Me and my best mate want to go to Australia for a few years

[DanielJames]

but have no idea where to start planning?

Basically we're both 20 year old, work full time in jobs we hate, and want to get away from the UK.

Australia is a place I've always wanted to go, he says the same.

Has anyone done a similar thing and can share experiences/tips?

Syndey would be the place we're aiming for.

Is is simple enough to get a working permit? Or will I need one?

Any help appreciated! I've only just started looking into it this morning so apologies for being a bit slack.

Dan

[Changedmyname]

My son ,a little bit older than you is going there to ,but as a back packer, what ever that means.
He says that it's easy then to get a visa.
I thought that you had to have a trade/job to got to when you got there,oh and somewhere to stay,but that's if you move there longer than 2 years.

[sjg]

Working holiday visa is easy to get, but only covers you for 12 months. You need to be able to show you can support yourself for that time - they recommend $5000 (about £3500), obviously after you've paid for plane ticket, etc.

Sydney is expensive and doesn't have so many opportunities for casual work - mostly it's fruit picking and the like which you'd have to head out of the cities for.

Staying for longer is tricky unless you have a skill that is on their Skilled Occupation List.

[VEA]

sjg said:

Working holiday visa is easy to get,

Sydney is expensive

This and this, you may want to check the working holiday visa as well, we were in NZ on one of these recently and found out only after getting there that it only entitles you to hold a contract for 3 months at any one place.

oh and did I mention that Sydney is expensive???

[TEKNOPUG]

It's full of 'straaaiiiiaaannnssss too

[98elise]

TEKNOPUG said:

It's full of 'straaaiiiiaaannnssss too

It can't be, they are all over here

[TEKNOPUG]

98elise said:

It can't be, they are all over here

Only the elite, top 5% of them are here. The ones smart enough to fill in a passport application and book a ticket.

[WhereamI]

An Australian working holiday visa limits you to 12 months in the country and 6 months with any one employer.

Seriously though - Sydney is very expensive but so are other places, Perth in particular.

[WhereamI]

TEKNOPUG said:

Only the elite, top 5% of them are here. The ones smart enough to fill in a passport application and book a ticket.

The top people in New Zealand move to Australia and the top people in Australia move to the UK. Unless you are a miner.

[durbster]

sjg said:

Working holiday visa is easy to get, but only covers you for 12 months.

Assuming nothing has changes, you can get an extra year extension if you do three months work in 'rural areas', which basically means farm work. It was introduced when I was there back in 2006 so we took advantage. The work can be a bit crappy but some of the best times we had were working on farms so it's win-win.

Depends what you're after really. If you want an adventure you need to get away from the east coast. If you want booze and ladies then stay on it.

We got bored of Sydney after about three days because although it's very pretty, it's basically the same as any western city underneath. Shops, money, stressed people, tourists etc. If you're used to all that it's probably OK but otherwise you might as save yourself the £800 flight and get the £799 train ticket to London instead.