The Easiest Way To Your 2nd year Working Holiday Visa – guaranteed!

Big boast I guess but it’s true. I am going to share with you the easiest and guaranteed way to get hold of your 2nd year’s working holiday visa in Australia. It’s called Wwoofing. Even if you know about Wwoofing this is still worth a read. Plenty of people don’t know about Wwoofing – which incidentally stands for willing workers on organic farms – and I’m here to tell you that not only is it fun, it’s often easy and will actually be better for you than a lot of fruit picking jobs out there.

The main reason that a lot of people don’t consider Wwoofing is purely due to financial constrictions. Wwoofing won’t directly earn you cold hard cash. It is a volunteer scheme, however don’t be put off, let me continue. When you Wwoof you work for free but in return you have all your food and accommodation provided for you. This can actually mean that you come out financially on top compared to some of the fruit picking jobs I’ve done/heard about where your wages barely cover your living costs. There are of course many well paid jobs that count to your regional work, however these are often difficult to find. The amount of backpackers that only do a week at one farm before sacking it off due to the crap money and or ridiculously long hours and horrible conditions they have to work in. Wwoofing not only freezes your finances but you also don’t have to work very long hours. In fact the Wwoofing agreement states that you and your employer come to an agreement on your hours and that they should be no more than a maximum of 6 hours a day. Well that’s perfect; you will generally either have a lie in or the afternoons to yourself.

What’s the Catch with Wwoofing?

Well of course the obvious one is that you’re not earning money as previously stated, and you do have to pay to become a member of their scheme, but $60 is hardly much money, especially when you consider it gives you access to literally thousands of opportunities throughout the country. Plus there are all sorts of terrible stories online where backpackers have signed up and paid money to agents who ‘help you find a job’ which turn out to be scams or just a very expensive way of getting a crap job! Once you’ve paid up you get sent your book with the details of all the members in Australia and you can access their forum where people advertise. There’s a whole section on there of people advertising entitled 2nd year visa work. In fact you can probably even be a bit picky with what you do. We had a brilliant 6 weeks working on a small family run oyster farm on the east coast, and then later over on the west coast spent a month at an olive grove doing gardening and helping with the accommodation they run there. Nothing is particularly difficult and of course, if you don’t like it, you can leave.

The best side to Wwoofing that we found is that you end up with an adoptive family pretty much. You get taken into people’s homes, have home cooked meals – such a treat from hostel nosh, often have a dog to play with or pool to relax in after the hard (pah!) work is done and generally get given your run of the activities on hand. If you’re working by the sea chances are you’ll be taken on a boat trip or allowed use of the kayaks and canoes kicking about. Working on an inland farm? You’ll probably be able to go out off-roading or play about on a dirt bike or quad that’s kicking around. By now you must have realised that all Australians love their big boy’s toys’ and the vast majority of them love to take you under their wing and show off at the same time!

Wwoofing Unexpected Bonuses

There’s sometimes the added bonus of being able to find paid work as well. If you’re in a town you might get a bar job, or the Wwoofing could lead to something paid, either directly through your hosts themselves (as has happened to us) or through their contacts or simply by being in a different place for a length of time in a post code that qualifies you for the regional work. Of course not all hosts will be the same but in general if you’re the sort of person that’s signed up as a Wwoofing host then generally it’s a sign of them being a nice person and keen to get the best out of you by being the best host they can be. In our experience and going on those of other backpackers we’ve met the vast majority of hosts are wonderful people who enjoy sharing their home and life with you.

Of course Wwoofing doesn’t have to be the only way you tick off your regional work, however it is a really handy way to do it. the ideal and best approach to getting your second year visa is to rock up and do a bit of travelling first, then probably work in a city or town for a few months to save some money, shoot off to Wwoof for your allotted time and then bingo, you’ve done your days, ticked off a difference place to see in Australia and are free to continue your travels and not be tied into any working constraints. Another bonus to bear in mind with Wwoofing is that you can do it for as long or as short a time period as you like. Let’s say you got a job fruit picking, most picking jobs are only as long as the season. Those cherries/melons/tomatoes/almonds don’t care that you need a set 88 days of labour to satisfy the government, they will simply come and go as they see fit. If you’ve managed to get two months or a random amount of days under your belt and are panicking about reaching that all important 88 then why not log on to the Wwoofing site and select something that sounds different and in an area you fancied going to anyway. You only need do it for a little while and then you’re sorted.

Wwoofing is also a bit like a passport around the country. We’ve seen positions on offer all over the place in all sorts of locations. Fancy working on an island off the west coast, that’s available. Want to try your hand as a station worker and see what the outback is really like, there’s lots available. Want to be able to dip your toes in the sea each evening after you’ve finished work, that’s not difficult to arrange. Always had a hankering to go to specific place in Australia or heard of a top off the beaten track beauty spot, well chances are you can probably Wwoof there.

The 2nd Year Visa

If nothing else has sold you on the idea of Wwoofing then let me leave you with this. It is a genuinely 100% foolproof stress free guaranteed way to get your visa whilst probably not breaking your back, making new friends, eating good food and seeing amazing sights. You’ll learn new skills and have plenty of stories to bore your grandchildren with, and if all else fails to move you, remember; it’s got to be better than picking strawberries earning $300 a week!