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(This post contains affiliate links, for more information read this  privacy policy ) After I graduated High School back in 2014, I had decided to take a year off before university and work and travel in Australia for a little it. I was there for about 10 months in total and while of course there were some ups and downs, overall, it has been the best year of my entire life. I love looking back at my time in Australia, but there also some things I wish I would have known before so it was about time to write this post. If you are considering applying for the Australian working holiday visa, then here are 29 things to know about Work and Travel in Australia. 1. Once your visa is issued, it will be valid for 12 months from the day on which you enter Australia. Within these 12 months you can leave and reenter the country as many times as you like. 2. There are a couple of organisations that offer work and travel starter packages (e.g. STA travel), whi...

 It’s the one thing that you can not miss out on when traveling up or down Australia’s East Coast, apart from maybe Fraser Island: Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands! You might have heard about the infamous Whitehaven Beach, with sand so white you have never seen anything like it. There is a reason why parts of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie was filmed in the Whitsundays. While I was in Australia for a total of around 9 months, I chose my very last days to travel down the coast. I like to live by the motto: Save the best for the end. Let it be the inner part of a pizza or travel destinations like in this case. I only had about a week to travel from Cairns to Brisbane, which for sure was not enough time and I missed out on a lot of stops on the way. Previous Travels Overall it has been quite stressful, I had just come back from my vacation in Bali the day before and right when I was about to arrive in Brisbane my flight to Singapore was leaving. The enormous dist...

I’ve always liked the idea of arriving in a city with nothing planned. No hotel booked, no fixed plan to get to myself into the city, and no idea what I’ll do when I get there. So when lastminute.com.au threw me a challenge to live life spontaneously with a whirlwind getaway to Melbourne using a good old-fashioned Magic 8 Ball, their site and of course all of your recommendations to make my decision for me, I was game!   My guidelines for the trip were pretty simple: arrive with no plans, do not go anywhere I’ve been before, and have a willingness to say yes to anything thrown my way. I could book everything and anything last minute, but nothing could be done in advance. So… how much fun could I get up to in Melbourne in 48 hours with the brief? First things first: FOOD Melbourne is an absolute mecca for great food. No matter where you are in the city or in the ‘burbs, you won’t have to walk too far to find yourself in line for the ...

When I travel, one of my top priorities is to find local bakeries. My sister and I have even done a few self-designed tours hopping around to different bakeries and places with great dessert. Almond croissants are my absolute favorite treats to find, but I am open to other goodies as well. I don’t hate. Thus brings me to the story of the mysterious disappearing bakery. It was just another day hanging out in the Chinatown of Sydney, New South Wales before my voice lesson. I had made a habit of arriving an hour early each week so I would have time to explore. On this day, I turned onto a few streets I’d never explored before. I rounded a corner and was face to face with a glass wall lined with wooden shelves and pastries galore. Of course, I went in. I was greeted by a smile from the Asian woman behind the counter. It was a very small shop with sunny yellow walls and wooden shelves. I looked over all the shelves, noticing the egg-wash sheen and the crusty edges browned so...

We decided that Australia Day 2015 was a good option for us to return to Sydney as a family. It had been just over 2 years since we returned home to Melbourne from Sydney and the kids were keen to see some friends they haven’t seen in a while.

Do you know someone who’s soon to head to the great land down under? If you want to get them a gift before they go, an Australian survival kit is a fantastic idea. This list of gifts for someone travelling to Australia has some great ideas for both serious and novelty presents; just pick and choose ones that suit your friend or relative and create your own customized Australian survival kit, funny or serious! There’s a high chance that this post contains affiliate links , including Amazon associate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you . This is just one of the ways I keep this site and my content running for free! Australia Survival Kit Essentials Let’s Go to Australia Greeting Card You’ll want something to write a witty message about your loved one’s departure to Australia, won’t you? This greeting card is great to give alongside your Australian survival kit. Purchase one or browse for similar here. A Unive...