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I will tell you one thing, it is not a good country to travel without any income- true say. Things here are lucratively expensive! A coffee costs 4$, a sandwich 10$, a cinema ticket 20$, a hair cut is 40-80$. Some source of income is a must, otherwise it is easy to spend 1000$ a week.
Getting A 2nd Year Visa:
In order to be eligible to come back to Australia for a 2nd year on my WHV,
I would need to:
1) work in the agriculture sector
2) work within specified postal codes (excludes all major cities)
3) work for 88 days and have employers sign form 1263.
In other words, I needed to find steady farm work- and fast! Scott and I teamed up, searched online classifieds, job boards and even calling The Harvest Trail on a regular basis. Nothing. In fact, the people at the Harvest Trail hotline were of very little help. We applied to several jobs directly everyday, sending resumes and cover letters. Still nothing! We were running out of options. There is no good place to run out of money, especially Down Under. Things here are really expensive, jobs are hard to find, the country is massive- cities and towns are spread really far apart and transportation costs a lot. It is particularly hard to find decent farm work because there are so many foreigners in the country. I quickly realized just how expensive transportation can be! I have easily spent 1000$ AUD. on transportation since I entered the country 3 months ago, including trains, buses, taxis, ferries etc.
Car Or No Car?
Having your own car is a definite plus in Australia, but again is another expense. You need to weigh the cost of the vehicle against how much money you expect to earn, the cost of the distances you need to travel and the length of time you will be in the country, PLUS, how much of your money you can get back after you sell the vehicle when departing Australia? I decided 6 months was not long enough to be in the country to buy a camper van- so I have been finding work without. I am more limited for work opportunities without a car but it also saves me a lot of paperwork, hassle of finding/ selling a car, and wont tie me down. Any time I want to leave Australia I can, because I have no car or belongings to deal with- just me and My Roaming Backpack.
Weather Kills Jobs
It pays to follow the weather as a backpacker before and while you are in Australia. It happens that apprently 2012 has been a bad year for crops, so job openings are fewer and further between. Some crops of grapes and strawberries have been completely destroyed in Victoria state and Queensland- meaning more competition for work from other backpackers. And trust me, there are shit tonne of them! Sometimes it seems there are more foreigners in Australia than Australians themselves.Take What You Can Get
My advice to backpackers looking for farm work in Oz is take what you can get when you can get it- dont be picky. One day there may be tonnes of work, the next day the crop may be finished, destroyed, or for some reason there is no work left. You can always work your way up from one job to a better one, but any job is better than no job.
While I was just getting settled in and enjoying Byron Bay and Lennox Head, I got a call to work at a hydroponic herbs farm. It could possibly lead to me working 88 days, enough days work to get me my 2nd year working in Oz. The job was in Queensland about 3 hours away and they wanted me there in 3 days. Id have to leave Byron Bay (so sad!) but I was focused on my savings account and that 2nd year visa (I like to keep my options open, just incase). I packed my things and split ways with Scott.
I traveled by bus and headed west just over the border of Queensland- The Sunshine State. Ironically when I crossed the border it was cold, grey and starting to rain! From Stanthorpe I got hooked up with a ride from the employment agency that told me about the job. I got dropped off in a small town called Thulimbah, my new home for who knows how long?? It could be a month, it could be five?
