Picking apricots is hard work particularly in the heat; the gang starts early and finishes at lunchtime but they have to pick over the tree many times as the fruit ripens unevenly - and then there’s the cutting! It's another team who wash, sort and cut, and the day seems never ending, but the scent of the ripe apricots so beautiful.

Last year we lost 90% of our apricot crop to birds but this year hardly a bird in sight. A great crop and so much is ripening together with the heat wave that both the seasonal kitchen and the export kitchen are making apricot jam by the thousands. It just doesn’t get better than taking the fresh fruit straight into the kitchens, it's given us the best jam we’ve ever made, with the balance of the apricots drying out on the trays in the sun. A few days later; the birds have arrived and we’re expecting rain so all the trays will have to come back into the sheds - working with nature is never easy! Yet, it’s a true picture of South Australia and nothing tastes better.