Australia

Rob and Holly have recently returned from Australia having spent 5 months working and travelling around the Outback. Before heading to Aus, Rob and Holly spent time volunteering on the Oyster project with Bears in Romania. Here they tell their story…

“We started our mini adventure in the depths of the forests in Transylvania working at a brown bear sanctuary. We stayed in Brasov, the second largest city in Romania, a beautiful and historically interesting place to roam around at the weekends. The bear sanctuary is an awe inspiring place, set in the hills surrounding the city it houses both Brown bears and a few wolves. Our main job at the sanctuary was feeding the bears, collecting food from the huge supermarkets and throwing it over the electric fence for the bears to argue over. The bears have all been rescued from appalling circumstances and we really felt like we did our bit to help out. We would love to go back to see our favourite bears and see how the sanctuary has evolved.

After Romania we spent 2 days back in the UK before flying into Brisbane, Australia. In Australia we spent a week learning the basics of farming at a training farm on the east coast. Our week consisted of tractor driving, motor bike riding, chainsawing, fencing and other farm based activities. After finishing our training we managed to get 3 jobs over a period of 5 months. Our longest was 3 months on a 42,000 acre cattle station right in the heart of the outback. We did a lot of mustering cattle on motor bikes, moving them from one place to another and yard work. We got accommodation, food and a wage, It was an amazing experience and one that I would recommend to anyone. After 3 months we had saved enough money to fund the rest of our travels around Australia and saw some classic Australian sights on the way. Because of our work on the farm we can now apply for a second year visa which may tempt us back and away from our radiators back in Suffolk!”

Thanks very much for sending in a great read! We are so pleased that you had such a great time on both of your placements!

Australia has been the most popular Gap year destination for years - around a third of Gappers are reckoned to spend some of their Gap year there. However few spend long away from the cities to see the great Outback that covers most of Australia and is key to the Australian economy and culture too.

I was lucky enough to visit Australia in October to launch Australia as a destination for us. I am delighted to say that we now offer a program that guarantees well paid work in the Outback - around £700 pcm with free food and accommodation for agricultural or hospitality work. Participants get an excellent 9 day induction and training course - this one of the reasons that Australian employers are so willing to offer work. Read the rest of this entry »