Holiday Work in Australia

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Why work in Australia?

Many travellers opt for a one year work visa in order to find the time and resources to see more of this vast country.
It is so common for backpackers to work their way round Oz that job opportunities and recruitment are relatively easy to find compared to other countries.

Tour operators offering tours to Australia can be found in our listings here: Australia Tours

Downside:
- Sitting in offices in the business district of a large city, or washing dishes in a greasy cafe is never going to be a bonza time.
- You may get heavily taxed, check with your boss.

Visas:
- Visitor visas allow most nationalities to stay up to 3 months, though londer visas are not difficult to get.
- One year working holiday visas are available for 18-30 year olds, lasting one year, to UK, Irish, Dutch, Canadian, Korean, Maltese, Japanese, German or Italian citizens.
- Working visa applications must be organised BEFORE arriving in Australia.
- Restrictions apply, such as not staying with any one employer for more than 6 [new in 2006] months.
- Applicants must have a return ticket and/or proof of funds [A$1,000 per month].
- US citizens do not have automatic right to a visa, but if you are under 30 and can prove you have funds for travel you stand a good chance.
To check the latest arrangements go to Australia's immigration office.

Health:
Australia has no disease problems, but also no shortage of toxic wildlife or adrenalin activities that can lead to damage.
Long-stay or working visitors are advised to obtain a free Medicare Card from a Medicare Centre. This makes getting free treatment in public hospitals a doddle - though ambulance rides, GP visits, or dental treatment are not free.
You will need to show your passport and your National Health documents, so bring them to Oz!

Popular holiday work options:

1] Fruit picking: all over Australia; good fun but hard; it's possible to save a lot of dollars in a short time [picture top left, Tasmania in May].

Many backpacker hostels have an arrangement with local farms to recruit and house you, for example Bunderberg, Queensland [rum and sugar country].
The Mission Beach area has plantations and is near Cairns and lots of activities.
You can earn from AU$1000-5000 in a six week season.

2] WWOOFING: buy a $35 membership to the Worldwide Organisation for Organic Farming. A couple of hours a day in return for bed and board and usually a ride onto the next farm. A cheap, informative, interesting way to travel the country, especially off the beaten track. There are 1300 host farms.

3] Cafes and bars: cities, resorts and outback towns all need casual labour. Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns being the most popular. From $15 an hour.

4] Call centres: if you like talking to 300 people a day for three minutes at a time from all over Australia, this one is for you. Normally well paid ($20-30 an hour), 3-6 week placements, long hours available, along with other travellers, recruited from hostels in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

5] Specific skills: au pair, nurses, secretaries, mechanics, computer technicians and electricians appear to be particularly in demand and make obtaining a work visa much easier if you are over 30 years old.
TNT magazine has lists of recruitment agencies. Watersport instructors and crew for windsurfing, sailing, diving, lifeguards etc. are always needed in tourist resorts.

6] Weird options: can be high paid. e.g. on the rodeo circuit; as a jack or jillaroo on huge ranches, rounding up cattle with helicopters; sheep shearing...