onwardsorupwards

Thanks for your advice Pom Queen Will definitely give Lorna a shout!

Hi there, Me and my girlfriend are flying from Melbourne to Cairns on the 24th August. Time to leave the cold winter down here and come up north for some sun We were wondering if anyone has information regarding farm work, we have been talking to a few people and they have said that the banana crops aren't doing too good in Tully at the moment, is this a similar thing elsewhere or just in the Tully region? Is anyone in North Queensland at the moment doing/trying to do their farm work? What's the situation? Thanks, Tom

Ok, looks like we've been sucked into some sort of scam. I know in my last post I mentioned meeting some Aussie guys who were helping us with accommodation and finding jobs but now looking back I realise I've been naive. They have got 30 people staying at there place, which for starters is unregistered so I'm not sure they are meant to have that many people living there, they are always promising jobs every week just to get you stay on again and pay another weeks rent. Some people have been there for 5 weeks with no jobs, I know it's not completely the guys fault cause it's hard to say when the fruit will be ready to harvest etc, but just plain lying and promising that people will have jobs over the next week is not on! Luckily we were only there for just over a week until we smelt a rat and moved out. Before we had even decided to move out they had filled our beds and told us we needed to move into someones house next door, which we weren't too happy with, so I guess they made the decision for us!! The place they have got people staying, the Pine Lodge hotel, is in a state of disrepair. For 30 people theres only 1 shower/toilet for girls and 1 for boys, I know in the UK when you rent a place out you need to have one toilet/shower for every four occupants, is this the same in Australia?? There's only 1 cooker for 30 people and the oven doesn't even work. We were staying in a 16 bed dorm room stuffed in like sardines with no fire safety implicated, surely a big fire risk?? When we told the owners we wanted to leave, one of the guys got pretty angry and was quite rude. After we moved out he continued to phone me and have his little hissy fit. The most pathetic part is my girlfriend was working on the apple orchards and we went to see the owner after we moved out to let him know that we had moved out but would still carry on working there if that was ok, which he had no problem with. But it seems one of the owners has rang the orchards and said my girlfriend isn't allowed to work there anymore, so she's out of a job. Seems like these guys only want to help people out who are gonna splash the cash on staying in their dump of a place. The owners also seem to prefer girls, always saying there's no work for guys but then any jobs that come up go straight to the girls who just arrived a day before, what about the guys who have been there for 5 weeks?? Just doesn't make sense to me! They are just plain and simple taking people for a ride, and for our first experience of regional Australia not very good. It's only up from here!! We are planning on moving back to Melbourne and getting a job there. We have tried so many orchards/farms and they are either already full or got no work going.

Hi guys, thanks for your replies. Hope you enjoyed Australia day!! We didn't get the house share in Richmond so on a bit of a whim we headed up north a couple of hours to a place called Shepparton. We have been here for about two weeks now. My girlfriend was picking apples last week but unfortunately they only wanted female pickers (don't ask why!) so nothing for me The pear harvest starts the week so it's looking promising that I will be able to start this week. Got a couple of leads I am following! Really makes a difference getting out to where you plan on doing picking, I know there's a risk but farmers etc are much more willing to help if you are already in the area. Really glad we came to Shepparton met some awesome Aussie guys who have helped us out with accommodation and getting work!! Tom

Ah cool, seen quite a lot of posts for chefs and kitchen hands so you should be alright. Plenty of restaurants/cafes in Melbourne! We are looking for some regional work at the moment. Doesn't seem to be too much going when compared to Queensland and New South Wales but I'm sure we will find something. Going to give some labour offices a ring today and see if they have any jobs available. Yeah will defo be a great experience! Got my 19 year old brother flying out to start his WHV sometime in April, which will be cool. Ahh no way man, where abouts? I just finished my uni degree at Bangor University

Hello, Where are you from? We are a couple from the UK in the first week of our working holiday visa in Melbourne and we are booked into Space Hotel on Russell Street. We are currently looking for a house share in the Richmond area cause it's so much cheaper than staying in Melbourne CBD. Our plan is to find some regional work in Victoria and go from there really Do you have any plans for jobs or are you just going with the flow? Tom & Naomi

Hey guys, We arrived in Melbourne on the 2nd January. Really like it here! Just been walking around and exploring these past couple of days, visited the botanical gardens yesterday which were very nice. Just trying to do free stuff at the moment until our money is transferred over from the UK, haha. Yet to visit St Kilda but plan to go down there in the next couple of days. Melbourne is a bit cold for us since we've just come from SE Asia but when compared to the UK, it's boiling here!! We went to view a houseshare in Richmond yesterday, it works out a lot cheaper than staying in an 8 bed dorm room in the CBD. We are waiting to hear back from the owner. We have been looking for farm jobs, have to keep coming to the library to check emails cause our hostel is $10 a day to use WiFi. Rang some numbers from this forum, gumtree and some other websites but they are all full. Will keep looking though sure something will come up. Seems to be a lot more jobs going up north Has anyone got any contact numbers for farm jobs with availability at the mo? We don't mind moving out of Melbourne but would like to stay in Victoria. Will keep you posted Tom & Naomi

Hello again! Asia is going great thanks, having a really good time out here but defo looking forward to earning some money again Really excitied about getting to Oz! We are both from Manchester (well near enough). We've got medical insurance for the time we are in Asia but not yet sorted anything for when we get to Australia. I'm sure there is some healthcare agreement (think its called medicare) between Australia and the UK so could do with looking into that as medical insurance may not be required but don't hold me to that As for contents/item insurance we have nothing with us of great value so will probably skip that. Will defo post what we get up to when we arrive in Australia, would be good to meet for a beer with some fellow brits somewhere down the line

Clover Lau, I'm sure working in a Chinese restaurant will be fine and like you say at least you got something to start with! Yeah we plan to spend a week in Melbourne just getting settled and then finding some farm work, really can't wait to get working again! We have been travelling around SE Asia for 3 months now and got another 1 month and a bit to go, will be nice to earn money again! Yeah I'v e seen a few things on problems with farm work but I think with the help of this forum and being careful we should be ok Thanks for your message Yaz, very helpful Yeah we were hoping to move out of the CBD after the first week and find somewhere cheaper to live so will have a look on gumtree. And like you say being close to Melbourne would be really good as you can always go into town on your days off. Haven't liked the page yet but will do now and put a quick post on there, thanks for the advice! Hopefully we can make something happen, easy pickings sounds amazing! We are both from Manchester, where are you from?

Hey Fordy + Luke! Yeah we are landing in Melbourne on the 2nd January Booked to stay for a week at the Space Hotel just to ease us into things and looks like it has pretty decent facilities! Hopefully then we are gonna get out to do some farm work, there's a few places which are close to Melbourne which would be really good cause then you can always just pop back into the city on your days off or whatever. Really looking forward to getting out there! Where you guys from? Hope handing in your notices goes well, we've been travelling round SE Asia for three months now, was so great to finish working and start our adventure

Ah cool! Yeah that would be awesome We are actually landing in Melbourne on the 2nd January now, booked flights yesterday, can't wait We have booked in to stay at Space Hotel for a week, checked out the hostels in St Kilda but preferred the look of Space Hotel. Not got any plans set in stone yet for after the first week but hopefully will be getting involved with some farm work, do you have any plans?

Ah cool, you're still there now! What times do you work? And how do you get to Ringwood everyday? Also how did you find your accommodation that you are living in at the moment? Thanks for your replies!!

Checked out easy pickings, looks really good! Can't believe how close it is to Melbourne either. Did you get picked up at Ringwood station everyday? We don't have our own transport so that would defo be the option for us. Where abouts did you stay while working for easy pickings?

Thanks for your replies Will have a look at the hostels and easy pickings Australia facebook page! Which was the easiest way for you to find farm work? Did you just look on HarvestTrail, Gumtree etc? I think we plan on staying in Melbourne for about a week and would then want to start some farm work, hopefully we can find something Can't wait!!

Hi guys! Learnt so much from having a read of the forum, very helpful! Thank you! We are a couple from the UK and will be flying into Melbourne to start our working holiday visas at the end of January, really looking forward to it Was just wondering if anyone could recommend a place to stay in Melbourne? We are not too sure how long we will be staying in the city yet as we are quite eager to get out and start doing some farm work. If anyone can give us some advice on farm work around Melbourne we would be very grateful Thanks in advance!!