Going to Oz in a week on WHV.. last minute questions!

happypartygirl

Hi there,

I am flying in to sydney (alone :eek:) on the 30th March from Dublin. I think I am pretty well prepared but I do have a couple of last minute questions I was hoping someone could help me with:

1- Travel insurance - I have done some research and the USIT insurance looks to be quite good. If I am going on a WHV do I get the Work & Travel Insurance or the Backpacker insurance? Or are there any other vendors that you recommend for insurance? I am not all about the cheapest price, a good quality insurance is more important to me.

2 - Backpack - I am going in to buy my rucksack tomorrow. I am a very girly girl (read: weak) so I cant carry anything too heavy. However, I do have alot of stuff that I want to bring. Do you think 70L is a good size for me? I have read its important to get one front loadable and not just top loadable. What do people think about wheels? I like the idea of being able to wheel it, but I have read that they add a good bit of weight to the bag.

3 - Passport - My new passport will be ready for me to collect from Passport Office Tuesday afternoon. Who do I ring to have my WHV transferred from my out of date passport on to my new one?? Austrailian embassy in Dublin? Will this just take a day or 2 to happen?

4 - Money I have about 10K euro to do me for the year. I do plan on working aswell but I would also like to see thailand etc. Is this a reasonable amount to have?

5 - Flight I am petrified of flying so I was planning on taking some sleeping pills from the doc so I am just asleep on the plane. Does anyone know, generally how long 1 would keep you asleep for? Any other tips for combating jet lag, anything I could be doing now to prepare myself?

Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this

myhorse

ring the embassy regarding the visa however they may allow you to carry the old passport with the visa.
For other residency visas this is the case.(ie travel with two passports)

sleeping tablets I would say a good 8 hrs if you havent used them before.

I have one tip which you may or may not have done. get scanned copied of your passport, visa and travel documents and mail them to your self. Carry some copies as well but if you were to lose everything at least you can access your mail account and print off your scanned copies. Can save alot of time and hassle.

Ozeire

Hey happy

You seem to have every thing under control .

1. Which insurance covers you for adventure activies in case you want to do some like rafting , sky diving etc.

2.Don't bring to many cloths as you can always buy them cheap . Plus the cloths you bring from Ireland don't always suite

3. Yeah i agree with myhorse contact the embassy those guys will tell you exacyly what you need to do .

4. 10 k omg you are all prepared . Back in 2000 i went with less than 1k lol . Just budget and you'll be grand.

5. Well it's easy for me to say its alright cause i've been over and back a few times between Ire n Oz . But after a while in the air you actually forget your flying . I've been told that the New A380 is great improvement . BUt if you really don't want to spend a log time on the flight try for flights that only last a few hours . Etihad airlines to a hope form Dublin - Dubi - Singapore- Oz . But at this stage i guess you have your flights sorted .

Anyway have a great time

Al

waraf

If you're stuck for work in Queensland go to this place: http://www.users.bigpond.com/cardwellbackpackers/ It's about 4 hours south of Cairns by bus.

It's run by a guy called Stuart and if you stay in his hostel he will find you work on a local farm - don't worry, the girls don't have to do any heavy work they generally get to drive the tractors while the lads do the picking.

Anyway, have a ball.