Australia.

[Thom]

I've decided that I want to go travelling for as long as I can afford to, and I figured that a good place to start would be Australia. I have family over there that I'm sure will put me up while I earn some money to travel around the coast and over to NZ, then hopefully over to America.

I'm starting this thread to discuss my excursion over there; where I should go, where I should avoid, precedure for overseas travellers who want employment, what is not/is a knife, that sort of thing.

First of all, what are my chances of getting a work visa, bearing in mind my family have lived there for over 20 years? Anybody from here done any travelling before?

[crunk]

Here's a general piece of information that you should first know:

Australia:

Don't even bother visiting the parts in red:

[Thom]

Hmm maybe I didn't make myself clear enough...

What's the legal age of consent for sex with a girl in Australia?

[jitz]

what is not/is a knife, that sort of thing.

lmao, Crocodile Dundee is awesome.

Temporary work visas are easy to come by, the government do check that you've left the country though, and will hunt you down. So you can't overstay.

Thing is, if you stick to the coast, you really miss out on everything that the rest of the world thinks Australia is. Unless you went to the coast around the north west, where there's absolutely nothing except Broome, but it's expensive to get there because it's so far away from everything.

You'll have to wait atleast a year to come because summer is only a few months away, and I take it you're not jumping on a plane tomorrow.

As for employment, i know there's a backpackers employment agency you can sign up for and they allocate bar work and restaurant work and all that type of junk that backpackers do. I don't know the name, but I know it exists, so google it.

Oh and I'd dare say to leave your fashion at home, it won't go down well here. Infact you'll be called a "fag", a "cunt", "fucking wanker", along with a few more creative names that guys driving past in cars will surprisingly come up with on the spot. Hell I got yelled at for walking while eating a meat pie, he yelled out something about my pie, I couldn't quite hear him over the taste sensation going on in my mouth. Just keep in mind that 60% of the population are complete dickheads and you'll be right.

EDIT - Thom, in SA and...Tasmania I think 17, everywhere else is 16.

EDIT AGAIN - crunk, whats the bit in WA not redded out? Oh and good map, it's accurate. Althouugh you can probably wipe SA out of there too, I wont take offence.

[Thom]

In Spain it's 14. I think I'll swing by there first.

About Australian fashion; when my family came over they brought a hat with corks hanging from the brim, and two t-shirts; one with a koala and one which read "Bonza!" I presume this is what the average Australian-about-town would wear?

You said I'd have to wait a year, how come? Is there a rule about only being able to come at the beginning of the Summer? An idiot friend of mine went last June, Meaning he had a year and a half of winter in total, the dick-head.

I think I'm gonna lose my job for laughing at your meat pie comment. Why are they so controversial over there anyway?

[jitz]

That's it, they're not controversial, everyone likes meat pies except this one guy that happened to drive past me while I was enjoying oene. It was pepper steak for the record.

About Australian fashion; when my family came over they brought a hat with corks hanging from the brim, and two t-shirts; one with a koala and one which read "Bonza!" I presume this is what the average Australian-about-town would wear?

I suppose if you were starring in an episode of The Simpsons doing a parody of Australia, you'd wear that. I suppose you could give them a go and let me know how it goes down.

[crunk]

EDIT AGAIN - crunk, whats the bit in WA not redded out? Oh and good map, it's accurate. Althouugh you can probably wipe SA out of there too, I wont take offence.

I was aiming for Perth... turns out that it's actually a few thousand km's south.

Who'd have thought.

[jitz]

Yeah, you were so far off I didn't think Perth was a possibility. There's a few resorts out that way, I thought you might have been aiming for them.

[Big Bizang]

Why the fuck did anyone need a NEW South Wales?

[RingMaster2001]

We thought we'd make a new one and start again. Call Cardiff and Swansea a prototype.