After spending the last year and a half in Australia, I have a few tips to share. The most important one when it comes to being successful here, relates directly to your day one.
If you’re coming with money and are planning to travel around before working, or have the funds to land work whenever you feel like it, you don’t really need this advice. If you’re coming with exactly one or two months worth of funds and need to find a job immediately…
There’s a few major cities here worth mentioning, and a number of major cities here that would be worth mentioning if I didn’t want to provide you with a five hour read. The first city, being Perth. Now when I came to Australia, I thought I’d go to a big city where less people would begin, so I could have a better chance at finding work. Jokes on me, people! Backpackers don’t often start there because there’s simply not a lot of work to find! The way to make it in Perth, is to come ready to buy a bicycle or car, and get onto Uber Eats (and the like) quickly. The hostel we lived in while we looked for a place to live was filled with people getting by doing Uber eats. It pays the bills while you find a job, and I don’t know how much they make in Perth, but my friend in the Sunshine Coast was making up to $400 a day doing two food delivery jobs at the same time. As far as finding a job in Perth goes, while we were there, they were so few and far between, and looking only for full rights staff. A lot of places also specified if they wanted male or female workers (a huge red flag, coming from Canada), so I skipped applying to those altogether. After a month, when we were on the way to the airport ready to flee Bird Guy (just wait for the post about him!!), my friend and I both got calls for two dream jobs, and would have ended up with full time work. That being said, if you come at the right time, Margaret River is hiring at the wineries, and those jobs are probably fantastic.
Brisbane! Oh, Brisbane. If you’re looking for beaches, look elsewhere, because Brisbane has none. But if you have a car, Brisbane is bookended by Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, two spectacular beach destinations. Gold Coast actually is a great spot to start, if you’re brave, or if you can find a flat quickly. Parts of Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise in particular, where the backpackers go) get pretty dangerous at times, with high violent crime rates around the bars and clubs. The rest of Gold Coast is fantastic though, with lots to do and lots to see. So what about Brisbane? It’s fine. It’s cute in parts. The train system is swell. But jobs that will pay the bills are really hard to find if you don’t come with specialized skills. We thought we came with great resumes, but quickly learned that our skills and certifications don’t make us hirable here. My friend got extremely lucky and was the only backpacker we ever met in the area that found a full time job, and I kept finding jobs, but they would only give backpackers 3 hours a week for the most part. I ended up landing 16-30 hours a week between two jobs, and it fluctuated based on whether or not the kids were on school holidays. But that’s enough to get by! Not enough to save for travels, but enough to stay.
But if I were to do it all again… I’d go straight to Sydney. It turns out, there’s a reason everyone goes there first. Sydney is amazing. I don’t like cities, but I have plans to move to Sydney as soon as possible. There are actually jobs, the city is much safer than the ones I’ve already talked about, and there’s an endless amount of things to do and see. I only got to spend a single day there, and I fell absolutely in love. That being said… Sydney is extremely expensive. Without a place to live that isn’t a hostel, and near full time hours, you might not save much. But that’s partially because it’s just so easy to spend money there. There’s plenty of rooms for rent between 200-300 weekly, which is what we’ve paid in most places, but things there tend to add up. Still, I’d choose it.
Melbourne! I haven’t been yet, but it’s the favourite place of most of the backpackers I’ve met. They rave and rave and rave about the memories they made there, the places they went to, the jobs they found. It’s basically tied with Sydney for being the most popular backpacker spot. The only thing that makes me shy from it, is that it’s known to have a lot more violent crime than many other places, and considering how much crime I experienced in Sunshine Coast and Perth, I’m a bit skeptical. But considering this hasn’t deterred anyone I’ve met, and they all had a blast, I wouldn’t say this isn’t an awesome place to start (if you have money to start with so you can be picky about where you stay). Melbourne is supposed to be amazing, don’t let my anxieties stop you from thinking so.
Hobart is where I WANT to be. Everyone I met while working at an outdoor store has told me I have to go, that it’s the most beautiful part of Australia, and that I’m crazy for not being there right now. And I believe them. Probably about 50% of our clients were heading there, preparing for their hundredth multi day hiking experience. But not for the faint of heart… There is plenty of regional work to be found in Tasmania so you can extend your visa, but we’ve had a really hard time finding it. The ski hills are easy to get hired at, but my friend and I kept swapping who got hired at each one, and couldn’t find a placement together. Many of our friends worked on the cherry farms, but fun fact, because there’s so many backpackers these days, it’s getting really hard to find farm work unless you get lucky early and have tons of experience. We have farm experience, but not “the right kind”. That being said, I’ve only heard good things, so if you have money to start, go for it, and remember, if it isn’t working out, Melbourne is just a ferry away!
Alice Springs and Darwin have a ton of opportunities in tourism, but we haven’t heard the most about it other than that the areas can be filled with violent crime. We were basically told by most people to avoid it, and haven’t really met people who’ve gone. But there are a lot of jobs up there, and good ones too, where you can save quite a bit of money if you’re lucky, and go on a lot of adventures. My only warning for going there, is that if you plan to do the big drive to or from the more southern parts of the country, that it’s exceptionally important to make sure you have an excellent car, and way more water than you think you’ll need. Our first Australian friends were a group of doctors who we spent time in Laos with, who told us that that trip claims a lot of lives. Cars break down, there’s no phone service and help is miles and miles away, and without water, people succumb to the heat. Now, a lot of people do the trip and live it. It’s like a right of passage for many Australian backpackers. But be warned. You can’t be bringing your little beater car on its last days of life. Rent a camper van if you must! Do the trip, but do it prepared, just like you would in a cold climate. I doubt you’ll be disappointed by it.
My final few tips that I don’t want to get hugely into but want to mention:
- Cairns, in many people’s opinions, sucks. If you don’t have a dive job, skip it. It’s great for your holiday, as a hub for surrounding regions, but Cairns itself sucks. I wanted to start there, and I tell you, I would have turned right around and gone home if I had. (I’m sure many people like it. I haven’t met them, but they definitely exist. If it’s your dream, ignore me and live your best life there. I want you to love it.)
- Western Australia as a whole is hugely underrated. Perth is an up and coming city, but it’s still building. It has poor public transit, huge sprawl, but should not be missed. The beaches in WA are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, and the places you’ll find doing the drive from top to bottom are so, so, so worth it.
Now this is just my experience, and the experiences I’ve heard from others. If you have different opinions, please drop them in the comments so others can learn from them (and so I can learn from you too)! There’s so many ways to experience Australia, and I hope I’ve helped, but remember, my experience won’t be yours. You might live what I’ve hated and hate what I’ve loved. My advice is nuanced. Your dreams are important. And there’s ALWAYS a bus or a train or a way of some kind out of where you are and to another place if you need it.
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