PabloEscobar Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I'm creating this thread to let everybody know my progress on my working holiday in Australia on both finding work and travelling around Aus. I hope the thread will be of some use to people thinking of doing a Working Holiday, by the reply's people will give . I have never been to Aus before and my flight leaves the UK in 3 weeks time (22nd Nov). I have booked a one way flight to Brisbane and have saved the relevant money - i think it was $6000 due to a one way ticket. I have a friend who is doing a WHV also, and left the beginning of September and is now in Brisbane. He is staying at Chill Backpackers so I may stop there or stay in another hostel, as Chill doesnt have a pool or free wifi, and there is one up the road that does. I know the pool is small and the wifi will probably be slow but it is seeming more of an advantage than not having them. the rates are similar and so are the reviews. A friend who came to study at my University in 2007 is from Brisbane so it will be good to catch up with him and spend Christmas with him. There is little point staying at his house all of the time as he now works full time so the house would be empty through the day and it would be good to meet other like-minded people at hostels. The plan is to stay in Brisbane until after New Year, maybe get some work, but then move on down south and look for work. What are peoples thoughts on doing the RSA online? I'm not sure weather I will be getting bar work in Brisbane or in NSW and I heard the RSA for Brisbane is not accepted in other states? Ive not seen an awuful lot of bar jobs on websites, are they hard to come by? I have about a years experience of working in a pub in the UK, but I have also heard if they ask you to work for a trial (for free) then its a scam and you shouldnt do a trial for free? What are peoples thoughts on that? With banks and ATM's, what is the situation on using one bank's debit card in another bank's ATM? I have seen that some charge $2, but is this both banks, or just the bank that you bank with? Like I said at the beginning, im going to update this when I move on, find work, or have something that myself (a newbie) would find interesting or helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 With banks and ATM's, what is the situation on using one bank's debit card in another bank's ATM? I have seen that some charge $2, but is this both banks, or just the bank that you bank with? Depends on the bank mate, I'm with NAB as they were free to set up, and I could do it before I went there, they had a card ready for me when I landed and I could transfer money over before I came. Yes they do charge, but there are plenty of ones for NAB cards, I've found anyway, so it's not too much of a problem. And it's only a one off $2 charge. Think you pay for it, not sure, but it only goes out once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Please please do.not do a ' free trial' for a job - it us scummy places doing this time after time that rips off all would be employees by them getting away with it. It is not the way to go about getting a job. Ditto what is said about nab, they are pretty good and easy to open. Seems like lots of us p-I-o will be in brissie at the same time then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 yeah i setup a NAB account, just gotta show my passport when i arrive. $2 is'nt much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Ive just booked a week in Chill Backpackers in Brisbane as a friend from home is staying there now and says its ok. i was going to look into a flatshare for a little while afterwards, ive heard they can be cheaper than a hostel and often come with free things like internet and laundry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Laundry would be free, internet probably not. The one Im moving into doesn't have internet, so I'm contemplating getting a wireless dongle thingy, they are about $40 a month for a decent amount of bandwidth. Quite pricey. Chill looks quite nice from the outside, really close to the city, so probably good. I reckon you'd be better off booking for more than a week though, as it'll take that to get over the jetlag first, and then you can seriously start looking, unless you wanna travel around a bit or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Laundry would be free, internet probably not. The one Im moving into doesn't have internet, so I'm contemplating getting a wireless dongle thingy, they are about $40 a month for a decent amount of bandwidth. Quite pricey. . Very mucch reccommend the Telstra internet dongle topped up with $150 for 10GB - yes its a lot in one go to pay out, but that lasts for 12 months, without having to top up (most other things you have to top up a certain amount once a month (for our phones it is $30/month), or it expires) so it actually works out quite good we find - we use the internet A LOT and are doing well on the dongle (unlike our pants phones that seem to run out within a couple of days ). You can't get the one we have any more, as they have upgraded, but even with our 'old' one we get coverage pretty much everywhere on the East Coast as well (which we really really struggle with on our mobiles), even in completely the middle of nowhere, so the newer version will be even better probably. I don't know which one to get from looking on the website, but if you go in to a Telstra store and speak to them, and tell them you want the $150 credit that lasts for 12 months without expiring they should be able to point you in the right direction HTH a little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 They didn't offer that 150 for 10GB one when I went in the shop, they all seemed to be top up monthly. I'll have to ask about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 id look into it before but hopefully the added cost for the internet would be lower than the cost of internet at chill and the weekly cost at chill combined? I might extend it for a second week when i'm out there, but i'm meeting with a friend who has been out since September and he is looking for a house share for us when i get there so might not have to extend it. what is the coverage like for mobile phones, both 2g/3g? been comparing sim only deals and i cant figure out if the cost included text messages or not. Have a look at the comparison site below and each plan shows both data and minutes included in the cost but no messages? site i'm using to compare deals is http://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/SearchResults?t=bca9ded5-53b8-4ed4-9f1b-0ccdd89e23c2&view=Visualiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 im hoping the cost of the flatshare with internet will be cheaper than the hostel with interenet. ill have a look when im out there with a friend who is already there, meaning i might be out the hostel after the week. I can always book a second week, or move onto a different hostel. How do mobile phone plans work in aus? ive been comparing plans on http://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/SearchResults?t=bca9ded5-53b8-4ed4-9f1b-0ccdd89e23c2&view=Visualiser and i cant work out if text messages are included. I want a sim only deal, paying for it a a monthly basis, but so i can cancel anytime. seems like aussie sim only deals are pretty confusing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 I'm on Optus PAYG (I think) I topped up $30 and got 500mb of data, some minutes and some texts, texts and calls to the same network are free/cheap, I can't remember, and the coverage is alrite. All of them apart from vodafone are good. Telstra is just more expensive, but does have better coverage in more rural areas. You'd be better off getting PAYG I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Matt89 Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Make sure if you plan on using ANY of your overseas cards in Australia, you tell your bank!!!!! The ammount of people I know that just tried to use their UK credit or debit card in Australia didnt tell the bank, the bank see the internationl transfer and then stopped all the cards. Then you have to try and sort that out over the phone with the time difference... real pain in the A** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 ill have a look into PAYG, are there any carephone warehouse kind of stores so i can get an overview of multiple networks or not? yeah i will tell my bank. ive just left my job in a bank to go travelling around aus, so banking isnt something which im worried about, although i am worried about most other things!! telling your bank doesn't necessarily make transactions go through although it does increase the chance of them going through and being accepted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 ill have a look into PAYG, are there any carephone warehouse kind of stores so i can get an overview of multiple networks or not? Haven't seen any here, but there might be. There are tonnes of Optus, Telstra and vodafone stores all within about a 1km radius of the CBD, so it takes literally seconds to walk between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 But the problem with that is there all going to want to sell their own products, rather than Carphonewarehouse kind of store where they give you (seemingly) unbiased info on all options. I'll have a look into those three networks tomorrow and see what they offer as PAYG or sim only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted November 14, 2012 Author Share Posted November 14, 2012 With my NAB/Commbank account, they say i can deposit any funds into the account before arriving in Aus, but if i want to withdraw any funds i cant do so until I show my passport on arrival at one of their branches in Brisbane, which is fair enough. The only problem with this is, if I transfer all of my money to Aus, and for whatever reason get denied entry to Aus, then my money will be locked in Aus until I can get into the country, yes? with this is mind, ive got a travel card and put $500 on it, so i dont have to transfer my money until I know im across the border fine, and the account is opened up. Is this paranoia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickachu Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I didn't transfer any over either. I was a bit like that too. I took over $1500 cash and made an appointment to go to the bank on the day I landed so I had all that done right away and wasn't carrying too much cash around. You'll be fine with a bit of cash and your english cards until money clears, takes about 4-5 working days, well it did for natwest - nab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Maybe you could consider a job in one of the many coffee shops too. There are ones called Dome in WA and they are always employing backpackers and students. The barrista course might be another thing to look at. Give you another option on work hours, you might want to be out at the pub with mates at the night. Good luck, I'm sure it will be an interesting read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 God I love dome - so need one on the east coast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritChickx Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 sounds like you've got all the answers you need so I won't go on! I went with Telstra and ANZ. Free internet is always a bonus! Best of luck with your travel plans, look forward to reading about it. Have a look for mine if you want called britchick and pommypauls travels (not part 2 unless you wanna read about nz too), from last year, lots of pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PabloEscobar Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 So, its been over 5 weeks since I landed and I really should have done a lot more updating, so here goes. I've been staying at Chill Backpackers for the last 5 weeks, its a really nice place and a relaxed vibe with BYO alcohol. I've just booked a flight down to Sydney for the 2nd Jan and then getting a bus to Griffith to try find some farm work. I ended up going with Amaysim for my phone, pay $40 a month and get unlimited calls messages and 4gb of internet. I was also planning on doing my padi while in Brisbane but plans have changed, and I'll do IG in the Whitsundays most likely. I've seen quite a lot here in Brisbane, but there is bound to be things I've missed I have been updating my travel blog A LOT more than this (sorry I know!) So feel free to take a look I do plan on updating this thread a lot more than I have been though, I promise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fion McCormack Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 This may come a bit late for you PabloEscabar but for anyone else reading this, the simple thing to do instead of mucking about with that weird comparison site is just go direct to Vodafone Austrailia and see what sim only deals they have.they start at $20. unlimited texts sim only deals at $30. Enjoy your trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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