Travelling Australia

Brendan

You’re in luck - there is more...

We are on the road and can tell you there is no problem with work, especially with your tickets etc. You could earn $1000+/wk easy just on your own. Forget the fruit picking unless you want arthritis. Anywhere there are mines, the towns and mines need people. You can also get cleaning, painting, caretaking, mgrs jobs in caravan parks etc. The list is endless. You could take a working holiday for the rest of your life - or until the kids comes along :-)

Houses will always go up just like the share market but buying a house at the moment is like paying pretty expensive rent to a landlord called ‘The Bank’ - the booms gone til the next one which I don’t think will happen again for a few years yet, so do it now while you have a window. When things balance out again you can always get back in. Most people buy houses to have families which needs security. When you’re old and grey, you won’t regret the experience, having the next few years fancy free, so to speak, won’t ruin you financially in the long run.

We ‘dropped out’ a year ago because we ‘wanted more’ like you say. We both now say we couldn’t live in a big city again, we can’t see a reason yet why we need to. Some people try this and get bored and go home but some think they’ve won the lotto and think how lucky they are. We know a couple who did this in their early 20’s and they think it’s brilliant.

Anyway we’ve kept a website for the last 6 mths if you want to get some idea but we haven’t even scratched the surface, bloody country is too big.
Hope that helps you to convince the boss.
Cheers
John
www.rovingoz.com

Hi Brendan - I didn't answer at first, because i haven't done what you hope to do; at that age i had a house full of children and a farm to run. But i can't let it pass any longer. Surely, your young lady could be convinced with the lure of being on a big 'holiday' with almost no housework to do in the caravan. I we hadn't been tied down with family, mortgages and farm, we'd have been out there.

Perhaps for security (land prices are always going up) you could invest your 'deposit' in a block of land somewhere rather than just sitting in the bank.

There are a lot of people successfully taking a long working holiday. We even met a couple at Carnarvon once who were doing the touring/working holiday with a tent and their cat. They were working at the prawn factory at the time, and had been travelling across Australia and working in various places along with the touring for many months. Caravans these days can be better fitted out than my home. She can have en suite, microwave, satellite TV and most mod cons. Here in WA, there is a shortage of labour due to the mining boom, and the money in the NW is very good. Work easy enough to come by but finding somewhere to park your caravan is the problem in key places like Karratha. You can register with a number of labour hire companies for mining area jobs across the country.

The government jobs website Site Link has a harvest trail section for the East Coast.

Sure hope you convince her it is a wonderful idea.

Hi Brendan,

We've taken the plunge and are currently enjoying our "working retirement". We are at Karratha in WA at the moment and I have had 3 jobs in 5 weeks. (I don't want anything long-term so I'm on the employment agency books as "relief staff".)

You can make very good money here, but the cost of living is very high. If you can get a job where you can park your van or camper onsite it works out well.

We have well and truly topped up the kitty here and are moving on next week. We had a good look around while we were here too.

If you want work, you will find it and you can live pretty cheaply on the road. Our savings have increased since we "stopped the world and got off."

It's like a great, big paid holiday.

Cheers,

Russ.

I am 30 and my other half is 25. I finally convinced her that travelling around working and relaxing in between was a good idea. We are geting very well paid here in the Pilbara working in hospitals as nurses. Literally double the take home pay. Living in quarters we pay almost no rent and are saving piles of cash. We haven't begun travelling yet.

I was getting bored with my job down south (as I knew I would) and wanted to go remote. I am enjoying the work with Aboriginal people despite its hardships. My other half needs to go back home every once in a while to see her family to stop her from going nuts, but apart from that she is enjoying the experience.

I don't think you will have much trouble getting work up this way with your certificates. Talking to some of my patients from the mines they fly in and fly out for $6000 a month after tax (one week off in four).

Many people come here, save money to get set up before settling down in their dream place. Hard, hot, dirty work but piles of money. You may be able to work here for several years and pay for the house outright?

As for your missus, the local shops and businesses are always advertising for more staff. A common sign in shops is "we apologise for any delays in serving our customers, but like many businesses in this town, we are experiencing staffing shortages".

Brendan, I would try to do both. Barnsey above has shown what he can do on the earnings front with the minerals boom in the North West, but rely if you have nearly enough for the house deposit, I reckon you should lock into the real estate market. Not one that is overblown like the Sydney one, but you should lock in where it isn't currently overpriced. Then gear your investment with working higher income jobs as Barnsey suggests.

The real estate market doesn't run at the same speed as accumulation in a term deposit. It riuns and sometimes reverses. You must expect that, but putting the money into term deposit doesn't get an anchor into the sand like getting some assets together.

Brendan, I left Melbourne in 1996 and have no intention of returning after touring and working around West Aussie and the Northern Territory during the winter months and back down in Margaret River / Dunsborough during the summer time.

There are so many really well paying jobs available in the Mid / Far North of WA that you will both find work without any problems.

You have to live in a 'self contained' caravan etc... as you can then travel with the work, and see the country at the same time, with-out relying on expencive caravan parks etc..

There is no time like the present, jump at the opportunity while you can as when children arrive they will curtail your travelling and your 'living' experiences.

You have to "invest" the funds you presently have in a manner that will grow, land is a winner IF it is bought at the bottom of the price cycle and in an area where you want to live or only as an investment it can then be situated anywhere.

Come over and look at the most exciting part of Aussie - the WEST is BEST.

goodday brendan and wife
we are a bit older than yuo are but our house is sold the caravan is bought and in 8 mths we are away from melb as quick as we can
my wife is sick of house work (absolute minimum in the van)absolutely s&&& loads of work around we are semiretiring and going travelling my boss cant understand why i?????
neither of us care what we do there are several sites you can subscribe to (free)that advertise jobs
i got 1 tonite work in kurumba didnt say wages rate but for a few weeks look around who cares if its puuting in enough to pay accomadation and towards next lot of fuel
we will just be glad to get out of the rat race in melb each day

steve

Hi Brendan,

You and your good lady will have no trouble supporting yourselves and provided you both like the lifestyle, you'll never look back. You might like to have a look at our story.