Going to Australia Alone

manlad

Heading over at the end of Jan to Melbourne. Cant wait. Going on my own but staying with sister for while until I get myself set up. Hopefully get a few months work and travel.

woolie09

cool colm1988 thats a deal so. Manlad, sounds like the perfect setup, having family in the country will be handy if u get fed up of anything u can always go hang out with them

woolie09

Actually on another note, what are ye planning work and travel wise. Set up somewhere for a while and work, then travel or work in different places as you travel? When to fit this regional/farm work in is a tricky question aswell ( assuming people want the option of a second year), do it first and be done with it or near the end? Plus if your going to be in the Sydney/Melbourne axis at some point it would be best to plan to be there when they actually have good weather!

Pussnboots

woolie09 wrote: »

Hey guys, 23yr old guy here, out of college a year and thinking of moving to Oz with a work and travel visa on my own, around Oct/Nov 2012. I know its been debated here already but i am excited about going (unfortunately no-one else i know will be in a position to go, and everyone i know over there will be on the way home, sucks!), but some days i flake a little and question whether i will be able to cope alone. Im not new to travelling, but never alone. Its exciting setting out into the unknown in a way, and i might do me some good to be fully indepent, but the last thing i want is to end up being lonely!!

Have many people gone on there own and how have they found it? Also just reading the thread, maybe it is best to start with farm work and get it out of the way. I really want to spend some settled time in Sydney aswell ( although by all accounts its expensive), and then the rest of my time do the whole east coast backpacker thing. Anybody have any tips, warnings or experiences they would like to share?

Even better yet, is there anyone who will be in the same situation as me come Oct/Nov 2012? could be moral support for each other haha.

I am in same boat as you woolie, I am heading over next oct on my own and am kinda nervous too, part of me wants to go and the other part is thinkin I can't go on my own s i will be lonely and homesick and miserable, all my friends have done the trip already but they did it in a group and none are wanting or able to go back!! I am hitting sydney first and taking it from there, my line of work is not that un demand in other places, what is it that you did in college?

Noo

Going to Brisbane is Feb on my own. Anyone else heading to them parts?

woolie09

Hey Pussnboots, somebody else like me! wahey..! Well i went to Australia Nov 2010 for 2 months with family, and all i can say is ( assuming maybe you havent been there already) is that i loved the place, i mean ozzy people were fairly friendly and willing to help you out (even at one point noticing i was confused, coming over to me and telling what bus to get). And on the plus side they have the same kind of personality and humour as Brittish and Irish people. Something i noticed aswell is its a very young country, everybody seems to be in there 20's and there are alot of europeans backpacking and on the working visa.

Having said that i wasn't under any pressure to meet new people when i was over there so that kind 'tinted' my view of the place. My biggest fear is in those first few weeks having to 'put yourself out there' and meet people to hang out with, especially if it doesnt work! But i'm fairly confident at the same time that after those first few weeks are over that we'll probably be wondering why we ever stressed in the first place!

Work wise, well i did law in college so thats pretty much a non starter for me workwise in australia. I reckon i'll end up trying general labour like retail/restaurants and that kind of thing for work. Alot of irish people i know who have done the whole oz thing seemed to have worked in call centres and data entry jobs so they must be quite plentiful over there aswell.

Have you planned out your trip, or are u just making rough plans at the minute? Do you plan on working in a particular type of job, maybe like college/job you have now?

Also money wise, that age old question, how much are you planning to bring? From what i've noticed anyway its best to be prepared moneywise (well taking into account i was with family rather than actually living the working visa experience) is that its best to be prepared. I found it to be on a par with Ireland cost wise, well not everything but for the most part. Haha, one thing i learned was bring your clothes with you rather than bringing an empty suitcase and saying to yourself "i'll buy it over there it'll be cheaper" !!

But yea i say definately do it ! Whats the worst that will come of it, you can always go home knowing you've tried it and no regrets it just wasn't for you. Althought 95% of people have a blast!

OMARS_COMING

Noo wrote: »

Going to Brisbane is Feb on my own. Anyone else heading to them parts?

Hi Noo im going over the Brisbane in late Feb or early March - havent got an exact date just yet though!

Pussnboots

Yeah Woolie I have never been over before, but cheers for the heads up on the friendly people. At the minute I am just setting a rough plan which is to land and settle in Sydney for a while and take it from there. As for the money I am unsure how much yet, I hope to work in the community area and from what I gather jobs are easy enough to come by. I aim to bring at least 8000 euro but that will depend on my ability to save plus I have a house here so will have to wait and see, starting proper saiving come Jan. How much have you looked into your intended trip, have you thought much into it already?

mufcboy1999

hows things, im a 23 year old male unemployed.

im looking to go to oz fairly soon in the next 3 months have given it plenty of taught, Im looking to book my flights this week there's some bargains to be had on prices in the sales. Iv contacted USIT in regards to my visa and in regards to flights.

my main question is would 2500 euro be enough to get me started? or is it too little...

Im thinking of staying in hostels and the likes till i get sorted and find work, Im not too fussy on what kind of work I get infact im not fussy at all but my main sector would be health and fitness as im a qualified personal trainer but I have experience in working on building sites as general laborer just mixing cement/carrying blocks etc and also have experience in working in call centers.

im hearing the mining industry is also booming with great pay too, thats something iv done a fair bit of research on and from what i gathered they take plenty of people on with no experience in mining...

I haven't decided exactly what part of Australia I want to go to yet but I'm leaning more towards Sydney/Melbourne as Id like to be in around some sort of city.

So in all, would 2500 be enough to get me started and has anyone from the health and fitness industry gone and successfully found work?

Also is going on your own a bad move? I am a bit cautious encase I don't meet new people etc and actually fit in and the likes you know the usual doubts...

thanks in advanced

dave3004

2500 is not enough.

Get a lend off family or friends and pay them back when you get settled.

Undertow

Yeah you'll struggle to get by on 2,500e over here man. Oz is a really expensive country. I spent $4,000 in my first 6 weeks here, and was in a similar situtation to yourself- came over on my own and stayed in hostels. Didnt feel like I splashed the cash either- wasnt drinking that much to begin with. You'd be doing well to get a job over here within 6 weeks too.

As regards meeting people- dont worry about it man- plenty of people are in the same boat. Hostels are your best bet to begin with!

universe777

Not even close to enough. They recommend you have AU$5000, even that might not be enough.
No guarantee of finding work quickly and money can evaporate quite quickly here.
Someone on this forum recently made a good comparison, a €20 note is much like a AU$50 note...

mufcboy1999

thanks for the info lads.

I honestly taught i would be ok with in and around the 2500 mark, i could probably stretch to 3000 by the time i leave.

taking a loan is out of the question, Im in debt as it is with the credit union, most of my friends are in the same boat tbh.

maybe a top up on my loan might be worth it but thats if i get it, as you can imagine it will be fairly hard to get now that im on the dole.

so its defiantly a big no no taking a chance on going with 2500/3000 to get me started?

im trying to get a job here to save even more but no surprise its not happening for me.

RJ59

iam in the same boat pal i tink u would be ok wit bout 5000 dollers long as u stay in hostels and dnt go to many many benders lol

gustafo

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

thanks for the info lads.

I honestly taught i would be ok with in and around the 2500 mark, i could probably stretch to 3000 by the time i leave.

taking a loan is out of the question, Im in debt as it is with the credit union, most of my friends are in the same boat tbh.

maybe a top up on my loan might be worth it but thats if i get it, as you can imagine it will be fairly hard to get now that im on the dole.

so its defiantly a big no no taking a chance on going with 2500/3000 to get me started?

im trying to get a job here to save even more but no surprise its not happening for me.

well if you lucky and get a job fairly quickly obviously you would be grand but as everybody knows it takes time unless you have contacts to get work, maybe if you had a credit card with a grand or 2 limit but do you really want to go down that road, best bet is try and get a loan from family if possible but if not 2500 is a slack amount to be going with.

woolie09

Ok cool, well anything over 5000 euro sounds like a good starting point. Just out of interest what visa are you planning to get, the working holiday visa or skilled immigration? Community work sounds interesting, i have an anecdote about that actually.A friend of mine went to oz in 2010 as a qualified speech and language therapist ( i know its actually a different disipline but its a good heads up), they accepted her qualifications but she still had to do an online college course for a few months to conform with their standards and so on, so it might be worth your while e-mailing or even making a call to potential employers in community work to see exactly what the will want from someone in your position etc.

Well for me anyway i will be getting the working holiday visa, and i want to give myself the option of a second year so regional work will have to come into the picture at some point. I basically want to settle in Sydney for a while (probably the longest i will be anywhere) work and have fun. I want to do the mandatory oz things aswell like the sites, visit the islands and tropical queensland. I want to leave time for more spontaneous things aswell so i wont be too scheduled. I havent really worked out in what order to do all these things though. I think i will have about 4500-5000 euro saved for funds going over, and crossing my fingers that family will help me with flights ( probably the cheapest oneway available)

Actually on that, what is the done thing flights wise i wonder? do people buy return flights, or just one way?

Pussnboots

woolie09 wrote: »

Ok cool, well anything over 5000 euro sounds like a good starting point. Just out of interest what visa are you planning to get, the working holiday visa or skilled immigration? Community work sounds interesting, i have an anecdote about that actually.A friend of mine went to oz in 2010 as a qualified speech and language therapist ( i know its actually a different disipline but its a good heads up), they accepted her qualifications but she still had to do an online college course for a few months to conform with their standards and so on, so it might be worth your while e-mailing or even making a call to potential employers in community work to see exactly what the will want from someone in your position etc.

Well for me anyway i will be getting the working holiday visa, and i want to give myself the option of a second year so regional work will have to come into the picture at some point. I basically want to settle in Sydney for a while (probably the longest i will be anywhere) work and have fun. I want to do the mandatory oz things aswell like the sites, visit the islands and tropical queensland. I want to leave time for more spontaneous things aswell so i wont be too scheduled. I havent really worked out in what order to do all these things though. I think i will have about 4500-5000 euro saved for funds going over, and crossing my fingers that family will help me with flights ( probably the cheapest oneway available)

Actually on that, what is the done thing flights wise i wonder? do people buy return flights, or just one way?

I am going to get the working holiday visa, I have looked into others but its a load of hassel that i don't need as i don't know if i will stay longer than the year, I am going to do the regional work as soon as i can, that way i won't be eating into my savins although the pay is ****e you don't really have anywhere to spand money on!! Yeah I need to look into my qualification I have a BA in Social Care and I have a certificate in Addiction and I have other training to but I seen on this that they may no longer be taking the BA. I checked out the skilled workers list and residential Child Care Managers are high on that so I am hoping mine will do. I will be booking a return flight anybody I know that went did too, its better in case in doesn't work out and you want to come home, plus you never know if an emergency came up and you needed to get back quick, are you gonna fly direct or are ya going to do it the cheapest way possible?

colm1988

well I worked with horses all my life and I trained as a Farrier so I hope to work as one. But I want to sort my 3 months working regional thing then get started. I was going to melbourne but I am going to hit sydney first and then get the regional done and AUSTRALIA IS MY OYSTER lol now I have been unemployed since september and I am only after qualifing so the most I have is 2800 euro. Its not much but its the best I could afford. I only made 200 a week so i think it was good going. Had a know it all saying it was not enough and then was told it is grand. 23 of feb is when Im going so Il see you all there in Dublin airport

Sacred_git

go for it -- many moons i done the same thing, i went to asia for 6 months too, all alone but i met lots of people travelling, a lot on their own others in groups/couples etc, its deadly, all them lovely backpacking womens from all the corners of this wonderful world, ah z memories, i wish i could d it all over again

woolie09

Pussnboots- On second thoughts i think you are right about buying return flights. I'm going to go direct as possible but for me its going to involve 2 stops probably. I'm going to go via heathrow rather than dublin because i live beside shannon so its just easier than trecking across the country to dublin airport. Plus from the limited price checking i'v been doing it seems cheaper to go via london rather than using etihad/emirates in dub. It would be good to take a couple of days break between flights where they usually stop like singapore/bangkok but i reckon that might have to wait for the return journey, cant afford to be spending money before i even get to Oz!

I guess it would be smarter to do the regional work at the beginning and have it done with, and not waste all your money in the first week! Plus it would give you time to get your wits about you before you put a deposit on somewhere to live in the cities because that will b a chunk of ur money gone straight away. The last person i know who went to Oz in Oct 2011 said within 3 weeks they had most of their money blown between deposit and first months rent (something like Aus$500 a month to share a room in Bondi). On the positive side though they got a job no problem within those 3 weeks so they were fine.

woolie09

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

thanks for the info lads.

I honestly taught i would be ok with in and around the 2500 mark, i could probably stretch to 3000 by the time i leave.

taking a loan is out of the question, Im in debt as it is with the credit union, most of my friends are in the same boat tbh.

maybe a top up on my loan might be worth it but thats if i get it, as you can imagine it will be fairly hard to get now that im on the dole.

so its defiantly a big no no taking a chance on going with 2500/3000 to get me started?

im trying to get a job here to save even more but no surprise its not happening for me.

Mufcboy1999-Hey man just going back to what other posters have been saying, E2500 would be cutting it too fine i think. Would you be able to handle another 3-4 months in Ireland just pure saving? I think managing with 2500 would put you under an awful lot of pressure, plus australian cities particularly Sydney/Melbourne will take a large chunk of your cash in setting up between deposits and first months rent.Hostels arent cheap either, and will definately eat into your savings quickly. I think technically you are supposed to have Aus $5000 with you as a condition of your visa, although everybody i know who has been said they never got asked anything about it. I think $5000 is about 3950 euro, and what other posters have been saying is true, the aussie $50 note really is like spending our 20's. Things people forget about aswell when budgeting are transport and supermarkets, neither of them are particularly cheap! And if your a smoker, time to give up because the average pack is $14 - $19!

Haha but having said that its still a place well worth going, friendly people and its always free to go hangout at the beach or parks!

Pussnboots

woolie09 wrote: »

Pussnboots- On second thoughts i think you are right about buying return flights. I'm going to go direct as possible but for me its going to involve 2 stops probably. I'm going to go via heathrow rather than dublin because i live beside shannon so its just easier than trecking across the country to dublin airport. Plus from the limited price checking i'v been doing it seems cheaper to go via london rather than using etihad/emirates in dub. It would be good to take a couple of days break between flights where they usually stop like singapore/bangkok but i reckon that might have to wait for the return journey, cant afford to be spending money before i even get to Oz!

I guess it would be smarter to do the regional work at the beginning and have it done with, and not waste all your money in the first week! Plus it would give you time to get your wits about you before you put a deposit on somewhere to live in the cities because that will b a chunk of ur money gone straight away. The last person i know who went to Oz in Oct 2011 said within 3 weeks they had most of their money blown between deposit and first months rent (something like Aus$500 a month to share a room in Bondi). On the positive side though they got a job no problem within those 3 weeks so they were fine.

Sorry dude I havent been on this in ages, I dont mean to come across ruse but why are ya going to go via london, your adding on time to an already long flight plus you may have to pay extra to go that way, ethihad and erimates are both flying from dublin daily now so you should get a cheap enough flight and you can have a stop over without having to do that!! Have you thought of when your going to book your flight is it a case of sooner rather than later, I seen in other threads on this that some are leaving it till a month before to do it

shaneybaby

Probably a stupid question but do most people go east to west rather than west to east. Not particularly OCD about the direction but i'd rather travel east from perth. Half get the feeling i'd blow every penny i had in the big cities out east before i got moving!

woolie09

Pussnboots wrote: »

Sorry dude I havent been on this in ages, I dont mean to come across ruse but why are ya going to go via london, your adding on time to an already long flight plus you may have to pay extra to go that way, ethihad and erimates are both flying from dublin daily now so you should get a cheap enough flight and you can have a stop over without having to do that!! Have you thought of when your going to book your flight is it a case of sooner rather than later, I seen in other threads on this that some are leaving it till a month before to do it

Hey Pussnboots- Just on the Heathrow option, you would be surprised, its actually cheaper in alot of circumstances. I just did a quick browse for 1way flights on 5 Nov 2012, via heathrow came out at E700.25 while the 2 Dublin options were E981 and E703. For me Heathrow doesnt really add time that i'm not losing anyway because its either fly to heathrow, or travel accross Ireland by land to Dublin. It just makes sense for me to get a lift to shannon (20 mins away), get rid of my bags at checkin and then just have to worry about myself! It just means 3hrs around heathrow and 2hrs in Singapore/Bangkok stopovers. not too bad really.

Ya some people swear by booking one of those last minute flights, but i dont think that would include the etihad and emirates dublin routes so i think i would book early, well as soon as i had settled on a date to go.

LunarEclipse83

Hey

I see you have travelled alone to Oz. Which is something that I am considering doing myself in April. I have days where I am excited and I have days where I am absolutely petrified. Preferably I would like a travel buddy but my friends have done the whole travelling thing and no one else is in a position to go. I am terrified of going to a hostel, especially a girl on her own! What are your thoughts?

hussey

LunarEclipse83 wrote: »

Hey

I see you have travelled alone to Oz. Which is something that I am considering doing myself in April. I have days where I am excited and I have days where I am absolutely petrified. Preferably I would like a travel buddy but my friends have done the whole travelling thing and no one else is in a position to go. I am terrified of going to a hostel, especially a girl on her own! What are your thoughts?

Everyone gets like that, but thousands of people do it all the time, I find more European (german, french etc) tend to come to Aus on their own.

Usually hostels are friendly places and people often will talk to you and socialise with you, once you can make the effort you'll be surprised how nice people can be.

Ais77

Hey Lunar, I'm the same (24 year old girl) and wanna travel but scared to go alone! I'm looking online and everyone is saying the best thing is to go alone and it'll work out but its always easier said than done! I wanna do the whole Oz thing but my sis is in New Zealand so seems to make more sense to go there! Still scary though

CiaranC

The majority of people in hostels are travelling alone.

LunarEclipse83

Hey Ais77,

As much as people try and convince me ah you will be ok you will meet loads of ppl over there travelling alone aswell but still can't seem to shake of that terrified feeling lol. When you thinking of Travelling Ais? I want to go to Sydney and travel up the east coast but I know someone in Perth (not that well) and was thinking of going to Perth first and then travel later but I feel like I am doing things backwards. If I were brave enough would love to do Sydney/East Coast option first.

Ais77

Well I have a sister in New Zealand and she is there until July so I was thinking of going there first in May and seeing what my options are then. I would prefer to go to Oz but having her there is a good way to settle into things. But May is my goal date, I am applying for visas this month and hopefully flights when I get paid so I'm just on here to see if people are in the same position. It seems like there is a lot of people wanting to go but their friends can't / won't! Have you made any plan or just thinking about it?