Australia

G'day, mate!

You are planning on traveling, working and/ or living in Down Under? But you don’t really have a clue what to expect there? Here are some helpful advices for you! After spending a year in Australia we would like to share our knowledge with you! Find out everything about visa, banks, backpacking jobs, transport, accommodation or Aussie lifestyle! If you can't find what you are looking for in this blog, feel free to contact us! 

Don’t worry we don’t want to tell you where to go and what to do. We know you are a backpacker. You don’t want to follow a strict schedule or a fix route. But working for Peterpans, one of the biggest backpacking agencies in Australia, we know what kind of information backpackers are looking for. And to make sure you get the right information, here’s a collection of the most important things you should know.  

VISA

If you are under 30 years old and you would like to legally work and live in Australia for up to a year, the visa you might consider is the socalled Working Holiday visa. The Working Holiday and Work and Holiday programs encourage cultural exchange and closer ties between arrangement countries by allowing young people to have an extended holiday supplemented by short-term employment. The working holiday visa subclass 417 applies to people from Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom. On the other hand, the Work & Holiday visa subclass 462 applies for people from Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, the USA and Uruguay. For more information about both visa types follow the link here. The visa application can be filled out online and it takes you about 20 minutes to answer the questions. After the application has been submitted it can take a couple of hours up to a couple of weeks until you find out wether your application has been granted or not.Once the application has been granted you are allowed to work for the same employer for up to six months. After six months you are legally obligated to change employer. 
Once your visa has been granted you've got 12 months to enter the country. From the day of your first entry the visa is valid for 12 months. Within these 12 months you can leave the country as often as you want and re-enter again. However, if you leave the country for let's say a month you DO NOT get an additional month at the end of the year.

Both programs also offer the possibility to extend your stay for another year. In order to do so you have to meet a number of requirements. You will find an excat list of what is requiered here. If you do meet all the requirements you can apply for the second year visa while you are still in Australia or while you are outside the country. If your first Working Holiday visa has been expired but you still haven't found out wether your second year visa has been granted or not you are allowed to stay in the country on a socalled brigding visa until you get notice. Read more about the bridging visa here.

If you are over 30 years old or you have already used your once in a lifetime Working Holiday Visa check out other visa options here. 

Costs for the 1st Working Holiday visa: about 270 AUD
Costs for the 2nd year visa: abou 270 AUD

TFN

TFN refers to the Australian Tax File Number and is essential if you would like to work in Australia. You can apply for the TFN online and it can take up to six weeks until you've been provided a TFN. If you have applied for a TFN and you haven't got your number yet but still would like to work in the meantime it is also possible to hand it in later to your employer. In order to apply for the TFN you need an Australian residential address which can also be the address of the hostel/ hotel you are staying at. The TFN will be sent to this address and will not be provided online. So make sure you don't leave the hostel/ hotel before your TFN has arrived or make sure that someone else can send you your TFN. Applications for the TFN can be done here.

BANK

Once your visa has been granted and you have received your TFN the last thing you need in order to start work in Australia is an Australian bank account. There is a number of good banks in Australia and many of them offer similar conditions to Working Holiday visa holders. Amongst the most popular banks for backpackers are:

• ANZ (Australian and New Zealand Banking Group)
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia
• Bendigo Bank 
• Westpac Banking Corporation
• nab (National Australian Bank)

As I said most of them offer similiar conditions, but after comparing them we decided to go for Westpac and we can highly recommend them. When opening a bank account with Westpac you get three accounts in total: Westpac Choice, which is your day to day account, where your pay check goes to and where you take the money from at the ATM, Westpac Savings, which is your savings account (and they offer a pretty good interest rates) and a third account is the socalled BT Super for Life account, an account for your superannuation. Below you'll find more details on superannuation.Well, so how much do you pay for your bank account? All three accounts cost you 5 AUD per month unless you've got 2000 AUD or more on your account. If you've got 2000 AUD at the beginning of the month on your account you simply don't have any fees at all. All over Australia taking money out of a Westpac ATM is free. But the best thing about Westpac is that it's not only free in Australia but also in New Zealand. So if you go to a Westpac ATM in New Zealand they won't charge you. Most other banks will charge you outside of Australia. After opening a bank account with Westpac you should immediately download the Westpac App on your mobile phone. It is very simple to use and really, really helpful. Most people transfer all their money to the savings account and just transfer some money to their choice account because the interest rates are much better on the savings account. Transfering money from the choice account to the savings account and vice versa can be done easily if you've got the Westpac App on your phone. Also, it is free of charge. So you can transfer money from one account to another as often as you like. Another good reason to choose Westpac is the numbers of ATM's around the country. All big cities, bigger and smaller towns have Westpac ATM's. But also in remote areas it is very likely that you will find a Westpac ATM. Westpac also makes it very easy for you to close the bank account if you leave the country or if you are already back home. Just send an email to the branch were you opend your bank account and tell them to shut it down. Closing the bank account is free of charge, too.

BACKPACKING JOBS

There is nothing like Australia  - and whit that slogan Tourism Australia put it in a nutshell. Especially when it comes to work there is simply NOTHING like Australia. Finding a backpacking job in Australia's easy and anyone you tells you differently (in my opionion) is wrong. Those who are really keen on working will find a job. Of course there are a few points that are extremeley important when  looking for a job:

• you have to be flexible on where to work 
• you have to be willing to do any kind of work that's available 
• most of the times some basic English skills are required 
• you probably won't get paid a fortune right away 

Keeping these points in mind, let's move on to the next big question. Where can I find a backpacking job? Most hostels offer notice boards where all kinds of jobs are offered. So even if you can't find a job on your hostels notice board, don't be shy and just walk in to the hostel next door and check out their notice boards. If you can't find a job there, go to the next hostel etc., etc. What is also very common in Australia is to walk in to a bar/ hotel/ restaurant/ shop and simply ask people if they are looking for staff. Make sure you've got your CV on you so you can leave them a copy in case they might be interested and want to call you back at a later point. But be careful. Australians are not the kind of people who'll tell you NO straight away. It's just not their mentality. Most of the time they will tell you, that they need staff and are going to call you soon. So just because someone tells you this doesn't mean you've got the job and you should stop looking for it. Sometimes it is just their way of saying that they don't need anyone right now. Sometimes (and it happened to us quite a few times) they actually call you back months later and tell you that they need someone just now. Another good advice we can give you is being persistent. Don't be afraid of calling people over and over again and ask them if they got a job for you now. You will see that some might eventually give in and hire you simply because you didn't stop bothering them. It might sound funny to you but many of our friends got their job simply because they were persistent enough.

If you can't find a job on a hostel's notice board or by walking in to a shop/ bar/ restaurant/ hotel, there are some good internet sites you should have a look at. The most populare ones are:

• www.gumtree.com.au: offers all kind of jobs around the country 
• seek.com.au: offers all kind of jobs around the country 
• https://area4work.com/: offers regional employment all over Australia. Make sure to join them on Facebook as they regularlly update job vacancies on Facebook (Australia Regional Employment Agency)
• http://jobsearch.gov.au/harvesttrail/: offers harvest/ farm jobs all over Australia. Call the national harvest line to find out about job vacancies in your area 1800 062 332 and download the harvest guide here

If you are looking for well paid jobs in Australia you should consider the following jobs: 

• landscaping 
• pearling (especially if you work for Paspaley pearls) 
• whoolhandler 
• construction/ labouring 
• mining 
• traffic control (also called lollipop man/ girl)

As these jobs are very popular and thus not really advertised the best way to get one of these jobs is to sign up with a job agency. Many job agencies are specialiazed in certain fields so just sign up with one or two job agencies of each field you are interested in. Another way to get one of these popular jobs simply type in to the google search the field you are interested in, e.g. traffic control and the city you would like to work in and the results will most likely provide you a few names of companies. In this case, get on the phone or get in your car and contact them directly. And again: make sure you are persistent enough!!!!

Some popular job agencies are listet below:

• Julia Ross:  hospitality and tourism as well as office work
• Chanler MacLeod:  covers pretty much every industry
• WorkPac: industrial and mining jobs, construction/ labouring/ trades
• Jobwire:  mining, construction, trades, labouring
• Manpower: covers pretty much every industry
• Drake: accounts, administration, executive, labour, hospitality, industrial, mining, nursing

If you are interested in pearling you should contact Paspaley Pearls. And if you are interested in traffic control don't hesitate to contact ACE who operate in the Northern Territory or Adams Traffic Control who operate in Sydney or Workforce who operate all over the country. If you are interested in working as a whoolhandler check out http://www.shearingworld.com/employment/employment1.htm.

TAX RETURN AUSTRALIA 

The Australian tax system is a pay-as-you-go tax system which simply means you pay a certain amount of tax on every single dollar you earn. How much tax you pay depends on many different things and would be to time consuming to explain it all here. Most of the time, however, your tax rate will be 29%. So if you earn 23 AUD an hour before tax, you will earn around 16.30 AUD after tax. Regional employment usually comes with a lower tax rate of  13%. The good thing about the Australian tax system is the tax return at the end of the fnancial year which is June, 30th. So if you are still in Australia at the end of June don't forget to claim your tax back. All you need in order to claim your tax back is a socalled payment summary of every job you have done so far. Usually, all your former employers send you a payment summary at the end of the financial year. If they don't, don't hestitate to contact them and ask them for a payment summary. If they can't provide you any, you can also use your pay slips. In order to do your tax return you can go to a tax agent or travel offices specialized on backpackers like Peterpans. If you visit Peterpans to claim your tax back make sure you bring your bank details, your TFN and all the payment summaries of former and current jobs (or pay slips if you don't have a payment summary). Peterpans doesn't charge you to do your tax return in the first place, however, they will, depending on how much your tax return will be, deduct a maximum of 200 AUD from your tax return. Peterpans also offers you to claim your superannuation back. In this case they will deduct a lump-sum of 300 AUD from your return. If you do your tax return at the end of the financial year it will take about 5 weeks before you get your tax back.

If you leave Australia before the end of the financial year, you can can claim your tax back anytime before you leave. It will be the same procedure as described above. However, it will take up to 8 weeks before get your tax back.

Also, please do note that you will not get all of the tax you paid back. Sometimes people get 50% of what they paid back, sometimes less and sometimes a bit more.

TRANSPORT

Depending on how long you plan to stay in Australia you pretty much got three options: hiring a car or campervan, buying a car or campervan or relying on Australias public transport system. It pretty much depends on the following questions whether you are going to hire, buy or simply use the bus/ train/ airplane. How long are you going to stay in Australia for? How many people are you traveling with? How old are you? How confident do you feel driving on the left side?

No matter what your decsion will be there are some important links you should check out if you would like to:

Hire a campervan or car

• Wicked Campervans
• Travellers Autobarn
• Britz
• Aussie Campervans
• Spaceship Rentals 
• Travel Car
• Hippie Campervan
• Thrifty Car Rental

Of course you can always check Hertz, Avis, Budget or Europcar if you need a car for a couple of days or weeks. A very good car rental company I had really good experiences with was redspot. I quickly needed a car to get from Sydney to Melbourne and they had amazing deals, great insurance and a very good service. As this is the only car rental company we've every used in Australia I can't provide any other information about the car/ campervan rental companies. However, I'd only like to remind you to check your insurance details before you agree to the rental as it is very likely that you will encounter some troubles during your stay in OZ.

Rely on public transport system:

If you don't want to hire or buy a car/ campervan you can easily travel most of Australia on the bus/ train or airplane. Various bus services cover the East Coast very well and the Greyhound brings you all the way from Melbourne to Carins and vice versa. Tickets, however, should be bought in advance, if you want to make sure you get a seat on the bus. Firefly Australia also offers cheap interstate bus travel and connects Adelaide with Sydney. The Greyhound bus also connects Adelaide, Alice Springs with Darwin (and of course vice versa - I don't mention it -  I think it's obvious) or Cairns with Darwin. If you would like to travel the Outback by train check out th the Ghan, which connects Darwin, Alice Springs with Adelaide. The Indian Pacific on the other hand conncets Sydney with Adelaide and Perth while the The Overland connects Adelaide and Melbourne. As you can see most of Australia is covered pretty well. The only place where I would highly recommend you to hire a car/ campervan, take the plane or do a tour is Western Australia. The Greyound service on the West Coast is pretty bad and there is not really an alternative. So if you really want to see most of Western Australia you've got pretty much two options: hire a car/ campervan or just do a tour. Peterpans Adventure Travel offers great tours all over Australia. One of the best tours for the West Coast, by the way, is the Aussie Adventure tour from Perth to Darwin. Definately a must do!!If you are looking for cheap domestic flights in Australia check out the following airlines:

• Jetstar
• Virgin Australia
• Qantas
• Tiger Airways

If you would like to get a cheap flight to New Zealand, additionally you should have a look at:

• LAN
• Air New Zealand

Buy a car or campervan:

Buying a car or campervan in Australia is pretty simple and there is definately less bureaucracy involved than in Europe. So where should you look for a car or campervan? The first place to look at is the notice board in your hostel and all the hostels nearby. Depending on where you are you will find a small or big selection of cars and campervans. Some hostels also have a list of cars and campervans for sale at the reception. So if you can't find what you are looking for at the hostels notice board just ask at the reception if they've got a list of cars or campervans that are for sale. Of course you can also go and see car dealers but you will see that most of the cars and campervans that are for sale are not really in accordance with your budget. However, it is always worth a try and you might be lucky and find what you were looking for from a car dealer.
In general however, I would recommend to buy your car of another backpacker simply because the cars and campervans are much cheaper. So if you are staying at a hostel don't be afraid of talking to people and let everybody know that you are looking for a car or a campervan. That's how we got our campervan. A friend knew a friend who had a campervan for sale. Sometimes it is really pretty simple. Of course you should always check out Gumtree Australia as many cars and campervans are advertised on this site. Bigger cities also have backpacker car markets like the Kings Cross Car Market in Sydney. If you are not sure if there is such a car market in your city just ask at the reception of your hostel. I'm pretty sure they know if a car market does exist. The best place to buy a car or campervan is in a big city like Sydney or Melbourne because you've got a huge range to select from and because of the big competition prices are usually lower. However, if you would like to sell your car and you are not in a hurry you should sell it in a slightly smaller town where less cars or campervans are on sale. Usually you can get a much better price for your vehicle in a smaller town. But of course, there is a reason why there are not that many vehicles for sale, the demand is slower too. So if you are in a smaller town you shouldn't be in a hurry. Otherwise you probably can't get rid of you vehicle at all.

Once you have agreed to buy the car or campervan there is some things you have to do. Most of the times a certificate of roadworthiness is required when a vehicle is sold. The seller has to provide this certificate which indicates that the car is still ok to drive with. Both the seller and buyer then should visit (at least in Queenlsand) the Department of Trasport and Main Roads where they transfer ownership. Unfortunately the departments have different names in different states that's why you should have a look here, to find out what's it called in your state.  When ownership is transferred the buyer has to pay the REGO which is a combination of car tax and insurance. Car registration in Australia includes basic third-party (personal) insurance. So technically you (and anyone else) are legally covered to drive any registered car without additional vehicle insurance. However... any non-personal injury costs are not covered, so you are strongly advised to take out further third-party (vehicle), third party fire & theft, or comprehensive insurance. Costs of this are generally much cheaper here than in Europe. The insurance we use was AAMI which we can recommend.

However, registering A Vehicle in Australia ("REGO") - Australia is a federal country and all eight states and territories have independent and differing laws - including licensing and registration rules. Registration ("Rego") is the Australian state government tax allowing you to drive on the roads, each state having differing costs - in the region of $700-$1,000 annually.

Therefore if you have a car registered in New South Wales (NSW) and it expires when you are in another state then be prepared to drive back or pay high fees to have it transferred to that state. This will require the car to be closely examined at a Registry office where they usually find an insurmountable amount of repairs required before the transfer can take place. In practice interstate transfers are so difficult to be not worth consideration.

So the number one thing is to have a long "rego" period left before expiry so it lasts until you get back to the appropriate state. Selling an out-of-state registered car can be difficult to impossible.