Country work word of mouth advice?....

shane86

Right, so Ive decided to do the honourable thing and do at least some amount of country work rather than lie every second of it. Ive researched the various sites and got info on where here and there harvests are coming in, however most of these sites are just general advice rather than actual up to the minute news about jobs (i.e. I know where the harvests are happening via these sites, but they give little or no indication of how many foreigners are in the area at one time, how long you gotta search for work, pay rates, hours available etc etc).

So, on word of mouth terms who knows for a fact where is hopping right now? While Id love a bit of sun tbh the money and available work outweighs it, and therefore Im prepared to go south. I know girls in Mildura doinjg nightshift work in factories there for massive money, but the factory favours girls, few lads get to work there and usually only end up with sh1t paid work on the farms themselves, if any work at all. (and apart from that Mildura is bollock freezing)

Opinions and news needed, NOW! Cheers.

Claasman

shane86 wrote: »

Right, so Ive decided to do the honourable thing and do at least some amount of country work rather than lie every second of it. Ive researched the various sites and got info on where here and there harvests are coming in, however most of these sites are just general advice rather than actual up to the minute news about jobs (i.e. I know where the harvests are happening via these sites, but they give little or no indication of how many foreigners are in the area at one time, how long you gotta search for work, pay rates, hours available etc etc).

So, on word of mouth terms who knows for a fact where is hopping right now? While Id love a bit of sun tbh the money and available work outweighs it, and therefore Im prepared to go south. I know girls in Mildura doinjg nightshift work in factories there for massive money, but the factory favours girls, few lads get to work there and usually only end up with sh1t paid work on the farms themselves, if any work at all. (and apart from that Mildura is bollock freezing)

Opinions and news needed, NOW! Cheers.

Where do you want to work and what experience do you have? I worked 7 months out in the bush so i know a bit about it...

shane86

Claasman wrote: »

Where do you want to work and what experience do you have? I worked 7 months out in the bush so i know a bit about it...

Pretty much anywhere will do, although I dont fancy going out west. Warmer the better obviously, but as said money and availability are top priority. Just need the 2nd year visa under the belt really and get back to Syd as soon as Ive nailed 3 months in time for the summer, nothing more nothing less! (Ill do the coast in good time, maybe next Sydney winter for some sun before heading back to Ireland for a month odd, but Id sooner have a 2 week odd package trip up there than move from town to town scraping by), Cairns region and Mildura are the two in my mind so far, I know some French girls who went to Cairns lately, said yid be waiting on work (though tbh from the sounds of it Im not sure they broke their bollix looking for it), as for Mildura Im still conflicted and waiting for more news, but it seems more opportunities for girls to get work than lads.

Claasman

I worked from central queensland down into victoria and in wa. Way better money in wa. Work is quite at the moment, it will all kick off at the end of september with the cerals harvest for maybe 2 months for a farmer and more for a contractor. Sugar cane harvest (mainly around cairns)will be finishing up in nov i think, you usually need to get ticketed to do this though.do you have farm or ag experience?

Ozeire

From a quick search on google

http://jobsearch.gov.au/harvesttrail/default.aspx

Don't know but might be of some help

The_B_Man

thats if u wanna do farm work.

u can always jsut go to kalgoorlie and work in a bar or something.

Mahatma coat

would Barwork in Kal qualify you tho????

bananas up north (Innisfail) are almost all year round on a lot of the farms, Delaneys and Ned DeSilvas being the 2 that spring to mind, I really liked workin for Ned, sound bloke. I have about 60KM of fencin that needs doing in the bush 'near' Atherton, if ya want to really earn yer stamps:D:D

also should be work in SW WA around Bridgetown, Manjimup etc...


also

WTF is it with Irish people just going to Sydney for the drinkin sesh, theres a lot more to this CONTINENT than gettin drunk in Bondi.

writetojd

That harvest trail or whatever is only a rough guide. Im up the top of WA in kununurra, not too far from Darwin, planting snadalwood. The works ok, better than some jobs but not as good as others. Mates of mine are picking melons which is tough work. Some days its 10 or 11 hours others its 3 or 4. Mango sesaon is over which is great cos the rash from it I hear is awful.
I was so lucky that I had a friend up here that got me the job almost straight away. Others in my hostel were waiting 2-3 weeks to get sorted.
As for the weather 30+ every day, so much better than down south, only drawback is the town is tiny with little or nothing to do in your time off.
If your are serious about regional work Id call in any favours with any mates out in the sticks.

Best of luck

Gillington

Yeah,I didnt find any work on harvesttrail or any of them websites,hundreds of people are reading and applying for the few jobs they do post.Best is to call in favours or get yourself to a town where you know the season is generally all year round,Banana's in Innisfail etc. and renting a car for a day or two and visit every available farm,processing plant,factory.

I was in Robinvale(1hr from Mildura) where there was only one hostel and hese claimed to get everyone work.The owner had maybe about 15-20 contacts who gave her work but this is in a region with maybe 4 to 500 grape farms.We worked in a transport company so didnt have to do much vine work but the people in the hostel who got the best jobs were the ones who go off their arses and ask.We were making 1000+ dollars a week so its well worth it.You just have to be prepared for hostility from the locals/shops that close at like 7 or 8 in the evening and close on Sundays! And all the other things that a big bunch of broke backpackers can sit around and moan about over a bag of goon.

Mahatma coat

Oh Feck I did that Sandalwood thing in Kuntynurra, I come from a farm in Ireland where we also did a lot of prepropagation work, The aulwan runnin the show took a dislike to me using our 'obviously superior' Irish method of planting, and I jacked it by lunch, I was plantin about 30% faster than the rest of em but she kept makin me redo them her slow and painfully stupid method.

are you stayin in the backpackers opposite the Wollies??

writetojd

Mahatma coat wrote: »

Oh Feck I did that Sandalwood thing in Kuntynurra, I come from a farm in Ireland where we also did a lot of prepropagation work, The aulwan runnin the show took a dislike to me using our 'obviously superior' Irish method of planting, and I jacked it by lunch, I was plantin about 30% faster than the rest of em but she kept makin me redo them her slow and painfully stupid method.

are you stayin in the backpackers opposite the Wollies??

Think I could be on the same farm and yeah I'm in the backpacker opposite coles a.k.a. party central. Its not bad work compared to other jobs around. Im still here after almost 2 months. Still can't believe how remote it is though.

Glad to meet a fellow sandalwooder

Claasman

Now is the time to be getting cv s to recruitment agencies for work on the harvest. The 2 main jobs are driving a harvester and driving tractors. You might also get work working in grain depots but these jobs are usually filled by aus college students. If you have some machinery experience, you should have no bother with getting harvester work. Otherwise you could go driving tractors. They are usually good cv showii people the ropes. Harvester work pays between 18 to 25 dollars an hour depending on experience, 18 to 20 for tractor driving. Usually between 80 and 110 hours a week. The pay is usually higher in wa, and most of the farms there include the food and accomodation in that. The season is not as long there though as it is over east and food is usually not supplied over east. To get the 3 months work, i would suggest working for a contractor or a really big farmer. Because most farms world finish up in 6 to 8 weeks.

shane86

Does restaurant work count? Bar work seems to but I cant seem to find advice on whether restaurants do.

Claasman

Afaik. Its the postcode that matters, not the type of work.

aido79

bar work doesn't count or anything in hospitality. see :http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/specified-work.htm