Farm work in Australia

Hello all.

Been doing a ton of research and have become very interested in the working holiday visa that Australia offers. Farm work would be my preference as I would love to get out into the country and see some of the rural side of Australia. My plan would be to stay for a year or more, as I read that after a few months of farm work you could extend your visa another year, and then use whatever money I have saved to travel Southeast Asia. My question is would it be worth it to go through one of the programs that puts you through the training farm and guarantees you work? I know it costs a decent amount up front but due to some student loan debt back home, a few hundred US dollars per month, I don't have a ton of options as I will need to be making money consistently to cover that debt. I do have enough saved up to cover a month or two in oz but after that I would have to have some type of steady income. I've looked at programs through sites like visitoz.org and smaller earth. What appealed to me was that they find you guaranteed work along with free room and board on the farm. Doing the math I would be able to cover the cost of the program and my bills back home after only a few months of work and still save a bit to travel once the work at that farm was done.

Has anyone gone through either of these companies or another thats offers a similar program? Or are there other jobs out there that you can secure before getting to oz? I wouldn't mind working in the city taking whatever work I could get but after talking to a friend who did that he maid it seem that after paying for food and accommodations it would be very difficult to still be making enough to save for travel afterwards. I would love nothing more then to just show up and casually look for fruit picking work but my fear is that if I can't secure something after a month or two i'll be out of cash and have to head right back home. I'm planning on going in Aug/sept of 2016 and I'd be coming from the US. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Coming from the USA you will need a 462 visa and as I understand you can’t extend your visa for an extra 12 months,

http://aussieworkingholiday.com/what-are-the-differences-between-a-417-working-holiday-visa-and-a-462-work-and-holiday-visa/

You will also need to demonstrate you have enough money to support yourself (about $5,000) plus the return airfare.

Full details are here –

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/462-

For seasonal harvest work in Australia have a look at the Harvest Trail website
http://jobsearch.gov.au/harvesttrail/

Have a look at the downloadable booklet. This will give you info on where and when harvest work is available around Australia.

This is sponsored by the Australian government to address seasonal labour shortages on farms.

This service will not find you jobs but will provide very helpful for information on harvest jobs, working conditions or accommodation. They also have a telephone help line - National Harvest Telephone Information Service 1800 062 332

These jobs are dependent on the season so always give the hot line a call to get more information BEFORE your head off to a region.

Some farms will exploit casual workers (under pay, poor accommodation etc.) so once again a call to the harvest trail hotline might be useful.

Also get a travel guide. Will be very helpful for planning and useful once you get here.
http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/australia/

Aug or Sep is a bit too early for stone seeded fruits as its late winter early spring here.
Chances of some citrus though in country SA, have that for my general knowledge a long time ago.
Fruit picking is or can be very hard work.

You might like to join www.helpx.net where you can stay on farms and do some work in return for keep. I'm a host and host the occasional visitor.

I reckon like treeplanter says - if you can get by for a few months, you could helpx, get to know an area and make connections and end up employed.

I think the guaranteed job thing sounds too good to be true. I could hypothesize all sorts of scenarios, but you're better off if you secure your own employment. A middleman like you're talking about has to be skimming a pretty penny for themselves.

I went to OZ with $500, didn't work my first real job (by choice) until I'd been there for about two months, never needed more cash.

Here are my OZ WHV tips - one American to another:
http://halftheclothes.com/australia-working-holiday-visa-checklist/

Hope that helps!

p.s. #7 is all about work exchanges (help x, like treeplanter mentions)

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