Taking a year in OZ or NZ on your own

Hi

Im wondering does anybody have any experience heading off across the world on there own. Ive been given a chance to leave work on a career break. I have some money saved and am in a position to head off. Ive have the “travel bug” (always have) and am looking at heading towards Australia/New Zealand, with the intention of a working/travelling for a year or so. Im 28 now.
My only real issue (other than finding work) is that none of my friends are looking at heading away. In my heart I know I have to leave for an extended period of time before I can ever consider settling. So I have to do this on my own (at the moment). I don’t really know anybody over in that direction but know people who know people….etc so will be exploring these avenues.
So, has anybody done anything like this? Have you any advice? Is this a hard thing to do on your own? Where do you start? I suppose im just looking at an information to get the ball rolling.

Thanks
Karl

I lived in NZ for a year and like so many others, found it a great place to be. Granted, I was in college so getting to know people was easy... But on my many road trips, I also met loads of people. I think the key is staying in backpackers. They were pretty much invented in NZ and Oz and there is an abundance of family-run, cozy places where you meet everyone in the communal kitchen or on the verandah in the evening. Another thing that worked very well for some friends of mine was getting hired to do fruit picking in Central Otago for a couple of months in the summer. They were staying in a little wooden hut in the middle of nowhere, driven to the supermarket by their employer every few days and otherwise either in the fields picking fruit or out by a dam, swimming in a lake, having a great time... They got to know the other fruit pickers, making many friends. At some of the backpackers, you would also run into people doing a year of WWOOFing - that might be another option. Really, NZ is a brilliant little place at the end of the world and getting to know great people should be easy.

check out travellerspoint.com

loads of solo travellers over there

undo said:

I lived in NZ for a year and like so many others, found it a great place to be. Granted, I was in college so getting to know people was easy... But on my many road trips, I also met loads of people. I think the key is staying in backpackers. They were pretty much invented in NZ and Oz and there is an abundance of family-run, cozy places where you meet everyone in the communal kitchen or on the verandah in the evening. Another thing that worked very well for some friends of mine was getting hired to do fruit picking in Central Otago for a couple of months in the summer. They were staying in a little wooden hut in the middle of nowhere, driven to the supermarket by their employer every few days and otherwise either in the fields picking fruit or out by a dam, swimming in a lake, having a great time... They got to know the other fruit pickers, making many friends. At some of the backpackers, you would also run into people doing a year of WWOOFing - that might be another option. Really, NZ is a brilliant little place at the end of the world and getting to know great people should be easy.

Click to expand...

Thanks undo, never considered this type of trip. Kinda figured city living be for me. Sound like fun and non to stressfull!!!
And bob, had a look at that site, very good and informative, thanks for posting

City living is the last thing you want to be doing in NZ. The country is known for its breathtaking nature... There is so much to see and do outdoors, you do not want to miss out on that (and I am saying that as a computer scientist, a very indoors-type person . NZ's cities are small and quiet. If you want to experience fun city life, go for any decent European metropolis instead. Auckland of course is a tad bigger but still nothing compared to the likes of Paris or London.

The situation is somewhat different in Oz. Sydney and Melbourne are huge cities. A few others are also quite large. But for me, in Oz, the weather is just too mad hot, especially with the ozone hole and all... Also, while in Oz nature is out to get you (it is the most poisonous continent af all, full of snakes, scorpions, spiders...), in NZ, the forest is the safest place to be: There are no dangerous animals.

Don't even give it a second thought about heading off on your own. Loads of people do it. You will meet people over there. One bit of advice is to stay in hostels and throw yourself into all the acitivities and the social scene. People who travel are interested in meeting new people so are only delighted to talk. They all want to do the same things as you so you have that in common straight away. I did it on my own and I found some of my best mates while there.

Oz is the better country to base yourself in for work (depending on what you do of course). NZ is the much nicer country though and is a great place to tour. As mentioned above the NZ cities are pretty dour but I found all the cities in OZ to be superb cities with the possible exception of Brisbane.

www.yha.com.au/travel
/www.tripadvisor.com/
http://britishexpats.com/

You will find some good info on these sites regarding travel in Australia. If you have the time and the money .....do it.... you won't regret it. I headed down under with my 3 year old daughter many years ago now and had a great time......stayed for 20 years.!!! Its a life changing experience.

Go. I done it at 28 myself. Went off to Australia for a year, and left everyone including the BF behind. It will be hard at times, missing wedding, friends having babies etc. and it is also hard settling back in when you get home, but if I had the chance I'd go again.
You will meet people in hostels and get to know them, and plan to do some traveling when you initially arrive, as you will meet people this way too who may also want to rent when you get back to the city and looking for work. And do something totally random employment wise too. I regret not doing a farmstay to get my second year visa, but I was blinkered and thought it was only fruit picking. I could have spent all my days looking after horses....
And I disagree with Sunny, Brisbane was my favourite city as it was 1 hour to Byron, 1 to the Goldie and the music scene was good, and the people where not a pretentious as Sydney or Melbourne.
Also more bad news, you are going to be so broke financially at some points, that you will remeber your student days, and Oz are also in a recession be prepared to work at anything you can get your hands on.
But go, you will only live to regret it if you don't.

I went to Oz a while back with 3 others, we all spent time travelling "alone", it's not really alone as you will always meet people heading in the same direction. i had a van and was constantly meeting people at hostels to join me because it helped pay for fuel and share driving. Many other car/vans owners did the same. Oz is a well beaten track and you will have no problems, I met loads of people travelling alone, alot of women strangly, much more than lone males. Although i probably wasn't looking out for lone males as much.

I wouldn't pick fruit if it were between that and straving, it was like being in a work camp in the middle of nowhere, up at 5 am, in bed at 9, work work work, awful, lasted about 2 days. I did not travel so far to do that.

You could always do one of those bus tours, where they arrange accomdation and you will meet loads of people, my mate did it and thought it was ok. It wouldn't suit everyone. Because we all speak English, it really is no bother travelling around.

I would love to do it again, Defo do it while you have the chance. the Ozzy women love the accent even if they can't understand a word your saying

Karlod
I took off when I was 27 pretty much on my own most of the way. Initially most of the people I met were via a shared interest (diving), managed to find myself a diving buddy in Perth on the Internet before I even got there . . .we're still good friends today many dives later

After a while you just meet people all over the place in hostels and via work etc. If you meet some good buddies, then is the best time to make a plan, rent a van and head off camping or something i.e. have a proper holiday.

I was only in Perth and Darwin in Australia but it seems strange to me that someone only interested in cities would go to Oz or New Zealand, there is a lot more to it than that. If I was a city person I'd go to New York or somewhere.

Thanks again everybody.
I suppose when i said cities, its because i dont know any different. Lived in dublin my whole life. Work and college here. Could be time for a change, i dont know. Im really not sure what i wanna do or where to start.
I am most certanily not against country living, i love the outdoors. Amateur photographer and used to climb outdoors aswell, could be a chance to get back to it!!
I do like the convience of a city but youd get over that i guess.
Everything is great above. Good to hear about meeting people (which i kinda thought would be the case).
Silly question but is there a way to go. Do you go job hunting before you head off, or land, find a hostel somewhere and see how you go?
I want to be sufficient over there and not rely to much on savings (some might have to be used for a mortage payment in the absence of a lodger but hoping to have that sorted)

and thanks for the websites, very good reads out there

Hi Karlod ... I would have no hesitation in recommending that you head off on your own. I was 29 (female) when I went (it was a 'now or never' situation with the visa option running out literally within days of me getting there!!) and you'll have no problems in meeting people. I met loads of great people there that I'm still in regular contact with (10 years later - eeek!). For meeting people, hostels is definitely the way to go; however, what I found nice was when you're looking for work, and if you have the choice (let's face it, not many have these days), try to find somewhere with 'natives'. It's nice to meet the Brits and the Dutch and the Japanese, etc., which you will in the hostels, but it's also great to meet the native Aussies. I worked in an office and in a school for a while, so got to know a few. I didn't get to NZ, which I regret, but I figure it gives me an excuse to go back (I'm still planning that one - I'd love to be in your situation where they'd give me a career break - if it wouldn't be to the detriment of my job here!).