working holiday to Oz februrary 2016, advice please!

Hiya all new on here so bare with me! :-D

Looking to book my trip to Oz in march for the following Feb, so just really want any advice for a woman travelling by them selves for the first time, and any pointers on budget as hoping to apply for a second year visa once I've done the first year and harvest work etc, what sort of job should I expect to get and earn, and essential items i need to take/or get sorted before going, was thinking of going through STA travel to take some of the stress out of it, has anyone gone with them and are they reliable? And just any other advice would be appreciated please!

Sorry for the long winded post just not really sure what to expect :-)

[ Edit: Edited on 02-Jan-2015, at 09:14 by stefc34 ]

Hi there

Me and my girlfriend are leaving to go to oz in august. We planned around march last year and looked alot into were was best to get our flights etc and we found sta was the best. I have to reccomd them they were very helpful for us and got us a good price compared to other prices we had got we also got our visa from sta on a half price flash sale they done back in october which was very good but keep a eye on there fb and twitter for deals info etc. good luck

FWIW a 'half price flash sale' on visas is concerning. The WHV direct from the Australian Department of Immigration costs AU$420. Anyone else selling this visa has to go through them anyway and online applications through the Dept are normally accepted within a few of hours.

Regarding what sort of job you could 'expect to get', search through the job listings on Seek.com.au to see what's available. This will also give you a general idea of current pay rates.

While travel company packages can be convenient, many travellers also find it is possible to organise everything themselves for much cheaper and sometimes free! Have a read of TP guides like Backpacking (Australia) and Australia – Money.

Hello, I'm heading out to Sydney in November, arriving in December. I booked everything with sta including visa, insurance etc.. I found them extremely helpful and took a lot of stress of the organising! Let me know how you get on and keep in touch - when you get to oz we can do drinks!! ☺️

Hiya! I'm looking to do exactly the same thing around the same times! Are you looking for a travel bud x

[ Edit: Edited on 22-Jan-2015, at 15:02 by sophie.e ]

Quoting sophie.e

Hiya! I'm looking to do exactly the same thing around the same times! Are you looking for a travel bud x

Hiya, well I was hoping to book onto a group flight with sta travel so I'd be going with a few other people doing the same thing hopefully, although I had thought that maybe it'd be cheaper to plan it all myself, where would you be departing from if you don't mind me asking?

Hey. I'm hoping to go to Sydney in January. Found information about a group flight with BUNAC which also stops in Hong Kong for 3 nights. Seemed good, but pretty expensive. I like the idea of a group flight though as i hate flying ... :/ What sort of price were STA quoting for? Had a look on their website, but can't see

x

Hiya that was the exact same one I was looking at, I was looking at booking the bunac package where they sort everything for you, the visa service and the group flight options so I will need to save about £1500 to book all that i think, it's very expensive so I was going to price it up for booking it all myself and see how much I save, I nearly have that saved now but they've not updated their flight departure dates for the group option yet anyway!

Hi

I went to STA for travel advice to OZ, however I have only booked my flight through them. The flight was a good deal but for a VISA and bank account and Tax code and health number you can set up yourself cheaper or even free once you arrive. It all depends on if you are trying to keep the costs low now. If you looking to save money id definitely get your visa direct from the OZ government. Its really easy to do and gets approved extremely quickly, I had mine back within 12 hours of sending the application off.
I have been told bank accounts are quick and easy to set up when you arrive in oz by visiting a local branch of the bank you'd like to be with.

Hope this helps. Can provide more information once my trip has started in October.
Lucy

Yeh I like the idea of someone sorting it all for me, but it's really alot of money, just thinking what I can spend that money on once I get there instead lol ?