Hello my name is Chris 24 from Liverpool, seriously considering going to OZ for a working holiday later this year!
Hey Chris,
I'm arriving in Cairns on 11th Sept, and staying at Gilligan's Backpacker's Resort for my first week. Then I'm planning on travelling/working my way down the east coast for up to a year.
I haven't heard of Banana Barracks; just had a quick look on the internet and it looks like it's in a place called Tully (presumably near the Tully River - which I MUST go white water rafting on!!), rather than being in the centre of Cairns.
Like most places, it's got some really good reviews and some really bad ones. It doesn't seem to be offered on any of the main hostel booking websites though, not sure if that's a bad thing or not!
I usually go on Hostebookers website and look at the reviews on there, the hostels are listed based on highest % satisfaction from previous guests.
Like Tracy mentions, it doesn't seem to be listed on any of the major hostel booking sites (Travellerspoint combines them all, + their trusted ratings, here in our , so if we don't have it, no one does ). There's usually two reasons for that. The first is that the property never signed up with any of these booking sites. The second is that they did but messed up a few bookings and thus have been removed from the booking sites.
One other point worth making is that Tully (the town) is a good 140k or so away from Cairns! Not exactly 'next door' if that's what you were after. Great place for rafting though! It's been a few (10+) years since I did that, but I still remember it fondly!
Ooops yer that right its outside Cairns haha I've just checked on google maps too.
Hello Tracy, what are you planning to do after that first week? you looking to work in Cairns or move on straight away?
Thanks for the info Sam!
Does anyone know what the Job situation is like in Queensland? How have people found it in the past finding work in Aus?
I don't have any solid plans as such! I want to travel for about a month hopefully before looking for work. I think there are more opportunities in the big cities like Sydney & Melbourne, but equally more backpackers job-seeking I guess! I've heard some people have found it easy to get jobs, some have found it hard and had to go home early. Hoping i'll be one of the 'lucky' ones!
The job situation in Australia is actually pretty good at the moment. Like Tracy mentions, there are 'more' opportunities in Sydney/Melbourne, but there are also a lot of backpackers looking to stay there. I put more in single quotes, as there is actually a ton of opportunities outside of the cities, it's just usually a different type of work (fruit picking, farm work etc.). Not all backpackers want to do that kind of work, but if you do and are good at it, you can actually save a lot more money that way. Usually you get accommodation included (or it's dirt cheap as you aren't in the cities), and there is less to spend your money on, so you can save a lot more that way. But it's hard work and certainly not the kind of thing every backpacker likes doing for months on end.
One good thing about doing it for at least 3 months is that you can get a second working holiday visa if you do!
Hello Chris,
Im James 27 from Liverpool also.
Im heading to Cairns on the 23rd september.
I was granted my working holiday visa in december, so the plan is to head over there in september. Im looking on working for a few months in Cairns then makeing my way down the coast. Looking for work along the way.
The banana barracks is actually a working hostel located in Tully. They WILL find you work on one of the banana farms around there. It's the most popular hostel although the most expensive in the area, you have the Savoy, hotel tully, and the caravan park as well but the barracks is the only place that will guarantee to find you work. I think it is a $300 key deposit as well when you first get there. The bar is also not too bad but I prefer the hotel tully across the street for $7 jugs.
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