Working Holiday Australia Part 4: Where to Work and Live

Now that you have decided to come to Australia, got your visa, and got yourself financially set up, you have arrived! Although homeless and jobless, you have begun your adventure down under.

Getting A Place

If you are a traveller that is going to jump from place to place, hostels, room shares, or anywhere that does not require you to sign a lease agreement is a good place to take up residence. When picking a hostel or a room share please consider the following:

• Cleanliness
• How many people to a room
• Internet/TV access
• Proximity to work (if you have a job)
• Proximity to public transportation (since you probably don’t have a car)
• Price (does it fit your budget)
• Minimum stay (if any)
• Read the reviews – all the websites below have traveller reviews. I have always found them pretty true to the places I stayed in.
• Can you obtain work in the hostel so you are able to stay for free?

Here are a few good websites for hostel booking in Australia.

• Hostelz.com
• Nomads Hostels
• Base Hostels – I have stayed at 2 base hostels and they were some of my favorite.
• Hostelworld.com
• Bookingbuddy.com

If you are staying in one location for a longer period of time, room shares and apartments are a good way to go and there are plenty of them especially in city areas. You can still live in a hostel, but if you want to establish a more permanent residence I would personally suggest getting your own space.

Here are some websites to find room shares and places for rent:

• Gumtree – It’s like the Australia Craig’s list and you can find almost anything you are looking for on here and cheap prices.
• Realestate.com
• Apartment Australia

Finding Work

On your Working Holiday Australia Visa, you are permitted to work for a company for a max of 6 months. You can choose to do something you are skilled or have experience in, or you can take this time to try a job for the experience and not just the money. This is a good opportunity to take those odd jobs that could be super interesting or at least give you a funny story for later.

Some job categories that backpackers can participate in are:

• Fruit picking, farming (good if you are going for a second year visa)
• Promotional sales work
• Hospitality jobs
• Nursing
• Construction or other tradie work
• Nanny/child care

For some of these categories you may need to take a training course for a day or two to get a special certification. For example, I took on bar jobs during my time in Australia but to be hired I needed to take a 4-hour Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course. This was necessary for this type of work as majority of places with not hire you without the RSA certification.

Here are some websites to find jobs within Australia:

• Gumtree
• SEEK.com – Top job website for Australia and New Zealand

You are all set! You got a job and a place to sleep. Of course, now that you’re settled in, its time to have fun! In our last and final part of this series we will discuss what you must see while you spend your time in the Land of Oz.

Please comment with your questions or thoughts! Love to hear from you! 😀