Sooo I am going to rewind all the way back to last December when we started to make this trip become a reality. So it seemed pretty daunting to actually start making important decisions such as the Visa application, the flights, the travel insurance, the 'right' backpack and the many more other choices you have to make. But I have to admit it felt so good to finally start making them. It felt as if we were proving to all the people that thought our plan was just a dream wrong.
We firstly started off with sorting out our Holiday Working Visa. This entitles us to be in Australia for a whole year, whilst being able to work with one employer for up to 6 months. The application form is all online and all you need is your passport details. It took around 20 minutes and that was only because I kept double checking for mistakes, haha. But it really is simple. The cost in pounds was roughly 260, so yep it's pretty expensive. I too thought that it would take days for the email to come back saying whether we had been granted our visa, but it took not even 7 hours which was a amazing, as it really felt like the ball was rolling.
In order to be able to apply for a second year visa it is not as straight forward as an online application form. Whilst you're here on your first year Working Visa you have to complete 88 days (3 months) of pretty much very hard labour. The work you have to do is very labour intensive work, either that be farm work, mining, construction ect. It also varies from place to place on whether you get paid, or get free food and accommodation. Me and Adam have since thought of doing the work for our second year however the more people we speak to the more and more we are put off! We have met many people saying they last a day of what feels like hell however we have also met people that say it's a once in a lifetime experience and the friends you make there are the best you'll make anywhere. So for now its still an option.
The next thing on our to do list was the flights!! Which was by far the most exciting/scariest thing we had done so far! As not only is it a lot of money but it actually meant we were actually going to Australia. After a few days of looking at multiple sites we decided with STA travel, this is because we both have deferred places at uni which entitled us to students cards which meant DISCOUNT. After playing around with dates, airports and the amount of stop overs we found the cheapest deal...and to be fair probably the best option too! As we live in East Midlands it made perfect sense to leave from Birmingham Airport which is only over an hours drive away, amazing for our parents dropping us off! So the flight itinerary was as followed:
March 3rd 12.25 pm Birmingham to Dubai 10.25 pm March 3rd
11.30 pm March 3rd Dubai to Sydney 01.00am March 5th
We arrived in Sydney at midnight after '2days' of travelling So even though back at home it was daytime due to effect of travelling for a long period of time our body wanted to rest.
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