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Australia WHV, looking for advice!!
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19-11-2018 3:01pm#1Just got my WHV granted, hoping to go there at the beginning of 2019. I have no plan so any and all advice welcome!!
Some initial questions that come to mind:
1. Where to start in Australia? I believe the east coast is the best to backpack down (or up?)
2. Roughly how much money would you recommend to have saved before leaving?
3. Best farm work places for the second year extension?
4. Would I be wasting my time getting a construction white card to do some construction work while I am there(I heard the pay is exceptional even though the work is very demanding) ? Currently just qualified with a Business and Management degree and have some previous office experience
And just any other tips and advice would be greatly appreciated!! I'll be going by myself so trying to get somewhat of a loose plan before leavingTagged:0
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Marcus1234 wrote: »Just got my WHV granted, hoping to go there at the beginning of 2019. I have no plan so any and all advice welcome!!
Some initial questions that come to mind:
1. Where to start in Australia? I believe the east coast is the best to backpack down (or up?)
2. Roughly how much money would you recommend to have saved before leaving?
3. Best farm work places for the second year extension?
4. Would I be wasting my time getting a construction white card to do some construction work while I am there(I heard the pay is exceptional even though the work is very demanding) ? Currently just qualified with a Business and Management degree and have some previous office experience
And just any other tips and advice would be greatly appreciated!! I'll be going by myself so trying to get somewhat of a loose plan before leaving
Have you thought about doing it through the likes of USIT? It's often not much more and they can fix you up with a bank account, tax number etc.
I think they have a jobs database as well.
I went last year but not for the typical WHV experience, I was using it as a beard to get experience in my field which has way more work in Australia than anywhere else.0 -
I looked into that and to be honest I don't think what they do justifies the extra money you would have to pay them.
I have already sorted the visa myself and opening a bank account and sorting tax numbers etc. is fairly straight forward to do yourself. The only thing I would be using them for if I were to use an agency would be the job connections and I could just sign up to a recruitment agency or go onto gradaustralia etc. for that instead!!
I know that might sound a bit cheap of me but I'm trying to save any penny I can so if I can do something myself instead of paying someone to I will!!0 -
You need a loose plan, if your planning on working early obviously you’ll need less cash but if you want to travel around a bit you’ll obviously need a lot more.
I’d say head to Sydney or Melbourne get into a hostel and get talking to the people there to see what they’ve done and what’s worked for them recently.
Be willing to change your plans at the drop of a hat if something interesting comes up and don’t get caught in one place for 12 months.0 -
Bank accts are very easy to set up in Australia. All you need is ID, passport, birth certificate and usually something with your address on it.
Depending on how much money you are starting with would be more as to where to direct you. Landing in Sydney there are numerous employment agencies in the CBD that will happily sign you up. As a casual you can expect to earn anywhere from $20 dollars p/h up to $45 p/h for even unskilled labour work. Basically same for Melbourne. The farm work is very seasonal and once you land there will be numerous contacts within the backpacker hostels saying what and where the next farms jobs are. Be very weary of doing any cash in hand farm work as it will affect you ability to gain an extension of time on your visa.
General warehouse work can be found on a casual basis fairly easy in Sydney and Melbourne. Construction work is harder and unless you know somebody on the inside it can cost more than a little for licenses and cards etc and you might not even get work.
Happy to answer any questions if you wanted to pm me.0 -
Wow thanks a million guys this is all really helpful stuff!!
I have a cousin that lives in Sydney that I could reach out to and possibly start from there if they would be ok with it. I'm thinking of trying to land into the 3 months farm work as quickly as possible when I get over there, number 1 to just get it out of the way and number 2 I have heard the bed and board is provided along with basic wage in them?
If that's true it would take the stress of sorting accommodation out straight off the plane away and I could build up a small cushion of funds from the 3 months farm work done for the next stage0 -
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You can easily set up a bank account. I doubt you need your birth certificate. I didn't. Most backpackers don't carry their birth cert with them.
Jobs, plenty for WHV, a lot in call centres. Expect $25 an hour in Sydney.
White car is about $150 to day. Handy to have but don't expect much more than labouring and long hours.
With regional work, make sure its a legit place. It's been reported that farms take on backpackers with the promise of work, charge them weekly rent, food and then give them maybe 2 days a week to string them out as long as possible while taking their money. It's something to be careful of because you don't want to get stuck in that situation.
you can check what crops are in season and follow the work. If you decide on Sydney, you don't even need to go that far outside to get to an area classified as regional to work. Maybe 2 hours west.
A driving licence is a big bonus here. Almost everyone drives and most jobs may require a licence. Provisional licences aren't acceptable over here.0 -
You can easily set up a bank account. I doubt you need your birth certificate. I didn't. Most backpackers don't carry their birth cert with them.
Jobs, plenty for WHV, a lot in call centres. Expect $25 an hour in Sydney.
White car is about $150 to day. Handy to have but don't expect much more than labouring and long hours.
With regional work, make sure its a legit place. It's been reported that farms take on backpackers with the promise of work, charge them weekly rent, food and then give them maybe 2 days a week to string them out as long as possible while taking their money. It's something to be careful of because you don't want to get stuck in that situation.
you can check what crops are in season and follow the work. If you decide on Sydney, you don't even need to go that far outside to get to an area classified as regional to work. Maybe 2 hours west.
A driving licence is a big bonus here. Almost everyone drives and most jobs may require a licence. Provisional licences aren't acceptable over here.
Ahh ok brilliant, I think I might start off in Sydney so and go from there. I have a full drivers licence so thats good to hear too!!0 -
Marcus1234 wrote: »Ahh ok brilliant, I think I might start off in Sydney so and go from there. I have a full drivers licence so thats good to hear too!!
I meant to say white card is $150 to do.0 -
I'm over here 5 months now so I can share my experiences if it helps.
Q1> I landed in Melbourne but moved to Sydney after a week. I'd recommend either tbh. However I think Melbourne is a nicer city. It just feels neater compared to Sydney. There currently building a light rail/LUAS in Sydney so half of the CBD is a bit of a mess as the minute.
Q2> I went over with about $6.5k. The minimum your meant to have entering the country is $5k but its rarely checked.
As someone already said, it depends how long you want to venture around before you'd like to start working. I started working after about 3-4 weeks but was still financially comfortable at that point.
Q3> Farm work. Theres many places around where you can do farm work, mostly out in the sticks (or regional areas as their properly known).
I'm currently out near Mildura at the moment.
All of South Australia (yes even Adelaide), Northern Territory and Tasmania are considered regional areas.
Areas that are not eligible are pretty much all the other major city's like Sydney, Brisbane etc.
Popular places that you'll hear will probably be Bundaberg, Cairns, Mildura, Riverland area.
Bundaberg is probably the best known but not all for the right reasons.
There's loads more I could tell you regarding farm work but ill let you PM me if you need more info.
Q4> I worked on a construction site as a general labourer in Sydney. Was getting paid $25ph plus overtime ($50ph on Saturdays) massive difference from €9.55 back home :pac:
I'd typically come out with about $1250 a week but was working 54 hrs a week. Mostly swept, filled skips, the odd use of grinders and jackhammer and concreting. A lot of Irish and Brits working on site over here, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.
It's an easy game to get into as there crying out for workers in the construction sector over here.
I done my white card through CBD College in Sydney and it cost me $79, think there was a sale at the time however.
Other tips/info
I booked coming over here through USIT who are just off O'Connell Bridge. Cost me €1131 altogether for flights, insurance and visa.
I flew Cathay Pacific from Dublin - Hong Kong - Melbourne. Took about 24 hrs from start to finish. 12hr to HK and about 9hr to MEL. Second flight was harder then the first I felt.
Food is cheap but not as nice as home, beer is dear, smokes are probably most expensive in the world, rent is expensive enough in Sydney especially near Bondi and Coogee, Commonwealth is the best bank and Optus is the best phone company for value and finally it can get hot over here so heads up.
Anything else just PM me.0 -
Sexual Chocolate wrote: »I'm over here 5 months now so I can share my experiences if it helps.
Q1> I landed in Melbourne but moved to Sydney after a week. I'd recommend either tbh. However I think Melbourne is a nicer city. It just feels neater compared to Sydney. There currently building a light rail/LUAS in Sydney so half of the CBD is a bit of a mess as the minute.
Q2> I went over with about $6.5k. The minimum your meant to have entering the country is $5k but its rarely checked.
As someone already said, it depends how long you want to venture around before you'd like to start working. I started working after about 3-4 weeks but was still financially comfortable at that point.
Q3> Farm work. Theres many places around where you can do farm work, mostly out in the sticks (or regional areas as their properly known).
I'm currently out near Mildura at the moment.
All of South Australia (yes even Adelaide), Northern Territory and Tasmania are considered regional areas.
Areas that are not eligible are pretty much all the other major city's like Sydney, Brisbane etc.
Popular places that you'll hear will probably be Bundaberg, Cairns, Mildura, Riverland area.
Bundaberg is probably the best known but not all for the right reasons.
There's loads more I could tell you regarding farm work but ill let you PM me if you need more info.
Q4> I worked on a construction site as a general labourer in Sydney. Was getting paid $25ph plus overtime ($50ph on Saturdays) massive difference from €9.55 back home :pac:
I'd typically come out with about $1250 a week but was working 54 hrs a week. Mostly swept, filled skips, the odd use of grinders and jackhammer and concreting. A lot of Irish and Brits working on site over here, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.
It's an easy game to get into as there crying out for workers in the construction sector over here.
I done my white card through CBD College in Sydney and it cost me $79, think there was a sale at the time however.
Other tips/info
I booked coming over here through USIT who are just off O'Connell Bridge. Cost me €1131 altogether for flights, insurance and visa.
I flew Cathay Pacific from Dublin - Hong Kong - Melbourne. Took about 24 hrs from start to finish. 12hr to HK and about 9hr to MEL. Second flight was harder then the first I felt.
Food is cheap but not as nice as home, beer is dear, smokes are probably most expensive in the world, rent is expensive enough in Sydney especially near Bondi and Coogee, Commonwealth is the best bank and Optus is the best phone company for value and finally it can get hot over here so heads up.
Anything else just PM me.
You don't need to live near Bondi or Coogee though. Thats just where al the Irish go, by the beach so prices are inflated. It's also not got the best public transport. It's buses only in and out. Inner West area is cheaper and the further west you go the cheaper it gets, but theres less to do. The Inner West is a good balance.
Optus are a good value phone network but not the best. If you go out working rural/regional you'll have more chance of getting no reception with Optus than you will with a company like Telstra. It just depends where you are and how long you'll be there. Sim card deals are cheap and easy to pick up so no real drama there.0 -
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You don't need to live near Bondi or Coogee though. Thats just where al the Irish go, by the beach so prices are inflated. It's also not got the best public transport. It's buses only in and out. Inner West area is cheaper and the further west you go the cheaper it gets, but theres less to do. The Inner West is a good balance.
Kind of the point I was trying to make. I lived in neither btw. If your near Bondi junction you have the train in fairness but you'll pay through your hole for the privilege as mentioned.
If I do end up back in Sydney long term on my second year I'll be looking more out west as well.0 -
Thanks a million for all of the advice, its very helpful indeed!! The construction work sounds very interesting at $1250 a week for 54hours!! I would definitely be keen on getting into something like that as I actually enjoy manual labour (I know, I'm a weirdo like that). Would you know if that could count towards your regional work or not?
Just a little update too:
So I've booked flights and will be going from Ireland - Dubai - Melbourne. Booked into an airbnb for one week once I arrive in Melbourne just so I can get my bearings and sort out all the boring paper work stuff i need to do over there while having a place to put the head down. Also joined a commonwealth bank online and just have to collect the card over in a branch once I get there!!0 -
Marcus1234 wrote: »Thanks a million for all of the advice, its very helpful indeed!! The construction work sounds very interesting at $1250 a week for 54hours!! I would definitely be keen on getting into something like that as I actually enjoy manual labour (I know, I'm a weirdo like that). Would you know if that could count towards your regional work or not?
Just a little update too:
So I've booked flights and will be going from Ireland - Dubai - Melbourne. Booked into an airbnb for one week once I arrive in Melbourne just so I can get my bearings and sort out all the boring paper work stuff i need to do over there while having a place to put the head down. Also joined a commonwealth bank online and just have to collect the card over in a branch once I get there!!
Great best of luck with it, Just get into hostels to meet people it’s a doddle, as I said before don’t get caught in one place just because your enjoying it but also don’t be afraid to change plans quickly0 -
Marcus1234 wrote: »Thanks a million for all of the advice, its very helpful indeed!! The construction work sounds very interesting at $1250 a week for 54hours!! I would definitely be keen on getting into something like that as I actually enjoy manual labour (I know, I'm a weirdo like that). Would you know if that could count towards your regional work or not?
Just a little update too:
So I've booked flights and will be going from Ireland - Dubai - Melbourne. Booked into an airbnb for one week once I arrive in Melbourne just so I can get my bearings and sort out all the boring paper work stuff i need to do over there while having a place to put the head down. Also joined a commonwealth bank online and just have to collect the card over in a branch once I get there!!
Once you get to Melbourne apply for your TFN and USI number as well.0 -
Optus isn't good value for mobiles just one of the bigger operators. There are much better deals out there. I'm with Aldi and they're a Telstra reseller so the biggest and arguably best network in Australia especially if you're rural.
https://www.aldimobile.com.au/ I'm on the L pack which gives me 9gb of data a month with rollover and unlimited calls and texts to certain international numbers of which Ireland is one. Just grab a sim from any shop.0
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