Best practical tips for your working holiday and backpacking in Australia! Save tons of time and money!
Welcome Working Holiday makers and Backpackers!
In the following, I’ll summarize the most important stuff for you. So you can take advantage from my insider knowledge. Also make sure to save this post and follow me on Instagram @traveltainment_eduard and like my FB page clueless.travel to not miss out of any time sensitive content and. Especially in IG I posted already some tips & tricks so check it out!!
Let’s get started!
Overview of your working holiday journey
- Part 1 is all about visa requirements and eligibility for your working holiday in Australia (read before coming to Australia)
- >>Part 1.1 I lead you step-by-step with screenshots through the official working holiday visa application!
- Part 2 is all about relevant working terms to get started in your first days in Australia. I show you Australia’s minimum wage, what TFN, ABN, RSA, SUPER etc. is and where to apply in order to work legally in Australia.
- Part 3 is all about pay rates and work. I show you my payslips, what I earned, and you can too in 2024! I show you all special occasions where you can earn more money!
- Part 4 is all about finding typical backpacker jobs and pay rates. I show you all relevant ways, platforms, and websites where you can find jobs and as well as typical pay rates!
- Part 5 is all about extending your working holiday visa in Australia and the required 88 days of specified work! (Farm work)
1. How to get very cheap and high quality clothes for work and daily life?
With that alone, I will save you tons of money in the long term. It’s not necessary to buy new and cheap things but very low quality stuff in Kmart (Discounter) Australia unless it’s necessarily. Just go second hand! It might sound not so “cool”, but in Australia you can find incredible things in the so-called “Op shops” and “Thrift Shops”.
So there’s absolutely no reason to be ashamed to enter one of these shops. Yes, sometimes you will find homeless and poor people there, but if you’re open-minded this shouldn’t be a problem at all. And the good thing is they are all around Australia, even in very small cities and villages!
You can find there everything from branded high quality clothes like T-shirts, jeans, glasses, watches among others. Tons of clothes for doing sports like shorts, pants, muscle shirts and surfing stuff etc. from brands like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour etc. for cheap!
With that said, make sure not to bring too much stuff into Australia. Leave rather more space for all the clothes you get in the thrift shops!
“You get covered for the Australian summer as well as winter (Sweaters, rain jackets, normal jackets) so don’t worry about that, whatever season your coming in to Australia! Especially for girls there is tons of choices!”
For your road trip/camping you will find cutlery, blankets, backpacks, sports gear, tents, and other stuff for a very cheap price!
For work, you will find high-visibility vests, working pants/shorts, gloves etc. for construction work. Plain white or black shirts/T-shirts, shoes etc. for the hospitality sector.
Down below, you can see a fraction from what I bought during my stay in Australia and still wear it, of course! It’s really high quality stuff and looks much better than the crap from Kmart.
So how to find these shops? Too Easy! You just type op shops or thrift shops in google and all will show up.
Very common shops are: Vinnies, Red Cross, Op shop, Thrift shop and any other showing up. Sometimes you can find smaller ones, especially in bigger cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
Bonus tip: Go there weekly or every two weeks if you can, because like every other shop, they get new stuff. And sometimes you can find real treasures if you look regularly!
2. How to travel free or inexpensive around Australia by car and find travel buddies
There is one website where you can find offers for transfer rental cars. They’re always looking for people to transfer their cars/vans back to the origin city. One of these websites is:
Just check out the date and availability to transfer the cars. Maybe you can find something close to your area! You usually just pay the gas yourself, but you can share it with your companions of course!! Here we go! Road trip almost free!
Here you can join my FB community.
Keywords on Facebook:
“Ride-share in Australia”
And many more!
- https://gogaffl.com/trips/australia
- https://www.joinmytrip.com/en/
- and of course write a post in several FB groups
3. Have this always on your phone!
More often than not, if you go around asking for jobs, you might be asked directly to leave or phone number among other details. I recommend you always to have it with you, it’s a very good first impression and shows that you’re serious about finding a job in Australia!
All Info:
- Phone number and WhatsApp number (if different)
- White card number
- TFN
- ABN
- Visa application number and grant number and any other Visa information like starting end expiring of your working holiday visa!
- Super member number, name of your Super, address and ABN of your Super provider
- Australian bank details or your Wise bank details! (BSB and Account number) and address of branch
- Wise (or whatever bank account you choose to use to send money to your home bank account)
- Your current Australian address (especially to receive your White Card and TFN and ABN number)
Overview of your working holiday journey
- Part 1 is all about visa requirements and eligibility for your working holiday in Australia (read before coming to Australia)
- >>Part 1.1 I lead you step-by-step with screenshots through the official working holiday visa application!
- Part 2 is all about relevant working terms to get started in your first days in Australia. I show you Australia’s minimum wage, what TFN, ABN, RSA, SUPER etc. is and where to apply in order to work legally in Australia.
- Part 3 is all about pay rates and work. I show you my payslips, what I earned, and you can too in 2024! I show you all special occasions where you can earn more money!
- Part 4 is all about finding typical backpacker jobs and pay rates. I show you all relevant ways, platforms, and websites where you can find jobs and as well as typical pay rates!
- Part 5 is all about extending your working holiday visa in Australia and the required 88 days of specified work! (Farm work)
Questions? Let’s connect:
What’s next in your journey?
For working holiday starters:
- Apply for the working holiday maker visa subclass 417 (usual approval time 1 min – 14 days) or 462 (usual approval time at least 14 days due to further requirements)
- Provide further details if necessary to get the application going (health examination etc.) in your immigration account (ImmiAccount)
- Get credit cards, especially a WISE account (Australian bank account) and check passport validity! (min. 2 weeks – 1 month before you plan to flight)
- Book your flights (AFTER received approval letter from immigration)
- Packing list 2024 (Coming soon)
- Get travel insurance before you fly (SavetyWing or Heymondo)
- Get an Onward ticket ALWAYS! (24-48h before your flight, evidence of leaving the country you enter). For working holiday Australia visa holders, it’s NOT necessary.
- Book your accommodation via hostelworld to get to know people quickly. I recommend the first two weeks at the same spot
- Job hunting and other bureaucratic stuff (once in Australia)
- Open up your US LLC to get your Freelancer business started!
- Sign up to my Newsletter to get a smarter traveler and stay up-to-date
