just a warning to those who are looking into farmwork in Oz to get a 2nd Visa etc you gotta be dedicated to the cause to do this..............

i wasnt personally up for getting a second visa but i ran out of cash and needed work so i went to a town called Mildura and worked on a Farm for 3 weeks

basically the pay is bad, The hours are long and inconvenient and the heat can be very intense.............plus the threat of attack from local wild life.

to get a second Visa you need to do three months of this three weeks was enough to turn me off of the idea

it seems as well that most farm jobs are the same across australia and can only be obtained through special hostels that make connections with local farmers.
Let me give you a typical example of my day on the farm..............

Wake up at 6:15 (this was the latest shift of all the people in the hostel some people left at 4:30am)
Travel to farm which takes 45 minutes
Work on the Farm from 7:30am-4pm (including half an hour lunch)
Get back to hostel around 4:45

i would do this 5 days a week and then on saturdays if work was available it was dished out and for the average week including a saturday (thats 6 days a week 8 hours a day) i would pull in around $480 which is around £192 (im from the uk)

it seems the second Visa was a very clever method for australia to get people working on the farms for cheap

my advice would be if your not looking to extend your working visa and can speak clear English then stick to jobs in the cities which are far higher earning and much more suited to your cause

i know it may seem like im being a bitch and that im afraid of a little hard work............i assure you this is not the case the actual work on the farm was enjoyable and taxing if mundane it just doesnt seem right to be paid so little for a job that is quite challenging

if however you have to take the plunge heres some survival tips

-Take an MP3 player either with a high capacity or with a laptop so you can change the albums on there often

-Sunscreen is your friend

-Give the Farmers Shit but be careful - aussie farmers swear more than any person ive met if one has a go at you for fucking up dont take it to heart if they use alot of expletives but if you are confident to come back at them do it they mostly like people who are Ballsy

-All purpose Meat is your friend - living cheap is the key to earning money during farmwork so make sandwiches out of Fritz for your work lunch and good ole 2 minute noodles or pasta based dinners are great

-Take alot of Water - i was drinking close to 6 litres a day on the farm and i didnt pee once

-Redbacks are a source of amusement...........but dont fuck with em - in case you didnt know redbacks are a common aussie spider that is potentially dangerous if you start sticking your hand in their web and stuff however observing em from a distance is quite something as they are awesome looking creatures try and get photo's.....................then post em on somethingawful.com

Drinking - Do Not drink in pubs/clubs whilst working on a farm boxes of wwine are available for around $10 that are good for 2 nights at least

well ive said my bit

I guess it all depends on what you do...I worked on banana farms for two months. because I'm a girl I worked in the shed. It sucked ASS! But hey it got me money and that's what I was after. Dipping bananas in wax for eight hours a day is horrible but there ARE worst jobs out there. I also worked on a vineyard and that job was alright. There are times when your working with fruit that you think what the fuck am I doing here?? But somehow the day ends, the wine starts flowing, your bank account is filling up and your meeting awesome ppl and then you understand why your doing it! I would just researd what kind of fruit to work with. i know melons can give you nasty allergic rashes.

The second year visa option was just coming out when I was leaving. Technically I could have gotten it, however I already had my mind set on home. But hey it's the backpacker life so deal with the tough jobs and remember it's only temporary!

Thats a great post, thanks Gaz :blink: