Living in Australia?

[prozac]

I keep meaning to post in here, but I never have time to formulate a proper post.

You mentioned Perth, DO IT. You will have a much more solid "living there for a year" experience than hitting the east coast backpacker trail. Westcoast beaches are just as beautiful, and they're not surrounded by skyscrapers and overpriced cafes. There's more amazing scenery and more wildlife.

So many neat short trips out of Perth too. Forests to the south and coral reef to the north and surfing everywhere. The Ningaloo Reef is just as good as the Great Barrier, but more accessible (you can swim out to it as opposed to having to hire a boat) and when I was there, the whole park was practically deserted. On the west Coast I watched the sun set over the Indian Ocean, saw the staircase to the moon on Cable Beach (one of my favortie beaches ever), snorkelled with tropical fish and heard coral growing (!), watched giant sea turtles lay their eggs, picked mangos for breakfast on the side of the road, visited incredible gorges, huge meteor craters...seriously amazing. One of my favorite parts of the country.

I could go on for hours with tips and tricks and stories....add me to msn [email protected]

Oh and the visa....I applied for mine online on a Friday, and I was approved by Sunday morning. I don't even think a person read my application......easy easy easy.

I have connections in Perth and up the coast, too. :)

[thechix0r]

^^^ Wow, sounds beautiful, I need to go do that for a year hehehe

[prozac]

Sea turtles nesting on the northwest coast

http://static.flickr.com/18/70769520_860a573afe.jpg


The view from my campsite during our Ningaloo Reef snorkelling trip

http://static.flickr.com/35/70768826_d4ea9796b1.jpg

Facing the other way, in the morning

http://static.flickr.com/20/70768824_52b88814e9.jpg

Aboriginal rock paintings in the north

http://static.flickr.com/32/64644305_3f07c4c904.jpg


(a little inspiration for ya ;))

[prozac]

why are my images coming up as links?!

[thechix0r]

Wrong area?

[prozac]

what do you mean? [img] tags have always worked for me up til now.

[brokencrayon]

^ dude... I am so psyched now! My first choice was/is Perth and the West Coast of Australia... are those your own personal photos from when you were there? They are beautiful.. I love the one of the turtles and the beach at what looks like sunset or sunrise... I am way too excited, I don't know how I'll manage until the point when I get there, but at least the excitement will enforce me to save even more each month hehe :)

[brokencrayon]

PS- loving the idea of fresh picked mangoes for breakfast... they are my most favorite fruit ever!!! :p

[thechix0r]

^^^ *nods* Mangoes are so damn good, but hard to cut up in to pieces because of how big the pit is. That always irked me hehehe

[brokencrayon]

I know but the best way to eat them is by diving in and getting your face all messy or with a spoon, right?! haha ;)

[baby-phat]

So my friend Cheryl popped by for a few mins yesterday and I gatherred a wee bit of info from her (with more to come)..
Where you wanna stay down there really depends a lot of personal preferance, for example- do you want a big city, a party town or small town. But she does recommend Surfer's Paradise (great party town), Brisbane (as there's lots of work, it's really nice and you can catch a bus for about $12 Canadian to Surfer's Paradise), Perth, Sydney, Cairn, Bunderberg (for work, if you don't mind farm work) and Melbourne.
She also suggests getting a Scotia Bank account if you don't already have one, as they are associated with WestPac so you can use your card at their ATMs (but you can't use it for interac) and not get charged for overseas banking (which is approximately $5 or so). Also, this makes it easier to go into a WestPac and set up an account there.
Research bus/plane/train routes whenever you chose to travel around in Australia as sometimes flying can be even cheaper than taking the bus or train (and obviously, it's faster too).
If you're going to be staying in hostels get a VIP card, it's $45 for a 2 year membership and Cheryl says she definitely got her moneys worth. At some hostels you can get up to 20% off and some other places offer you slightly better deals as well if you present that card.
Also, I hope you like house cuz apparantly there's alot of that down there. :)

[JGirl]

gah!

I always get chills when hearing of people's travels to Oz.


I would strongly recommend getting a visa. If you are going to go that far might as well take advantage of it. A few months will hardly put a dent into all the wonderful things on the bottom side of the planet!

My husband and I (well, before he was my husband) spent a year in Australia on Working Holiday Visas.

This is info on Working Holiday Visa. http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/work.../417/index.htm

It is easy to qualify. Your work skills to have do not need to be that stellar. You don't need to be a scientist or a dentist to get a work holiday visa. Getting work in the hospitality industry is not difficult if you have decent experience. I worked in swanky restaurants, beach side bars, hotel conference centres, Italian coffee joints, ...

We travelled for nearly 2 years in total. We left Montreal, drove across Canada in a drive away truck (aka free transport), saw The Rockies, Vancouver, Los Angeles, stayed in Fiji for 2 weeks (mangos every day), then to New Zealand, then to Australia. We arrived in Sydney and quickly discovered that it would suck our money up pretty fast. We bought a $900 1976 Volvo and hit the road. We lived in Brisbane, Noosa, and Melbourne. We took every op we could to travel, see, do, dive, party, club, etc.... We rented rooms in houses (WAY cheaper than hostelling), we hosteled a little bit, and we stayed in campgrounds too. We generally avoided the backpacker circuit because we discovered that it is too cookie-cutter and we could better spend our $$ on our own itineraries. Plus, we had a car which made us pretty mobile. We later sold the car for $1000. Canada is big. Australia is REALLY BIG. Take your time to visit it. I could also go on for hours lol!!

Get a travel log like bug bitten so we can all read about your adventures!


a pic from day two in Oz !! http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...pics/opera.jpg


I want to go back.

[prozac]

Originally Posted by brokencrayon

^ dude... I am so psyched now! My first choice was/is Perth and the West Coast of Australia... are those your own personal photos from when you were there? They are beautiful.. I love the one of the turtles and the beach at what looks like sunset or sunrise... I am way too excited, I don't know how I'll manage until the point when I get there, but at least the excitement will enforce me to save even more each month hehe :)

Yeah they're mine. That's the sun setting over the Indian Ocean.

This is making me want to go back soooooo bad.

[baby-phat]

One day I'll go to Australia.. hopefully sooner rather than later. :) I'm envious of all of you! =P

[PwInCeSs]

i plan to go there again one day, just to visit family.
I shall wait till Georgias older and can handle the flight.
been twice, deffinatly want to go back!
Good luck with the planning Ang. Keep me updated :)

[brokencrayon]

Originally Posted by JGirl

gah!

I always get chills when hearing of people's travels to Oz.


I would strongly recommend getting a visa. If you are going to go that far might as well take advantage of it. A few months will hardly put a dent into all the wonderful things on the bottom side of the planet!

My husband and I (well, before he was my husband) spent a year in Australia on Working Holiday Visas.

This is info on Working Holiday Visa. http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/work.../417/index.htm

It is easy to qualify. Your work skills to have do not need to be that stellar. You don't need to be a scientist or a dentist to get a work holiday visa. Getting work in the hospitality industry is not difficult if you have decent experience. I worked in swanky restaurants, beach side bars, hotel conference centres, Italian coffee joints, ...

We travelled for nearly 2 years in total. We left Montreal, drove across Canada in a drive away truck (aka free transport), saw The Rockies, Vancouver, Los Angeles, stayed in Fiji for 2 weeks (mangos every day), then to New Zealand, then to Australia. We arrived in Sydney and quickly discovered that it would suck our money up pretty fast. We bought a $900 1976 Volvo and hit the road. We lived in Brisbane, Noosa, and Melbourne. We took every op we could to travel, see, do, dive, party, club, etc.... We rented rooms in houses (WAY cheaper than hostelling), we hosteled a little bit, and we stayed in campgrounds too. We generally avoided the backpacker circuit because we discovered that it is too cookie-cutter and we could better spend our $$ on our own itineraries. Plus, we had a car which made us pretty mobile. We later sold the car for $1000. Canada is big. Australia is REALLY BIG. Take your time to visit it. I could also go on for hours lol!!

Get a travel log like bug bitten so we can all read about your adventures!


a pic from day two in Oz !! http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...pics/opera.jpg


I want to go back.

sounds like so much fun! We are so pumped, I can't wait until we save up enough money to make the move all the way over there. Sounds like Perth will be our destination point, we will probably explore other places too but mostly stay in Perth I think =)

[JGirl]

Work hard & play harder! You'll get to Oz and you'll love it!!