Hey all,
Yes! Absolutely you should do it.
I missed my chance at a working holiday in the UK and regret it endlessly. At the very least it is a chance to try out the lifestyle, country, etc and see how you go. If you don't like it you can always return home or pick another country but if you never take that opportunity, you will never know.
Good luck!
Don't go with the expectation of staying in Australia for good. Yes, it can happen, but that should not be the goal of your trip, or you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Go with the goal of just experiencing a completely different lifestyle for a year. Of discovering who you are when you're freed from the bonds of expectations of friends and family, when every day, it's just you and what you make of the day.
Having a "secure" job is explicitly against the terms of your . You're meant to get 'casual' employment, in order to afford further travelling. (Though admittedly they're pretty flexible with this, allowing you to work a whopping six months for the same employer nowadays.)
And yes, it's absolutely worth it. You will see and do so much. You will learn so much about yourself, overcome so many problems, meet so many people... You'll probably have a travelling phase, where you go from town to town once or twice a week, and stay at hostels. At some point your funds will be running low, and/or you'll find a place you really like, where you'd like to stay for a while longer, and there you'll (hopefully) find work. If you're lucky, in a field related to what you do for a profession. Once you've snagged that job, you'll find a share house (a room of your own in a house rented by a couple of other young people, who don't need the room, and can surely use the help with paying rent), and stay there for a couple of months, before getting back on the road to do the same thing again.
Make sure you have a rough itinerary in mind of where to go (just a list of vaguely interesting sounding places - up or down the coast), so that if you want to get out of a place, you'll know without research where you go next. But also don't be afraid at all to deviate from this itinerary, to backtrack, to linger, to fly halfway across the country for a good opportunity. Talk with fellow travellers, ask them where it's good to stay, ask them what they liked best. Indulge yourself.
Money-wise, the minimum you need for heading over there is AUD $5000 (required by the WHV). For an average backpacker, that much money lasts barely two months, which means you basically have to get work pretty much as soon as you arrive. About double that would be the minimum I'd advice to have available, so you can actually get your bearing for a bit before having to start looking for work. Even more money beyond that just makes things easier and easier for yourself.
Basically, don't expect to get rich from working in Australia; work is a way to save up a small bit so you can do a bit more travelling within the country - but nothing more.
0 Response to "Australia... Should i take the plunge?"
Post a Comment