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TNT Golden Backpack Awards 2013

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TNT Backpacker Awards

The TNT Golden Backpack awards were held in Sydney last Friday November the 8th. According to TNTdownunder.com almost 94,000 votes were recorded from 23,000 individual voters with one award category receiving a whopping 2,400 votes alone. Votes are cast over a 9 week period, where backpackers could vote for their favourite Tour/Activity & Hostel in every state along with national awards which were, Best large travel agent, Best small travel agent, Best Recruitment Service, Best Indigenous Cultural Experience, Best Online Only Booking Website. Hosted by Sam Kekovic the event was held at the Sofitel Sydney in the grand ballroom, it Read more

Table Grape Harvest Commences

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Table Grape Harvest Aus

The table grape harvest starts in late October/November around towns like Emerald, North Burnett and St George amongst others. This will mean jobs a plenty for harvest workers and fruit pickers once everything is in full swing. But growers are saying that grape harvest could be set back by low grade fruit. ABC.net.au interviewed Sue Allen, who farms 15,000 grapes a year. Mrs Allan stated that the biggest problem the industry has is growers jumping the gun to enter the market and fetch the good early prices. Mrs Allan went on to say conditions were good and growers need to Read more

Fire in Sydney’s Suburbs causes Backpacker Evacuation

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NSW Fireman

Last Sunday night at approximately midnight backpackers and guests were evacuated from a building in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The exact name of the building has not been confirmed but from all reports it seems to be a backpackers. Reports indicate that the fire started in the Kitchen and was extinguised by sprinklers. Police were forced to evacuate approximately 80 people, 40 backpackers and 40 diners of the restaurant. Guests were allowed back into their rooms at 2am and no one was injured. If you are aware of the name of the building please share with us in the comments section Read more

Know Your Rights on Your Working Holiday

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Working Holiday Australia

So you’re in a foreign country, everything is different and suddenly you have questions about your employment, well you’re not the only one. Over the past 2 years the Fair Work Ombudsman in Australia as received 230 complaints in the Fruit Picking Sector, as a result of these complaints $80,000 was recovered for 107 workers. Around one third of these these workers were on a “ Working Holiday Downunder”.  This is just the Fruit Picking Sector, so there’s going to be a lot more complaints and queries in the much larger sectors. From our view at Working Holiday Jobs Australia Read more

Cherries in short supply because of warm winter

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Cherries Aus

Stone Fruit is the essence of summer in Australia and on the Granite Belt that is no different. With fruit picking already under way on a few stone fruits, it is interesting to note that Cherry Park, at The Summit, was the first cherry producer in Australia to send fruit to the market this season. Cherry Park owner and operator Graham Minifie said the quirky claim to fame was a title they held most years. “We are at the highest altitude in Queensland, which gives us the advantage of having fruit a week to 10 days earlier than other parts of Read more

We rely on backpackers: Gaeta

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Skydive Byron Bay Australia

Orange’s horticulture industry would grind to a halt if it wasn’t for the work of backpackers picking fruit every season, according to orchardist Guy Gaeta. Mr Gaeta said in recent years the numbers of local people and travelling seasonal workers willing to slog it out in the fields picking fruit had dwindled and working holiday visa holders had picked up the slack. “If it wasn’t for backpackers most of Australia’s horticultural crops wouldn’t be picked,” he said. “They are willing to do any type of work … and they’re really trustworthy. “Years ago a lot of seasonal workers travelled around Read more

Soggy grape harvest saved by hand

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wilsons promontory

Multinational grape pickers are proving the heroes of a rain-plagued 2013 Hunter Valley vintage that is now in its nail-biting red harvest phase. Despite rainfall of some 175 millimetres over a 48-hour period, the white grape harvest is almost done and dusted with tonnages down 20 to 30 per cent and quality up. Vignerons are praying for warm, sunny weather this week so they can get their red grapes ripe and into the crushers. Their anxiety rests on memories of a 2008 red vintage wiped out by rain and a 2012 red harvest in which many growers were forced to Read more

Backpacker accommodation gets green light to expand

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Three Sisters - L. Bastien
Three Sisters - L. Bastien

A backpacker hostel in Bundaberg North has been granted permission by Bundaberg Regional Council to expand from 24 to 88 beds. In the submission, owners Tomato Backpackers say the expansion will be designed to minimise noise, particularly from communal areas where backpackers will tend to gather. The hostel in Hinkler Ave is operating as Footprints Feeding Ground Backpackers, but the extra beds will be in a separate house. The move follows an application, still before the council, for the establishment of a 16-bed hostel in Wallaville. That application has been met with resistance by town residents. Bundaberg Mayor Mal Forman Read more

Hopping mad: Backpackers fume over broken promise of fruit-picking work

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backpacker jobs australia

A group of seven English and Irish working holiday makers are warning people to be careful when looking for fruit picking jobs after promised work in Mildura failed to bear fruit this week. The group arrived in Mildura on Monday after signing up and paying $560, or $80 each, for a 12-month membership fee with Adelaide company Harvest Hoppers. There’s also a suspect operation in Mildura that goes by the name of ” Don’s backpackers Mildura” The company describes itself online as “Australia’s Number One Fruit Picking Network for Backpackers”, but feedback on its Facebook page is anything but positive. Read more