Second Year Visa: #FarmGalLife

Current time: 1.34am. Wide awake because a sodding kangaroo has knocked over the pile of firewood outside my bedroom window. No, this is not me confirming the Australian stereotype of kangaroos everywhere because, until recently, I’d never seen a wild one. Sadly, I’m no longer in Sydney, I’m now in the Australian Alps doing my regional farm work in the hopes of getting an additional year’s visa. 

Before moving Down Under this year I’d heard of loads of people working on farms and picking berries during their time here but had a;aways just assumed it was because they’d struggled to find other work with the short term employment conditions of a 417 visa. It wasn’t until I arrived that I realised an additional year visa was possible (so long as you do 3 months on a farm in the middle of nowhere. For Americans (and a handful of other nationalities) you're able to work in hospitality in QLD or NT to obtain a second year visa - not jealous at all...

Within two weeks of having arrived in Sydney I decided that Australia was going to be my forever home if I could make it happen, or if not I wanted to stay for as long as is humanly possible. So in June I packed up my bags and boarded a flight to Townsville (if I was going to be stuck on a farm for three whole months I at least wanted the satisfaction of warm weather). As it turns out, I’m not cut out for 60 hour weeks on $5 per hour and being the last one to arrive on the farm meant I was somewhat of an outsider from the rest of the group there, so my time in Queensland was short-lived.

I was incredibly fortunate, however, to have met some wonderful people during my first few months in Australia who were kind enough to help me find another farm down in Jindabyne. While it was -4c there and took me a while to adjust to the temperatures and being isolated from friends and family, I had great fun. This time around I was on a cattle farm which meant time was spent rounding up cows on motorbikes, counting cows while we drenched them and (in my down time) nicknaming the cows.

If we're being totally honest, I struggled with my first month there. Having lived in Sydney for the summer months and forming a large social circle, it was a BIG adjustment living in such cold temperatures and isolated from friends. But, as always, I like to make the best of the situation so within a six weeks I'd joined a twice-weekly trampoline class, made a bunch of friends and learnt to enjoy the simple pleasures of rural life.

If you're someone currently on a working holiday visa and looking at doing regional work for a second year, I think there's a couple of nuggets of information that I can pass on to you:

1 - Try to seek work that you can find enjoyment in. Whether it's on a huge backpacker farm surrounded by similar people to you or on a farm with more animals than you can count, if you're going to be somewhere for a long period of time then it's best to do something that doesn't totally suck.

2- Try and get it done sooner rather than later. I'm glad I had the experience I had in Sydney because if I'd gone straight in and done my farm work when I first arrived, I wouldn't have met the people I did or worked where I did. BUT to those of you about to arrive in Australia, it's definitely better to get it out the way ASAP for peace of mind that it's done and so you know that thereafter you can enjoy 21 months of undisturbed life in Australia.

Rumour has it that they've just introduced the option of a 3rd year working holiday visa for those willing to complete 6 months of regional work from July 1st 2019. Would you do it? I'm considering it if #ProjectGetSponsored doesn't pan out...