Oz travel advice please!!!

RaZZTheKiD

hi I am planning on travelling to oz with my girlfriend in June for 9months but I haven't ever properly travelled like this before . . . . .

i am planning on starting in Sydney and trying to find some work then after a few months and with alota cash:D start making my way up the east coast whilst stopping off in a couple of places then finishing off our time in cairns.

i have been reading a couple of posts about people doing some travelling around asia before going to oz and does any1 have any advice on this

also i was wondering about what kind of travel insurance should i get as i intend on doing some scuba diving and skydiving??? and the best places to go in oz and/or new zealand

all advice wecome:D

Slunk

I've heard if you do Asia first you will get a big shock coming to Sydney as it is very expensive. There's not much to do in Sydney so id either get work in Sydney and build up the funds or move on quick enough . Can't advise anymore than that at the moment as that's as far as I've got . Leaving Sydney in a few weeks after i build up the money

RaZZTheKiD

cheers 4 the reply, did you go and do any of asia and what was your travel plan 4 oz

tanx again

Glowing

I'd do 6 months in Asia then just a few months in Oz if I were you ... tour Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, if you're more adventerous, head to China and Tibet. You'll have an amazing time

Australia is so expensive, you'll get so much for for your money in South East Asia ... you'll find it hard to save anything working in Sydney as the accommodation and living costs are very high.

Edit: You'll also find when you start travelling around Australia, you'll burn through money!!! Costs for actually doing anything are extortionate!

Edit 2: If you're interested in getting PADI qualified, Thailand is a very affordable place to do this - whereas doing that course in Oz will set you back a fair bit more.

RaZZTheKiD

ye the whole travelling asia thing will just be a holiday thing, like maybe Singapore, china and japan and maybe vietnam 4 a couple of weeks then go 2 oz to work and live as i dont think i could do that in the other countries, just feel like oz is safer.

heard oz is very expensive alrite but is it livable???

emfitz

Me and my Boyf arrived in Oz in Nov after spending 6wks in SE Asia (thailand laos vietnam cambodia) and then 4wks in New Zealand. I would highly recommend doing something like this. We arrived in Sydney and got work within the week and we're now saving to travel the coast and hopefully South America.
We had put away a fixed amount of what we'd spend in the 10wks travelling and then kept money for oz elsewhere. Asia would be very reasonalbe if ye spent say 4wks there. And the likes of trekking, diving, rockclimbing all way cheaper in asia than Oz or NZ.

Syndey is expensive but is totally livable!! Well as long as your not going on the piss every second night.. Wages are that bit higher as too is cost of living. So far we've managed to save a good bit for future travel as well as have a brill time here. Sydney is a brilliant city!

I would definately stop off on the way if at all possible!! So worth it!!

RaZZTheKiD

well i am heading to Thailand to travel around there for 3 weeks then move onto oz

starting in cairns and working for a couple of months and moving down the coast and hope to be in Sydney for Xmas,

might go over to new Zealand if not too expensive???

also haven't booked a return flight yet so i was thinking maybe come home trough Europe??

augustus gloop

everyone experience is different because everyones circumstances are different, ovb i know:D
what i mean is, depending on how much money you will have will determine how badly you need to work. also what you guys do for a living will predetermine how ye go.
some standard advice would be to avoid sydney as your first destination, over the course of my 3 years living there i have seen countless people start out there, wax all theyre money in the cock and bull and down the rocks, pay high rent for festered s*itholes, and basically never get ahead.
personally i work in construction, i could never gather much money together in sydney, when i lived in perth, my standard of living and amount of money i was saving weekly rose massively, i now live in canberra and enjoy a better standard again, thank god.
dont get me wrong i love sydney, but if you start out there its hard to work, save and get by. there is just too much tempetation!!!! along with the fact it is all new and exciting:)
maybe i just have no willpower!!
hope it goes well for you!!

RaZZTheKiD

:Dhahaha

yeh cheers
im heading to cairns 1st hoping to find a job just to tie me over for a couple of months but wouldnt mind going anywhere in oz just once i get a job

i hear sydney is very expensive, but u cant go to oz without sein sydney il just do and see what i can and go before im broke:eek:

Pisco Sour

Alice Springs has negative unemployment if I am not mistaken. Similar in Darwin I hear. I'd imagine it would be easier finding work there than Cairns but I could be way off on this.

Why does it have to be the East by the way? Why not start in Melbourne and work your way to Adelaide, Alice and then onto Darwin? Or the West Coast startng off in Perth?

hussey

04072511 wrote: »

Alice Springs has negative unemployment if I am not mistaken.

You are .... if you ever go to alice springs you'll see what I mean.

Pisco Sour

hussey wrote: »

You are .... if you ever go to alice springs you'll see what I mean.

I was there on holiday a few years ago. My tour guide who is from there said theres a ridiculous amount of work there. I asked a few people what brought them to Alice and they said the fact there were loads of jobs.

May have changed since 2009 though, I don't know.

If you are referring to Aboriginal people and unemployment then that's a whole different issue, but for backpackers it seems to be pretty easy to get work there.

RaZZTheKiD

04072511 wrote: »

Alice Springs has negative unemployment if I am not mistaken. Similar in Darwin I hear. I'd imagine it would be easier finding work there than Cairns but I could be way off on this.

Why does it have to be the East by the way? Why not start in Melbourne and work your way to Adelaide, Alice and then onto Darwin? Or the West Coast startng off in Perth?

Well was never in oz so just said id start north east instead of down south like every1 else also when i arrive i heard it will be kinda cold down in melbourne,

i will arrive in cairns, doesnt necessarilly mean i have to stay there, any place there is a job to do me a couple of months ill gladly go there

Doc

Alice Springs has very high unemployment but not because there is no jobs there. Its because of the fact that many people who live there don’t work because of the benefits they receive from the government. If you were getting your house paid for and money for food drink and bills you may be less bothered about going out and getting a job which is what is happening with some of the aboriginal community that live in Alice.
Having said that even if there are jobs going in Alice Springs there is no way I would want to stay there longer then a few days. It’s a weird place.

Pisco Sour

RaZZTheKiD wrote: »

Well was never in oz so just said id start north east instead of down south like every1 else also when i arrive i heard it will be kinda cold down in melbourne,

i will arrive in cairns, doesnt necessarilly mean i have to stay there, any place there is a job to do me a couple of months ill gladly go there

I don't tend to listen to Australians when they mention the word "cold". I tell ya if Ireland had winters like Melbourne we'd all be very happy campers indeed. The people over here have no understanding of the difference between what is actually cold and what is just a little unpleasent at times.

kiwipower

04072511 wrote: »

I don't tend to listen to Australians when they mention the word "cold". I tell ya if Ireland had winters like Melbourne we'd all be very happy campers indeed. The people over here have no understanding of the difference between what is actually cold and what is just a little unpleasent at times.

You would be surprised what you become use to. I can remeber my second winter in QLD I found it could when it gote to 20 degrees! Now I over heat at 25degrees!

And one quick Caviate some parts of Australia like NZ really do have winters!

Fordey73

Ive been living in Sydney for 10 years and it is just way too overcrowded and extremely expensive. What do you do for work? The construction industry in Sydney has ground to a halt recently so if thats your line of work you would be better off in Brisbane.

As for the East coast I wouldnt bother, either go across the Nullaboor from Sydney to Perth or go up the middle from Adelaide to Darwin. The East coast is just touristy crap,,,really awful stuff and expensive. The red centre is amazing and youll see things there that epitomise Australia.

But you will have fun