So, you want to go to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa

Hi,

I'm going to go to either Australia or New Zealand for a year (starting this summer). I was wondering whether it's really worth going through an organisation like BUNAC? Or should I just go it alone?

I'd be very grateful for any answers/advice from people who have been there and done it

Thank you Origami!

I'm actually Taiwanese, but I live in the US! I checked that Taiwan passports are eligible.
And I thought the British and Australian accent were more similar than the US, that's why I was worried.
It's quite hard to find a job here in the US, especially since I'm only 17 now But I'll see what I can do!

Thanks again for your input!

Hi, I'd love to go out to Australia (possibly longer term), but have already applied to uni and am not sure whether i feel 'ready' yet...
Does the same process apply if you take a 'gap year' or even move out there for a few years after uni, I've heard mention of 'skilled migrant' visa above... what does that involve?

Hi,

I'm going to go to either Australia or New Zealand for a year (starting this summer). I was wondering whether it's really worth going through an organisation like BUNAC? Or should I just go it alone?

I'd be very grateful for any answers/advice from people who have been there and done it

Are there places you can recommend worth staying at in Australia where it won't be too competitive? I don't want to spend my time in the middle of nowhere I would rather be living in a city.

Hi,

I'm going to go to either Australia or New Zealand for a year (starting this summer). I was wondering whether it's really worth going through an organisation like BUNAC? Or should I just go it alone?

I'd be very grateful for any answers/advice from people who have been there and done it

What are the costs of going away for like a year, just a really simple estimate since I assume I will end up losing money. lets say I get by ok earning 300 dollar a week

I never thought about bringing a laptop to go backpacking. I'd be a little worried about it getting damaged or stolen or lost or something . Plus, it's pretty heavy and bulky to keep carrying around with evertything, unless I take a mini laptop instead.

but then I realised I couldn't be bothered to do all the paper work type stuff because visas were difficult (plus I needed a sponsor) and needed someone to tell me how to do it/what to do at the embassy/ and how to get a social security number once I was there! So I used BUNAC

I dunno if it is easier in Australia with working visas etc but to flexibly work in America it was difficult. I know the visa BUNAC does for Australia is a working year one which has to be split into two 6 month periods (different jobs because the country wants you to travel whilst visiting) because I looked at going here too (may actually go after I've done uni, love Australia!)

What are the costs of going away for like a year, just a really simple estimate since I assume I will end up losing money. lets say I get by ok earning 300 dollar a week

So, you want to spent several months in Australia on a working holiday visa . . . I've been there, done that, and I've noticed a lot of people wanting advice, so here's my FAQ. Please post any questions you have below

What will I need before I go?
- Flights – STA (who often do good deals on flights, but are a rip-off for anything else) and AirAsia aren't bad bets for getting the cheapest flights.
- A visa – working holiday visas can be obtained from www.immi.gov.au and they cost $270. Don't go anywhere else – they're going to rip you off. WHVs allow you to stay in Australia for up to a year, working for each employer for no more than six months. If you want to stay for another year, then you will have to do three months of 'designated work' (farm work – often fruit picking – in the middle of nowhere) whilst on your first WHV to be eligible. If you don't want to work there, then 3/6 month tourist visas are available.
- Travel insurance – yes, you may be covered by medicare (more about that later), but medicare doesn't cover you for things like ambulances, nor does it cover you for things like your baggage being lost or stolen. Make sure it covers you for working, and any activities that you think you might do e.g. scuba diving or skydiving.
- A bank account – it's necessary to have your wages paid into. You can set it up & transfer money before you go, and then activate when you get there (you'll need to show your passport and visa). Some of the most popular banks are Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB, although the latter's card cannot be used online as it's not a Visa / Mastercard.
- Luggage – a wheelie case is entirely viable in Australia, but if you plan on going somewhere like SE Asia, then buy a backpack – their pavements simply aren't up to wheelie cases. Try and pack light – you will accumulate more stuff over there, and if you forget something then it's not the end of the world – you can always replace it later.

What will I need to do when I get there?
- Medicare card – essentially it's a bit like the Australian NHS, and we're covered under a reciprocal scheme. However, it doesn't cover everything, so you'll need travel insurance too. To get it, fill out an application form from http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/ and then take it to your nearest Medicare office once you get there.
- Tax File Number – necessary to stop you being taxed at 48%. You can get one from www.ato.gov.au , but you can only do it once you've entered Australia. You get a 30-day grace period in which you will not be taxed at 48%, which gives you time for the TFN to arrive. When you leave Australia, or at the end of the tax year on 30th June, you can claim back all your tax and 'super' (pension contributions).

Where will I live?
- Hostels are the biggest source of accommodation for backpackers. In them, you will share a dorm with anywhere between 3 and 31 other backpackers (the larger the better if you ask me, although opinions vary). You'll also share a bathroom and kitchen.
[INDENT]- But won't my stuff get nicked? I found backpackers to be surprisingly honest when it comes to big ticket items e.g. laptops and iPods – I was forever leaving my laptop unsecured but out of sight (sometimes in plain view though) and it was never stolen. Food, however, is a different matter. In the end, I resorted to buying a blue cool bag from Coles / Woolworths (the two big Australian supermarkets) and padlocking it, which did the trick.
- Aren't they dirty? They're of varying standards. If you manage to go through your entire trip without seeing a cockroach, then I will be highly surprised. Most of the time they're alright though. However, if you're going to be returning to start uni and live in halls, then it will be good practice for living in places where people don't clean up after themselves And yes, someone is going to have sex in your room sooner or later. Just hope it's not in the bed above / below yours – the shaking is rather annoying.
- I want to stay in a hostel long-term! OK – that can definitely be arranged. All hostels take on “work for accommodation” staff. As the name suggests, you work for around 15 hours a week in exchange for free accommodation in a staff / long-termers dorm. The work typically involves housekeeping, cleaning the communal kitchen and doing the laundry. It also comes with perks like getting all the goon and other personal belongings (e.g. I have an Abercrombie top from housekeeping; a room mate had iPod speakers) that guests leave behind. If you don't fancy that, then you should be able to negotiate a discount and a move to a long-termers dorm if you agree to stay for a set period of time (typically several weeks / months).
- The best hostels tend to have no bar, but some organised social events. Hostels with a bar tend to be entirely focused on getting you into that bar to spend money, and they often have the noise coming into your room until 3am, whereas hostels without bars tend to organise things like goon pong (like beer pong!), free BBQs, trivia nights and bar crawls – all good ways to meet people.
Www.hostelbookers.com is a good way to find hostels, although I have typically found the reviews to be slightly pessimistic.
- You'll find that laundry is expensive – normally $4 per wash. Make friends with someone who has been backpacking for a while, and ask them to show you how to operate them with cotton buds instead
- In the end, hostels are the worst living arrangement you could possibly have (on paper) - but you'll also strangely miss it when you leave [/INDENT]
- You can also stay in a campervan, but you will need to consider
[INDENT]- It's illegal to sleep in a campervan by the side of the road, so make sure you don't get caught
- You still need to shower somewhere. Whilst the showers at Bondi might be an attractive proposition in January, you'll probably die if you try it in July.
- Campervans are expensive and have a horrible tendency to break down in the middle of the Outback, where no car will pass for the next three days.
- Unless you're renting, you'll need find someone to sell it to at the end of your trip. [/INDENT]
- Campsites for tent owners are also occasionally available, but IMHO it's not really worth it – there are relatively few of them, and if you buy a tent from another backpacker, you'll probably find it's going to leak (mine flooded ).
- If you're going to be staying in the same place for a couple of months, then getting a room in a houseshare is also often possible. Whilst I never tried this, my friend stayed with a group of Aussie students, and a ragtag bunch of backpackers who lived with a nice couple. Try gumtree if you're interested.

I don't have any friends to go with – won't I be lonely for my entire trip?
- No – most people are travelling by themselves, and they want to make friends too. Typically you'll meet friends in hostels, but also on organised trips. The kitchen, and over a cup of goon in the evening, are typical places to meet people. The friendships you make are strangely intense, but often short lived. Even so, I've kept in contact with a few of them to this day.
- Wait – what's this goon stuff you speak of? It's the only alcohol you'll be able to afford. It's 4 or 5 litres in a bag-in-box, and it costs around $14 for a box. Fruity Lexia is the most palatable, but it's still an acquired taste. If you're struggling with the taste, try adding lemonade, juice or squash for “magic goon”. Thinking of buying vodka instead? Ok, but it's $40 for a 750ml bottle . . .

How will I get around Australia?
There are a two main options:
- Campervan (as discussed previously) – it's one main advantage being that it gives you the ability to get off the beaten track more.
- Bus
[INDENT]- OzExperience offer a hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus up the East Coast and across a few other routes. However, I went with them from Byron Bay to Cairns and found that it didn't quite live up to all the marketing hype – certainly I never made any friends on the bus, I made them all in hostels. There's also only one bus a day which is surprisingly annoying if you're pushed for time, and it's more expensive.
- Greyhound also offer hop-on-hop-off bus passes. They are cheaper, and contain a lot of locals (with whom I had many interesting conversations – I don't think I'll ever forget the aboriginal lady asking me if I'd heard about the riots in England ) The buses are more comfortable, there are several a day and there are night buses. Night buses = not having to pay for a night's accommodation! [/INDENT]

What about an organised tour of Australia?
- Well, if you want a sub-standard trip for twice the price then go ahead . . . typically they offer some very rushed group transport & accommodation up the east coast at an inflated price, and you have to fork out more if you actually want to see anything. Companies such as Contiki are particularly bad for this.
- The only tour that I've come across that I think is any good is OzIntro's seven day trip (www.ozintro.com). Essentially it's a week in Sydney aimed at people who've just arrived in Australia and you get a variety of organised activities, and you do all the admin stuff like medicare cards and TFNs. If you add up the cost of everything they give you, you couldn't really do it any cheaper anyway, and it's a great way to make friends, but don't be fooled into thinking that you can't get all the admin stuff done yourself.

How much is it going to cost me?
- Not gonna lie, the exchange rate is currently punishing, so a lot.
- The visa states that you need $5000 to support you until you can find work, but in reality they never actually check, and that's rather pessimistic anyway.
- I found that it generally cost me about $300pw for survival i.e. a hostel, food, goon, a couple of nights out and a small luxury.
- You also need to budget for things like a 4WD trip around Fraser Island, Whitsundays, skydiving, seeing the Great Barrier Reef etc.
- There are numerous travel agents (Adventure Travel Bugs, Peter Pans, Wicked Travel, Tribal Travel etc.), all of whom will offer you discounts / freebies if you book multiple things at once with them. They also all have a price-beat guarantee. Hence, I walked around about four of them, getting each to beat the offer of the one before. I got a really good deal in the end, just through haggling.

How easy is it to find work out there? How much can I earn?
- Australia never went into recession like most of the Western world did, so relatively easy. However, you can't afford to be too picky about what kind of work you take – bar, restaurant, cleaning. Door-to-door selling and fruit picking are the most common occupations for backpackers. Your time in Australia is unlikely to be hugely career-enhancing in terms of experience. You also need to actually quit moaning that you don't have a job, print off some CVs, and get out there pounding the pavements looking for work. Jobs are not going to come and find you.
- Work is so much easier to find if you actually have experience in a related area, so try and get some before you go. If you can't, you may find yourself doing a bit of CV-puffery. You'll also need to tell a couple of porkies and tell them that you will be working there for the next six months, else they won't take you on.
- Don't sit around in your hostel, moaning that you need a job. It won't help. The best way to find work is to dress smartly (shirt + smart black jeans will do), and walk around with your CV, going into every bar / restaurant / shop etc. along the way, asking to speak to the manager and asking if they have any work available. Gumtree and Seek are also sources of work. If you want to do harvest work (i.e. fruit picking), then check out the Harvest Trail website. If you want to do more general farm work in return for bed and board, then check out www.helpx.net and www.workaway.info
Most backpackers check out the central areas, near to their hostel initially. This is fine, but don't forget to try some more out of the way shopping malls (e.g. the Westfield chain).
- After that bit of doom-and-gloom, there is some good news – the wages are fantastic. You can expect to earn $18-20ph plus tips in jobs such as waitressing, which is more than twice what you would earn in the UK at the current exchange rates (2011).

How will I keep in contact with my mum / dad / friends / pet budgie?
- Internet in hostels is strangely expensive – usually $4ph. If you can, take your laptop and go to McDonalds and use their free wifi.
- Unlock your phone before you go, and then insert an Australian sim when you get there. Avoid Vodafone and go for a network that piggybacks off of the Optus or Telstra networks, such as Virgin.
- If you forget to do that, then the cheapest option is to buy a cheap backpacker phone out there – typically a Nokia 1800. They cost around $30, and include $30 worth of credit anyway

Anyway, these are a the answers to a selection of the most commonly asked questions on TSR about Aussie WHVs. If you have a question that I haven't answered above, then ask away below and I'll answer

Hi

I'm in my last year of school and planning on taking a gap year after my A2s.
I've decided that I would ideally like to work on a farm/cattle station in the Australian outback for a bit. I've been looking at the program offered by RealGap, but have heard some bad things about them. I've spoken to someone who took that course, but it would be good to hear from others, particularly those who booked independently or with other companies.

Anyone who can shed some light on the best way to go about this would be very helpful.

Thanks

So yh anyway enough of the boredom already ha! I'm planning on going next June/July which should give me enough time to save save save! I should hopefully have around £7000 - brother should have around £5000 - Would this be sufficient? We're planning on finding work as soon as we get out there. We're not fussed on what we do, just so long as it pays for things & stops us hacking into our money we brought with us & plus working the 3 months or however long it is in order to extend our visa for another year It depends on what lifestyle you lead. However, I think that - if you don't want to eat into the money that you have taken with you, then you should plan on working (full time) for between half and two thirds of the time that you are there.
We want to travel around as much of aus as much as we can, work in various places, meet new people etc. Questions below;

1) Would it seem strange if i said i would like to meet the aboriginals - learn about their way of life etc?
It sounds like a very nice idea. Unfortunately, the aboriginal culture that you're thinking of has been largely eroded. A high proportion of aboriginals now live in cities, often with no connection to their ancestral lands etc. Invariably they are quite poor, and rates of alcohol and drug abuse (and its associated social problems) are higher amongst aboriginals. Not that you should believe what you will hear about them all being alcoholics / drunkards - it's simply not true, but because they tend to drink outdoors, their drinking is more visible than that which is done by white people. I met (as in, talked to) the odd Aboriginal on my travels, and they were perfectly nice people - but living lives that were fairly similar to those lead by poorer white Australians!

Those who are living more traditional lives (I think there are some in Arnhem lane in NT) are, however, unlikely to be too keen on the British. Let's face it - we invaded their land, gave out licences to legally kill aboriginals, stole their children (google the 'stolen generation' - it's utterly shocking) and essentially destroyed their way of life.

Whilst they are happy to let people into see some sites (e.g. Uluru, with some caveats e.g. men can't look at some parts, women can't look at others, can't take photos of some bits, can't climb it) and they are happy to tell tourists about their way of life - for money - you're hardly likely to find yourself living as part of the tribe and eating witchetty grubs around the campfire.

The only person I've ever come across who has become really involved with Aboriginals was a Japanese girl. She had learned the local Aboriginal language (Pitcanjaya, I think it was called) of the Aboriginals from Uluru, and was translating from an Aboriginal tour guide who showed tourists around Uluru.
2) When you arrived in aus - how long did it take for you to find work?
I didn't start looking for work straight away, but when I did it took me about a week. I did have lots of bar / restaurant experience though, which was good because there are a limited number of industries that are willing to take backpackers on.
3) Best place to start off at?
As it sounds like you'll want to go and see some of the Aboriginal places, then you'll definitely want to go to the NT. There's essentially one road through NT, which runs from Darwin to Alice Springs, and then down further towards SA. The typical tourist route runs from Melbourne / Sydney to Cairns, and there are a lot of things to do (including some Aboriginal related stuff e.g. Fraser Island has a lot of Aboriginal creation stories surrounding it). The best place to start will depend on the season that you're going in. For you, going in June / July it will be best to start in the tropical north (as it's dry season) i.e. Darwin / Cairns and then work your way down. Summer in the south is December / January.
4) Is it viable to pack our bags and go or should be consider approaching companies you stated who assist such as 'OZintro'?It's entirely viable to pack your bags and go.
5) Once a two year visa is up, is it true you can go to Thailand & then go back to aus?
Yes, but only on a tourist visa - you won't be able to work. Alternatively, you could take some time out between your two one year visas (so that you don't lose time on either of them - once they start running they keep running for a year) and go to Thailand then, or simply go on your way home to the UK after your two years are up.
6) Depending on how well we both get in out there, would there be anychance of us being awarded permanent residency? I'm a skilled IT worker & my brother has an electricians diploma.
If you can find an employer to sponsor you, or your profession is on the skilled migrants list (have a look on immi.gov.au or google for it) then yes. Otherwise, no.
7) What are the public transport fares like?
Very reasonable, although obviously it varies depending on where you are. If you want to go intercity, then Greyhound is the best option.
8) Hostel, hotel or a shared apartment first?
Hostel - cheap, and it lets you get your bearings, meet other people, work out if you really want to stay there for months, look for work without having signed a housing contract, and then househunt if necessary.