johnlondon

Hello. I was just wondering once you are granted a skilled visa in Australia you are usually given up to 4 years there, are you required to carry out health and character checks once a year in Australia while you are there?

Well I decided to pay the extra 80 quid for the extra activities so I paid £240 in the end. I will get the medicare card out there too. Hey Reapa, I have no idea where we are going to do the Regional work but I got a feeling it will be over in the West Coast. I heard work is harder to find on the east coast but I could be wrong. You must know way more than me about it. Have you done a working holiday visa before? How did you get on finding work, was it easy or hard? Thanks

Hey Reapa108. I am going to Perth to start with 2 other friends on November 12th. I was gonna go alone earlier in the year but when my friends said they would come later in the year I decided to wait. We are going to do the 3 months regional work too. We will travel around and i will most likely go to Melbourne at some point as my cousin lives there. Yeah I do a lot of sport over here so will need to keep my fitness up in Australia. In all honesty, with how bad the weather has got over the last few days I'm so glad i'm leaving lol. What insurance are you getting?

hey thanks for the replies. Gavin the £162-243 is for a year.

Hey, I am going to Australia for a year in November on a working holiday visa and I am looking to take out travel insurance. I have been looking at the Outbacker Insurance Gold policy for £162. On Outbacker insurance there is also an option to add Category B Sports and Activities which includes insurance for football (soccer) and fruit picking. To include insurance for these Category B activities it will cost me an extra £81 which is £243. Now I do see myself playing football in Australia and possibly a bit of Fruit picking to complete my 3 months farm work so i can get a 2nd year visa. My question is, is it worth me paying this extra £80 quid for insurance for these activities when I can get a Medicare card in Australia which covers me for emergencies? I am having trouble deciding. Any help would be appreciated.

Additionally when you say bring lots of money, do any of you have an estimate of what would be a SAFE amount to bring? £3000? £4000? £5000? £6000? £7000? £10000? I intend to be out there a year but we will try and find work so our money doesn't run out. It would be good to hear from anyone who has been to Australia recently who went for a year and how much money you bought and how long it lasted?

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Thanks everyone for your replies. Yes this is exactly it, sounds like it is becoming harder to find work out there and Australia is nearing recession? The last thing I want to do is go over there and struggle and spend all my money within 5 months and then come home lol

Can't decide

Hey. I'm just wondering if anyone who is currently in Australia on a working holiday visa or who has been recently would like to share their experiences on finding work? Is it easy to find work? Also does the typical jobs you do on a working holiday visa pay enough to allow you to stay in Australia for the whole year? Which areas of Australia are currently good for work? I already have my working holiday visa and I was thinking about going out in April or May but I have read on pomzinoz that some people are struggling to find work, i'm not sure if they are talking about sponsored work or working holiday work? Basically i'm looking to bring about 4000 or 5000 pound out to Australia and travel around and work and possibly travel to some other countries too. If I know that it's hard to find work out there then I may even save some more money up here in England and go later in the year around September or October time. Anyone's opinion would be greatly appreciated. I need to make up my mind and decide whether I should go soon or leave it till late 2013. The last thing I want to happen is to go out to Australia and come home having spent all my money after 4 months as I haven't been able to find work. That would NOT be good! John

Hey Scott, thanks for the reply. I did try and send you a private message at 1st but your private messages are turned off. Yeah I do have a degree and experience but been looking for a good few months now and not had any luck yet. I've always wanted to do a working holiday visa in Australia so I now think is a good time to do it while i'm out of work. Even if I did get a job here in England for the next 6 months I would go out with friends to Australia towards the end of 2013. Yeah I won't write too much as I don't want to go off the subject on this board but was just wondering what you experience was like travelling on your own and did you work in different places while you were travelling before you started the insurance job in Melbourne, and was work easy to find? Obviously send me a private message if you want. Thanks.

Hello Scott, I can see you have a hard choice to make and if i was in the same situation as you i would be asking for advice too. I'd probably say go back to England and complete you degree and maybe in another few years you will be earning a lot more and you will be more qualified and then you can always go back out to Australia again. If the job in Australia is annoying you now then just think how you will feel in 6 months, unless of course you can get a better job out there? If there's no guarantee of a better job or position and your not liking your current job it may be worth going back to England and getting fully qualified as this will benefit you for the future. The reason I wanted to message you as well was because I have a decision to make myself. I did have a good job but now I am currently unemployed in england myself. I'm not sure if I live near you but I live near chelmsford in Essex. Over the last few years I have really got annoyed with things in england, there seems to be so much doom and gloom. Anyway I now have my working holiday visa and i'm suppose to be going with friends later in the year but because i'm out of work i'm thinking that i might go on my own out there early and then meet my friends when they arrive out there later in the year. I see that you went to australia on your own. I basically wanted to ask you, did you make loads of friends out there when travelling on your own? Also is it easy to find work out there? When you were travelling about initially did you bother doing any fruit picking or farm work or other kind of work and if you did how was it? Any info would be appreciated, i'm trying to decide whether i should go out there alone or not lol. It's a massive decision and its hard to decide just like your situation. regards john

hello yes, a 1 way flight.

Thanks Elsie. I read this somewhere: Which Bank is Best? This is a question of choice and what suits yours needs best. The biggest are Commonwealth bank, Westpac,NAB, St George and ANZ but there are also most international banks such as HSBC and Citi Bank. All offer slightly differing accounts but they all charge approximately the same fees and offer the same service provided you use their ATM machines and branches. One bank to consider, and the largest bank is the Commonwealth bank. They have the largest network of branches and ATM machines around Australia because if you are traveling around you get charged to use another banks ATM so it might make sense to use a bank which has ATM machines in all the places you are traveling to, plus the commonwealth allow you to use Bankwest machines free aswell. If you are sticking to the main cities then all the banks have ATM but you may struggle to find your own banks as you travel or in rural areas. According to that I might look at Commonwealth.

Hey, I live in England and i'm going to Australia in March on a working holiday visa. I need to open up a Australian bank account before I leave. Can anyone suggest a good bank to open up an account with? Thanks john