broomielover

Thanks a lot for the reply Nicola, good to know!

Hi, Just have a question please if anyone can help, my contract/sponsership on the 857 visa will be coming to an end at the end of January and I will definitely be leaving to pursue other career paths. I was just wondering if you had to tell the DIAC that you are leaving even though I will have fulfilled my sponsorship contract?? :wub:

Hi, Its not likely you will see many poisonous critters around oz, I traveled all around oz and only came into contact with few of spiders and couple of snakes. Yes they are there as everyone knows but you just learn to be careful e.g when bushland dont walk around in dark without anything on feet. Now living in one place for couple of years which has a lot of bushland around, so heaven for snakes only seen couple and few spiders (non Poisonous). I totally would'nt let this put you off coming over here. There is a lot of talk in England about oz having many Poisonous creatures and yea that is true but it isnt as if you see them every day of your life and stop you from going about you day to day routine! I would suggest though that if you are under 30, it would be good idea to come traveling over here first (working holiday visa) before deciding to live here as then you can get to see much of oz and suss out what you like/dislike about it. Then you can decide from there what suits you best, the places you like the most of e.t.c.

Yea 6000 should last you a bit, but I just say be carefull and dont get carried away with how much money you have to start off with as you want to be able to enjoy traveling a fair bit until you do get work! Seen it before travelers coming over here spending all their money in first couple off weeks, just getting carried away with the excitement, which is easy to do! I am sure you will be able to find people to jump in with in the city, many hostels around and always people coming up north. The best time to get jobs over here on West is just before the tourist season starts , so around April/May people start looking and perfect jobs for backpackers e.g hospitality work, cleaning, bar work, supermarkets, cafe work. So I would suggest if you want to work over here then start looking then!

Yes thats True Digitalis. Regarding living, you can do it cheaply if you are carefull, just depends on how much you like luxury or can make do with basics!

Sorry about about that pressed enter before writing it all opps! So Top half of oz - May-October Bottom half of oz - October to May. Best way to travel oz is by camper van for sure, you get to see the best sites, dont have a time limit as such and the cheapest way. Me and my partner did it this way and saw the best things, met the best people and can do it cheaply. Now i think you are traveling on you own?? If so its best to look in hostels for people that have extra room in thier camper vans, plenty of people willing to do this - cheaper for them and good to get extra company on the long drives! There are plenty of free parking/camping areas all around ozzie to stay at, which makes life soo much cheaper, these are few and far between in towns but once you get out of towns then can stay for free in many amazing places. For this get the camps 6 book (the backpackers bible) tells you all the free places to stay and maps to get around soo easy! You dont really need a lot of money in west ozzie as most of the attractions are free. However when going over to the East this is where you spend a fair bit of money, attractions cost (unless you go inland a bit to the beautiful National Parks) and there is a lot more party atmosphere, making you spend more on the alcohol (which is expensive)! If you really want a job then you will work hard enough to find one earning av $20-$25 hr over in west, in east you will not be looking at such money(so I would say try get a job over here, save so much more) There are employment agency's all around oz that help you find short terms jobs, which suits backpackers! If you work for your second year visa make the the place has got a qualified ABN number and as far as I know if they have that then you are more or less guaranteed your second year. Sorry but cant help you for NZ haven't made it there as of yet, but defos do get over there as I have heard form many many people thats it is just stunning (and seen many pics). Oz is expensive but if you are carefull you can make your money last e.g drinking cheaply, dont eat out much, travel the cheapest way possible (camper van!), when working work work work as many hours as you can in short space of time then enjoy what you have earnt!

Hi DanKev, Your plan for the best times to be in the right places sounds perfect to me. Top end of ozzie best times: - May-October other half of oz - October to