Working Holidays in Australia

Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘Should I do a working holiday in Australia’? Yes you should and getting started is easier than you might think!

Do you want to live abroad and change your life?

With thousands of young people heading for the shores of Australia every year to embark on a working holiday, the thought of joining them can seem daunting.

It’s only natural to feel a little nervous about what happens when you get there, ‘what jobs can you do on a working holiday visa Australia’, ‘how easy is it to find a job’, ‘which city is best to base myself’ are just some of the frequently asked questions.

We get lots of enquiries and in this guide we’re going to talk you though the whole process and share some helpful tips for visas, eligibility, how to apply and advice for getting a job when you’re there.

Start planning the ultimate move Down Under today.

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Australia Working Holiday Visas

The Working Holiday Australia Visa, also called the WHV Australia, is a great way to work and travel Australia.

This program is hugely popular for backpackers and gap year students, as it gives the opportunity to experience a new culture, gain new skills, and it’s a great way to fund your travels for an extended stay.

By participating in the Working Holiday Australia program, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of the people and their day to day lives, you’ll get a real feel for the heartbeat of the country, and you’ll get out of your comfort zone by trying different and unusual jobs.

Whether you are a budding backpacker, you’re doing some travelling, or just looking to do a working hol iday to fund your travels, the WHV Australia program provides a way for you to do just that!

Eligibility

First of all, you must be between the ages of 18 – 30 years old, and you must come from a qualifying country. And depending on where you come from, there are actually two visa categories.

A working holiday visa can take up to 4 weeks to process – so leave plenty of time before you want to go!
How long to I have to use it once I have it? 
Once you have been granted your working holiday visa you can travel to Australia as soon as you like to start your working holiday.

Bear in mind you only have 12 months to enter the country and activate it, so if you don’t use your visa within 12 months then you’ll have lost the right to use it altogether, and you don’t get another chance – so be sure you’re ready to go before you apply!

Once you step foot in Australia, you then have another 12 months to work. If you take part in certain specified types of work such as fruit picking, farm work, fishing or mining (among others) in selected regions of the country, you’ll be able to extend your visa by another year, giving you two full years of working holiday fun!

Structured Packages & Starter Packs

Some gap year companies can help arrange your work abroad package with group flight options (ready made friends), orientation, access to our Australian recruitment agency and job placement services, weekly ‘ice-breaker’ welcome drinks, accommodation advice and assistance, tax expert to provide advice and information about tax and superannuation refunds – and so much more!

Work and Play Starter Packs are designed to help make the start of your working holiday as easy as possible – leaving you to carry on enjoying all the fun stuff that comes with being in Australia!

The packs are customised for each of the major cities including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and contain airport transfers, 7 nights accommodation, bank account, tax file number, Medicare set up and AU SIM card, 12 months’ access to the Job Search Australia online jobs board and Job Search Australia offices nationwide and a ton of other work and play related activities, bus passes, day trip to help you make friends and start your new life in Australia.

How to Find a Job

Once you’ve arrived in you’re going to be pumped and ready to explore, meet friends get out on the beers.

The last thing you’re going to be wanting to think about is how you set up your bank account, sort out your tax code (essential if you don’t want to end up paying half your wages to the Aussie taxman) and finding a job – snoozesville!

Luckily, the jobs market is a big and developed industry, and with thousands of other working holiday Australia makers already there, job agencies and job boards are plentiful.

There are agencies and job boards for farm jobs, retail, hospitality, construction, nursing, engineering, childcare, fruit picking and many more. You may even just end up working in exchange for board and meals.

And like most things in life, personal contacts can play a huge role. Do you know somebody already on a WHV Australia visa and doing what you want to do? Make sure you talk with everyone and anyone both in person when you arrive, and online through the social networks that are available today.

Also, if you have applied for a package with an agency, you may even already have your employment pre-arranged through a reputable company.

Here are some tips and things you can do to help you along in your quest to bag the job you want on your working holiday in Australia.

Plan Ahead!
Start prepping your CV at home before you go and travel to Australia with a folder full of copies all printed and ready to hand out.

It also makes sense to try and line up some interviews for after you’ve arrived. With the job site membership you’ll get as part of our Work and Play starter packs you’ll be able to start looking for jobs before you leave the UK.

Research, Research, Research
Think about the kind of work you want to look for and where’s best to head to find that kind of job. For example, If you like the idea of working as a dive instructor then Queensland is a great option. If you want to work behind a bar, chances are Melbourne or Sydney are going to have more opportunities.

That said, Australia is so diverse that you shouldn’t necessarily based your decision around work. Research the culture of each place you’re considering and have a think about where you’d be most happy personally.

For example, Melbourne is great for culture vultures and is quite arty, where as Sydney has excellent nightlife, lots of open green spaces and the people there enjoy a very outdoorsy lifestyle so it’s great way to please your city slicker and beach bum personalities. Perth, Darwin, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns are all different again and there’s the smaller town dotted along the coast to consider too.

Be Open Minded
Take chances and open your mind to every possible new experience. The general rule is – if it feels good, do it!

If you’re used to sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day in the UK, that by no means dictates that you’ll only get jobs in offices doing the same role in Aus. Push yourself, get out of your comfort zone and maybe even start getting experience in the months leading up to your arrival in Aus to give yourself a better chance of bagging a job somewhere a bit different

For example, Take lifeguard course, learn to dive if you’re passing through Asia on your way to Aus. Think about what kind of work you’d like to do on arrival in Aus and prep.

Fill In Any Gaps In Your Skill Set
This fits in with the point above, Think ahead and consider what kind of jobs you’d possibly like to do once you arrive in Australia and start filling in any gaps you have in your skill set now to really help you stand out to employers who could possibly be interviewing a host of other potential employees.

Use Gumtree Carefully
Gumtree is a great resource for job and flat hunting on arrival in Australia, but, tread carefully, sometimes vacancies are not exactly as they seem.

Sometimes employers adjust the location of their business and/or the responsibilities you’d be expected to undertake in order to get more replies and it can sometime be that the ad isn’t the same as the reality. If you do reply to ads on the site keep an open mind until you’ve found out more info in person.

Use A Good Job Search Site
Taking in to account the point above, it’s always a good idea to sign up to reputable job sites.

If You Want To Work Behind A Bar – Be Prepared
Getting a job behind a bar in Australia isn’t quite as straight forward as it is here in the UK. If you want to serve alcohol, you’ll need to have an RSA certificate.

Completing the course is pretty pain free – it should only take you a day and costs about $70. Only issue is that each state has different form of the RSA so you’ll need to be sure what state you want to work in before you apply (or just get one for every state to hedge you bets!)

If you want to do bar work, look into getting your RSA as soon as you know what state you want to live in.

Stand Out From The Crowd
It may sound like a cliché, but personality really does count for a lot – especially when applying for jobs on your working holiday.

Generally, Australian employers place a lot of emphasis on how well your character will fit into their business and how enthusiastic you are to join them.

That’s not to say experience doesn’t count – of course it does, but if you can sell yourself well and get people to like you, it’s more likely they’ll take a chance on you.

Farm, Fruit Picking and Agriculture Work

Fruit picking in Australia is a great way for you to earn extra cash to supplement your Working Holiday and it is possible for you to move around finding fruit picking work along the way. You will find that a lot of working holiday makers will follow similar routes, following the harvests. The work is physically demanding and early starts are a common requirement, but there is a great satisfaction in the healthy outdoors living.

Work is usually in small rural towns that provide a great way of getting to know the locals and experiencing the ‘real’ Australia. Some farms offer on-site accommodation, while in other areas you can stay in hostels or caravan parks. Hostel and caravan park staff will be a great help in finding you work. Also check out the local papers and notice boards for job vacancies.

New South Wales
Seasonal work, from November to April is the busiest period, with the main harvest reaching a peak in February. Fruit picking work can be found around the central eastern district around Bathurst. Main produce includes orchard fruits, cotton, onions and asparagus. All year round, around northern coastal areas of NSW, near Coffs Harbour bananas are grown all year.

Victoria
Seasonal work, from November to April peaking in February is the main season for fruit picking jobs in Victoria. Work is to found in central northern areas of Victoria around Shepparton, also a good area to look for work is along the Murray River, places such as Mildura and Swan Hill often required seasonal workers. Main harvests include orchard fruits, tomatoes, tobacco, grapes and soft fruits.

Queensland
Seasonal work, from December to March. Work is usually available around Warwick. Harvest includes stone and orchard fruits, grapes. May to December, on the Central Coast of Queensland near Bowen, lots of different fruit and vegetables grown, especially mangoes at the end of the year. May to November, the northern coast around Ayr and Ingham, usually work available picking sugar cane, bananas and tobacco. All year round, work is available on the southern central coast around Bundaberg and Childers, most types of fruit and vegetables are harvested.

Tasmania
Seasonal work, from December to March. Orchard and Soft fruits, grapes.

South Australia
Seasonal work, February to April work is usually available around The Barossa Valley picking grapes. All year round, Around the Riverland area, picking citrus and soft fruits. If you plan to move here view our guide to the best places to visit in South Australia.

Western Australia
Seasonal work, October to June the southwest work available harvesting grapes and orchard fruits. March to November fishing and processing work available for crayfish, prawns and scallops available on the west coast between Fremantle and Carnarvon. May to October fruit and vegetable picking and packing jobs available in the northeast, around Kununurra.

Tips for Moving to Australia

Moving to a new country can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be, and thousands have done it before you. There are oodles of information, websites, vlogs, blogs and TikTok videos out there to help you get started, including our guide below.

Save Money Before You Go

This step is pretty obvious, but let’s just reiterate that fact that you will need some money!

If you’re traveling to Australia on a one-way ticket, the Australian government asks that you have proof of funds totalling AUD $5,000, plus additional funds to cover a return ticket (which is approx. AUD $1,000) so AUD $6,000 in total which works out to be approximately (GBP£5000) (US$4,800) based on current exchange rates.

Alternatively, if you have a return ticket, you’ll require AUD $5,000 (so approximately $4,000 based on the current exchange rate).

You may be asked to provide evidence of this in the form of a recent bank statement.

Australia also isn’t cheap, prices for dorms in hostels are the price of hotels in Asia. This article about how much money you need for 1 month in Australia will help give you an idea of costs.

How to Get to Australia

One of your biggest costs in re-locating will be your airfare. But if you do some research, can be a little flexible with your travel dates, and be ready to act when the price is right for you, then you can find some good discounts.

Many airlines fly to Australia and prices can vary considerably, depending on the time of year and your location, so it pays to shop around. View our tips how to cheap flights to Australia.

Bear in mind that a flight to Australia is a great opportunity to stop and explore another area of the world on your way there, such as India, Thailand or Malaysia and often you’re able to stop for free! Check out multi-stop flights and remember many of these can also be done as one ways.

Best Places to Live

The iconic cities are your best bet for finding work – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane are the main locations. A lot of jobs on farms are in rural locations like New South Wales and the Outback.

The east coast due to tourism is also a popular destination to move to, places like Surfers Paradise and Cairns have lots of vacancies in the travel/hospitality industries.

Accommodation

Sydney hotels are a great option for new arrivals who have just survived the long flight to Australia and want to lay down their luggage in comfort. It can be a good idea to relax and recoup a bit before braving the job and apartment hunt in whichever city you decide to lay down roots in.

Prices in Australia will vary greatly depending on where you live and in what kind of accommodation you choose. You will probably find yourself staying at a backpacker’s hostel for awhile when you first rock up. Most offer weekly rates that will range in price from $100-$120 for a dorm room.

Generally speaking, the larger the dorm room, the lower the price and cities like Sydney and Melbourne will be more expensive than small town hostels. Many people will live in hostels for their entire time in Australia as it allows to you pick up and leave on a whim, is a great place to meet lots of people, and you don’t have to clean! But if you don’t mind cleaning, working a few hours a day to cover the cost of your bed can usually be arranged.

Making Friends

Australian’s are lucky because their government has set up a lot of Working Holiday Programs with other nations. This means that Aussies have a lot of options when it comes to working abroad and also means that, because the program is reciprocal, there will be a large mix of nationalities that you’ll meet on your working holiday trail.

So while you will no doubt meet lots of Australians, you’ll also come across countless British backpackers, plenty of Irish, loads of Germans, heaps of Japanese, the occasional Malaysian, the odd Yank, some Swedes, a lot of other Canucks and people from at least 10 more nations from around he globe.

This makes Australia a great stop for first-timer Working Holidaymakers who intend on heading off to other countries to work because you’ll no doubt make friends with lots of different nationalities and have connections all over the world!

Food and Drink

There are some things in Oz that are bargains like big, juicy steaks and fresh produce but overall food isn’t cheap. Since prices change all the time, I’ve included links to the most popular supermarkets. Eating takeaways and at retaurants will kill your budget fast, so cooking at home or in your hostel is a good habit to get into.

Supermarkets:
• Woolworths

Australia has a huge drinking culture and getting caught up in it will be very easy. Prices at pubs are probably on par with prices in Canada but if you buy drinks at the liquor store you’ll save a bundle. This is especially true for wine by the box – also called ‘goon’. If you’re looking to save money on booze without having to give up drinking then goon will be your best mate. It costs between $12-15 for 4 litres, sometimes 5. It’s of dubious quality and varieties include ‘red lambrusco’ and ‘fruity lexia’ but it does the trick.

Banking

Getting a bank account in Australia is a reasonably pain free process. There’s always that slim chance that you’ll get a wanker who’ll turn you away, but if you do there are plenty of other banks that will be happy to do business with you. Generally all you’ll need is your passport and an address where your statements can be sent. Employers usually prefer directly to your bank account so without one they’ll have to write a cheque and you might be charged as much as $10 to cash it.

Banks:
• Westpac
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia
• National Australia Bank
• ANZ

Tax

To avoid being taxed at a criminal rate of 49%, you’ll have to sort out your tax number as soon as possible. Getting this number will reduce your tax rate to a still appauling 29% but without it you probably won’t be able to survive. If you’ve secured employment before arriving in Australia, your employer will ideally help setup your taxes. You should ask if the employer has a business insurance at AAMI.com.au policy in case a liability issue ever arises while you’re there.

Getting your number is pretty straightforward and it’s best to get it online, applying just after entering the country. You can’t apply from abroad. You can get more information and apply at the Australian Taxation Office website. You will need your passport number, a postal address for your Tax File Number to be sent to (I used a hostel address) and it will take about 20 minutes. If you want more info and would prefer to speak to a person head to your nearest ATO office or call 132861.

Getting a tax return in Australia is a bit of a grey area but there are loads of companies out there that want to help in order to take a piece of the return or a flat fee. Or if you’ve got some patience you can have a go at it on your own.

Insurance

One important issue that always comes up is healthcare, but luckily for some, the Australian Government has signed a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with certain countries. And another important thing to consider before leaving home is travel insurance. A lot of insurance companies offer specific working holiday protection, research all policies to find the best one for you.

Sightseeing & Getting Around

Work to live – don’t live to work!

Yes, a working holiday in Australia is an amazing opportunity to integrate into a new place and potentially save a great amount of money to fund further travels or whatever else you want.

But, don’t let all that work distract you from all the amazing experiences available in Australia. Don’t get so caught up with earning money that you forget about the experience – there are amazing natural wonders and unique new cities on your doorstep – make the most of them!

Australia is a BIG place and getting around can really eat into your budget. Depending on where you want to travel to, what you want to see, who you want to travel with, and for how long, will be a factor in what’s best for you.

You can discover Oz by road, by train, by air, by bike, by boat, and by foot. You may travel independently, or as part of an organised tour group.

Do you want to explore a city, explore the outback, explore the never ending coastline, visit a National Park, tour a winery, attend a festival or a sporting event?

Whatever it is, Australia is vast and has everything to satisfy and excite.

Plan Your Trip Down Under

Besides all the practical reasons for spending up to a year or two here, it goes without saying that Australia is a bloody fun place! With beaches, rainforest, a great sporting culture and lively locals who love a good piss-up, you will definitely find something that interests you and have a lot of fun along the way.

A working holiday in Australia is a once in a lifetime opportunity take your life, shake it up and inject a dose of fun, adventure and independence. Whether you fancy going to work abroad or like the idea of a gap year in Australia, this experience could change your life.

Prepare to discover a new and more extreme way to enjoy life – in the most beautiful of settings and don’t forget to have the time of your life. If you are still researching options you might like to also view our guide to working holidays in New Zealand.