You Live and Learn (A Summary)

Visit Oz/ OysterWorldWide Farmwork

So the work part, the finance for my trip- Done!
And writing this, initially I'd been finished for 3months. It's now 6, so I can be reflective.

The company I went out to Aus with was Visit Oz, affiliated with OysterWorldWide, which is who I booked through. They say they'll train you and guarantee you farm work. The reason they focus on farm work is that is the type of work you have to do for your second year visa.

Now if you want to work on a farm that's all well and good but you can actually get a second year visa from fruit picking too, and that's easy to find yourself, you just have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem with fruit picking for your second year visa is finding somewhere that has enough work to employ you for the necessary 3months to get your visa.

Now the training, I'm sure I've said before how much I enjoyed my week at Goomeri and you do get to do a fair few things, even some I've never done before, but even the new things you done do enough of to 'learn'. The things you do do are quite easy, anything else you only get to do once, just to say you've done it. In all honesty, if you have a bit of general farm knowledge the training doesn't feel that necessary, just enjoyable.

I guess the main benefit of the training farm is the guaranteed job. It does offer more possibilities. I'm sure it would be hard to secure a job with a racehorse trainer (one job I was offered) without being with a company. Having said that, most people who went to such places had so little experience they wouldn't have been doing anymore than mucking out stalls.
But in all honesty, once you're actually out there, in a town, even if you start by just working in a bar, it's not hard to find work. In a small town, you get to know people quite easily. It's easy to find someone who needs a hand, or is willing to give you a go; a farmer, a contractor, a shearing team willing to let you start working just sweeping the shed. It's actually good work.
So really finding work on your own isn't difficult at all, even if the idea is daunting.

Now from my experience I would say go to a bigger property, or a commercial farm. Somewhere that employs a lot of people, because while I did enjoy my time at Wallendbeen, and in ways it was brilliant, it was lacking people. Happiness, enjoyment is meant to be shared. Don't forget you will probably be in the middle of nowhere with limited access to the nearest town. If you're working alone, chances are you will get lonely. You can argue that you enjoy your own company as much as you want but on your own for 3-6months you will one company. No question. Besides, the more people you meet, the more friends you make, the more opportunities you have for later on.

Also on a lager property there will always be specific jobs that need doing. Always knowing what needs to be done, there's no standing around around looking for something to do.

Now for what I consider the important bit. If you travel with a company, find work through a company, have a company as your security blanket, there are some responsibilities that company should take, some information they should give you, help you with and I'm actually appalled that they don't but hopefully someone else can learn from my mistakes.

Wherever you work, make sure you sign some form of contract. Know what hours you're expected to work, for what length of time, what time you have off. It's actually quite easy to forget about that sort of thing particularly if you're working on a small property, living with the family, just completely part of that family environment.

Make sure you also get an exact breakdown of your pay, even if you are paid by bank transfer. Most places expect to be paying you about $300-$400 after tax. The tax for a foreigner working in Aus is 30% but pre-tax minimum wage is over $600. That means they're taking off over $150 a week for rent sometimes. Yes that is only the same price as a cheap hotel but it's still quite shocking if you sit down to work it out, not expecting it.

So yeah, make sure you know what you're being paid, for what hours. Get it all on paper, signed and keep track of it all yourself as well.

You live and learn.