onwardsorupwards Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Glad you have arrived and settled. It may be worth considering getting a dongle once your money comes through, you can get them on PAYG and they are around $100 which I think includes 5 gig to start you off. Obviously if you are contract it works out cheaper but you would struggle getting a contract. Did you look at the list for farms on the vacancies thread as well as vacancies available. I've been busy myself so haven't posted many jobs up, but will be doing that in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britpop Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Global gig is a good option for a dongle as it's wifi so can be used for phones, iPads etc too. Optus for a mobile sim gives 500gb and $30 free credit for $30 too. You can get 1gb extra for $10, don't even need the phone credit if you just want data. (Boost mobile gives 2gb and free calls and texts in Aus for $40 but you can't reach home with that one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Global gig is a good option for a dongle as it's wifi so can be used for phones, iPads etc too. Optus for a mobile sim gives 500gb and $30 free credit for $30 too. You can get 1gb extra for $10, don't even need the phone credit if you just want data. (Boost mobile gives 2gb and free calls and texts in Aus for $40 but you can't reach home with that one) As long as they use Optus or Telstra network any of these sound fine. Just don't go with smaller networks as signal is rubbish out of the cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britpop Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yep, global gig is Optus and boost is Telstra with 98% access to their network. No Vodafone here!! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Hey Tom, Paul has just posted this farm work in Melbourne http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/backpacker-job-vacancies/203424-farm-workers-full-time-silvan.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yep, global gig is Optus and boost is Telstra with 98% access to their network. No Vodafone here!! Lol Lol or three both are terrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onwardsorupwards Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onwardsorupwards Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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