something special about putting money directly into the grower’s pocket and knowing exactly where your food comes from. These growers put their time and love into creating these foods and it shows in the taste. I loved not having to rely on supermarkets to sustain myself. Reducing the carbon emissions from food transportation and avoiding the increase in prices as it exchanges through many hands makes the fruits taste sweeter.
I was blown away by the volume and varieties of fruit. My first OMG moment came from a stall at the Mossman market. One of my new traveling buddies came up to me in the middle of the market with a spoon in his hand. “Try this.” I scooped a spoonful of the chocolate brown, wrinkly looking apple and took a bite. “How is this even real? Are you sure this is a fruit? It tasted like fudge!!”. I had just had my first experience with black sapote. “Guilt-free, vegan dessert. Not bad, is it?” My mind was blown, I couldn’t comprehend the flavor occurring on my taste buds. He pointed me to the stall and I bought five black sapotes. I felt like one of the luckiest people on earth. I could be locked down, shivering in Victoria, but instead I’m eating a chocolate fudge fruit that I dare say none my friends had heard of and it's a sunny 30 degrees.
Two days after I left everything and everyone I knew, the Victoria-New South Wales border shut again. I thanked the universe that I was on the NSW side. I enjoyed nomadic freedom up the east coast of Australia and arrived in FNQ at the beginning of August. I immediately noticed the fresh fruit and vegetables honesty box stalls scattered amongst the regions. We don’t have a big roadside stall culture in Victoria as our primary farming industries are beef and dairy. But there’s something special about putting money directly into the grower’s pocket and knowing exactly where your food comes from. These growers put their time and love into creating these foods and it shows in the taste. I loved not having to rely on supermarkets to sustain myself. Reducing the carbon emissions from food transportation and avoiding the increase in prices as it exchanges through many hands makes the fruits taste sweeter.
I was blown away by the volume and varieties of fruit. My first OMG moment came from a stall at the Mossman market. One of my new traveling buddies came up to me in the middle of the market with a spoon in his hand. “Try this.” I scooped a spoonful of the chocolate brown, wrinkly looking apple and took a bite. “How is this even real? Are you sure this is a fruit? It tasted like fudge!!”. I had just had my first experience with black sapote. “Guilt-free, vegan dessert. Not bad, is it?” My mind was blown, I couldn’t comprehend the flavor occurring on my taste buds. He pointed me to the stall and I bought five black sapotes. I felt like one of the luckiest people on earth. I could be locked down, shivering in Victoria, but instead I’m eating a chocolate fudge fruit that I dare say none my friends had heard of and it's a sunny 30 degrees.
Wax jambus This OMG moment had me hooked. My mission was to travel through FNQ, discover new fruits and lose my dependence on supermarkets. I traveled along the coast as high as Cooktown, throughout the tablelands, searching all the markets and u-turning for every roadside stall.
Eventually funds began to dwindle, and I needed to find a location to settle and find work. I wanted to work on a fruit farm. One day I bumped into a familiar face. Ben Diprose and I have known each other for many years. He had the same aspirations as me. Flee Victoria and relocate to FNQ, the land of freedom, opportunity, and warmth.
We conversed for hours about how proud we were of each other for taking a chance and coming to this beautiful part of Australia. Ben had moved to South Mission Beach and had secure employment at Fruit Forest Farm. I had never done farm work before and asked him what it was like. Ben explained the fruits that were grown on the farm. Ninety five per cent of them I had never heard of. He painted a mental picture that sounded like everything I dreamed of when I left Victoria: a farm amongst the rainforest, an extensive variety of fruits, a boss who looks after the health and wellness of the employees and cassowaries frequently visiting the property. To top it off, there was a vacancy in Ben’s rental house. The stars aligned. I asked Ben if the farm needed extra hands. A couple of days later he said the bosses were keen to give me a go, so I moved into the vacant space at Ben’s rental and began work. I had moved to far north Queensland.
Day one, my first task was to help Ben pick soursops, a fruit I’d never heard of before. It was hard to focus on the task initially because I was in awe of what I was seeing. Rows and rows of fruit trees, broken up by wind walls of more fruit trees, surrounded by rainforest jungle going all the way up the ridge. Butterflies and dragonflies flying past and lots of colorful spiders sitting in their webs. I breathed the fresh, oxygenised morning air and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.
Eventually funds began to dwindle, and I needed to find a location to settle and find work. I wanted to work on a fruit farm. One day I bumped into a familiar face. Ben Diprose and I have known each other for many years. He had the same aspirations as me. Flee Victoria and relocate to FNQ, the land of freedom, opportunity, and warmth.
We conversed for hours about how proud we were of each other for taking a chance and coming to this beautiful part of Australia. Ben had moved to South Mission Beach and had secure employment at Fruit Forest Farm. I had never done farm work before and asked him what it was like. Ben explained the fruits that were grown on the farm. Ninety five per cent of them I had never heard of. He painted a mental picture that sounded like everything I dreamed of when I left Victoria: a farm amongst the rainforest, an extensive variety of fruits, a boss who looks after the health and wellness of the employees and cassowaries frequently visiting the property. To top it off, there was a vacancy in Ben’s rental house. The stars aligned. I asked Ben if the farm needed extra hands. A couple of days later he said the bosses were keen to give me a go, so I moved into the vacant space at Ben’s rental and began work. I had moved to far north Queensland.
Day one, my first task was to help Ben pick soursops, a fruit I’d never heard of before. It was hard to focus on the task initially because I was in awe of what I was seeing. Rows and rows of fruit trees, broken up by wind walls of more fruit trees, surrounded by rainforest jungle going all the way up the ridge. Butterflies and dragonflies flying past and lots of colorful spiders sitting in their webs. I breathed the fresh, oxygenised morning air and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.
Young soursop We navigated through the rows and collected all the soursops. Ben passed me half a small soursop. “Breakfast?” he said. I peeled the skin and bit into the creamy, fibrous flesh. My jaw hit the floor. I had never tasted anything so beautiful. I was sitting in a rainforest, full of life and abundance, sampling my first fruit of the farm struggling to comprehend how lucky I was. From that moment I was highly motivated to excel in my tasks and experience all the rare and tropical fruits this farm has to offer.
I’ve been employed for many months now. A big range of fruits is harvested during these summer months. The Fruit Forest Farm crew of Pete, Alison, Trina, Warren, Luie, Jason, Sandy and Ben are passionate about rare fruits and have taught me how they work with the land and grow rare fruits.
I have come from the other side of Australia to a completely new environment. I’ve tasted flavors I never knew existed. Abius, durian, lychees, figian longans, amazonian tree grapes, soursop, miracle fruit, rambutans, custard apples, sugar apples, rollinas, champedaks, champajacks, ice-cream beans, mangosteens, breadfruit, star apples, yellow sapote, yellow watermelons, wax jambus, kuini mango, dragonstooth mango, ilama, carambola, kwai muk, maprang, mammea americana, barbados cherries, west indian lime, jaboticaba, Rennell island/red malay dwarf coconut, salak, jelly palm, buddhas hand, ambarella, grumichama, lemon drop mangosteen, mulberry, santol, araza, marang and multiple varieties of bananas (red daccas, sugar bananas, apple bananas, monkey, plantain, bluggoe, blue java), jackfruits (amber, rajang, malay, malibu), dragon fruits (yellow, purple, red, white).
I’ve been employed for many months now. A big range of fruits is harvested during these summer months. The Fruit Forest Farm crew of Pete, Alison, Trina, Warren, Luie, Jason, Sandy and Ben are passionate about rare fruits and have taught me how they work with the land and grow rare fruits.
I have come from the other side of Australia to a completely new environment. I’ve tasted flavors I never knew existed. Abius, durian, lychees, figian longans, amazonian tree grapes, soursop, miracle fruit, rambutans, custard apples, sugar apples, rollinas, champedaks, champajacks, ice-cream beans, mangosteens, breadfruit, star apples, yellow sapote, yellow watermelons, wax jambus, kuini mango, dragonstooth mango, ilama, carambola, kwai muk, maprang, mammea americana, barbados cherries, west indian lime, jaboticaba, Rennell island/red malay dwarf coconut, salak, jelly palm, buddhas hand, ambarella, grumichama, lemon drop mangosteen, mulberry, santol, araza, marang and multiple varieties of bananas (red daccas, sugar bananas, apple bananas, monkey, plantain, bluggoe, blue java), jackfruits (amber, rajang, malay, malibu), dragon fruits (yellow, purple, red, white).
A durian, one of the rarest fruits in Australia. I come from a land of beef and dairy. To land myself in this environment with these people makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world.
For the past eight years, I have had a continuous battle with psoriasis, an immune system disease causing itchy, inflamed skin. This disease covers a large portion of my torso, legs, arms and occasionally head. I’ve exhausted myself trying new ointments, creams, diets, and natural remedies in an attempt to avoid the harsh pharmaceutical options which have listed side effects that are far worse than the physical and psychological pain psoriasis brings to my life. Through the Fruit Forest Farm, I met a man called Mark Norman, a fruit for health regenerative detoxification specialist and iridologist. I have transitioned to a diet of 80-90 per cent fruit. This has allowed my body's cells to become constantly hydrated which allows my body's internal systems to heal. My psoriasis has disappeared. I feel reborn. I have increased daily energy, better sleeping patterns, a clearer thought process, have lost two notches on my belt and tickled my taste buds in ways they have not known before.
For the past eight years, I have had a continuous battle with psoriasis, an immune system disease causing itchy, inflamed skin. This disease covers a large portion of my torso, legs, arms and occasionally head. I’ve exhausted myself trying new ointments, creams, diets, and natural remedies in an attempt to avoid the harsh pharmaceutical options which have listed side effects that are far worse than the physical and psychological pain psoriasis brings to my life. Through the Fruit Forest Farm, I met a man called Mark Norman, a fruit for health regenerative detoxification specialist and iridologist. I have transitioned to a diet of 80-90 per cent fruit. This has allowed my body's cells to become constantly hydrated which allows my body's internal systems to heal. My psoriasis has disappeared. I feel reborn. I have increased daily energy, better sleeping patterns, a clearer thought process, have lost two notches on my belt and tickled my taste buds in ways they have not known before.
I’ve traveled to many places and countries, and far north Queensland is special. My experience here feels like a dream. I’ve learnt so much. I am grateful to all the fruit growers of the region. You are growing medicine. You are sustaining and healing the nation.
An abiu a day keeps the doctor away.