How to find Agricultural Work

So one of the girls on my twitter asked if I was gonna write about how you go about getting agricultural work in Australia, so here I go! Agricultural work is basically the work that counts towards getting your 2nd working holiday visa over here - you have to do three months worth before you can apply for visa no.2. Its available all over Australia although only work in certain postcodes counts, so if you're doing it to extend your visa make sure you check out that the work you're gonna be doing counts or you may end up wasting your time. The info on what postcodes and what kind of work counts is all available on the website. (www.immi.gov.au)

My first farm job was found on the noticeboard at Wakeup! Hostel in Sydney. They have a board where you can advertise things for sale, and job vacancies. Most of the vacancies are sales commision jobs, the type of job thats always available for backpackers in Sydney and don't tend to pay well! Occasionally a sign would go up advertising for farm style jobs - I saw a sign for backpackers wanted to pick tomatoes in Bundaberg whilst I was there, but I went for the farm job in Walcha. Its just a matter of ringing up the number advertised and generally its that easy. You've got to be careful though, sometimes the work isn't always guaranteed and even though you might ring up and they say to come along for the work, don't uproot yourself a million miles away without checking out the place first to make sure if other work is available! Because I'd rung for a specific farm job the work was guaranteed so I just jumped on a train and headed straight there :D

When I left the farm we went to stay at working accomodation (this particular place is Blue Topaz Caravan Park). The owner of the farm we were at arranged it all for us - very helpful as I wouldn't have had a clue where to go otherwise! Apparently these are all over the place in the main areas for farm work - its just a standard place to stay but they advertise that they have workers available to the nearby farms. Most people who stay in these places are there only for work, but they seem to be a bit cheaper than your standard accomodation too ($130 a week here compared to $210 in a hostel in Sydney). The work isn't always available all the time - for the first two weeks I was here I only got two days work. Its dead easy though, just let the people know when you get there that you want work and you'd get put on a list, depending how many people waiting / how much work there is at the time you'll get work in no time! At the moment I'm packing green beans in a shed, boring work but it pays so all is well :D Bear in mind that working accomodation tends to be pretty basic - there's not likely to be any air con or heating - sad face! You'll basically need all your own stuff, including kitchen utensils and bedding, or you can probably pay a deposit to borrow some from the accomodation. Here I paid $10 (refundable) for a kitchen pack, and $7 (non-refundable) for sheets, pillow and a quilt.

Also definitely bear in mind if you're staying at working accomodation or on a farm theres not likely to be that much to do! I've gone through a mllion hours of different TV programmes on my laptop and completed Super Mario on the snes, luckily stashed somewhere on my hard drive. They're often in the middle of nowhere and although they might sell some food and other bits at the actual place you're staying (working accomodation only), its likely to be really expensive so stock up beforehand on things to do and to eat!

The best way to find the right areas to go for farm work at certain times of the year is National Harvest Labour information service. They have a freephone number to ring where you can chat to people about any particular area and how much work there is at that area at the time, and where would be best to stay - like if there is any working accomodation in that area or something similar. They also have a little guide book which I picked up at a Ready Workforce office (more about them in a minute!) which details all the best farm areas all over Australia, what time of year has the most work, what crops are grown there and also names and numbers of places to stay and places to get work. Its a really handy book, and they make a new one each year so its always pretty up to date. Otherwise, most of the same info is all available on the website. (www.harvesttrail.gov.au - 1800 062 332)

Ready Workforce is a work agency which has offices in a lot of agricultural areas. They employ people for standard jobs but they also arrange agricultural work on a casual basis. You sign up with them and then they ring or text you when work is available. Its a first come first served thing, and you need to get in quick. The area I'm in at the moment has a lot more backpackers than jobs available right now and so you really have to reply straight away or you miss out. Some companies deal exclusively with this company so they do tend to have quite a lot of work available. You can also get the National Harvest info guides from the RW offices, and they also sell things like sun hats and give advice on how best to stay healthy in the sun whilst working!

The last place you can look for work is good old gumtree. Everything is available on gumtree, and to be honest when looking I didn't see much farm work but there was the occasional advertisement so its definitely worth checking out as there's hundreds of new advertisements placed on there every day and you never know what you might find. (www.gumtree.com.au)