Working Holidays :: What You Need To Get Started

If you are thinking of going on a working holiday lots of things will probably run through your head, where do you start, what do you want to do, where do you want to travel? Beyond actually having the visa you might not think about what else you need to get started. So what do you need to work in  other than the visa?

Ways In Which Travelling Will Change You

They are not lying when I say travelling changes you. The tough situations you get put in everyday, the people you meet, the cultures you become exposed to. Everything changes you. Its really is true that Travel is the only thing you can buy which makes you richer. Here are the ways it changes you too.

Things I Realised After Returning To the UK After 2 Years In Australia

When I landed back in the UK after being away for 2 years it was completely surreal. I felt almost shell shocked. I think it is situations like this that make your realise how much things have changed. This post outlines the main things I realised after I returned.

Questions Travellers Find Hard to Answer When They Return Home

After returning to England after two years away it was a bit of a culture shock - to say the least. Along with the joys of talking about your travels, catching up with old friends and searching for work to pay for your next fix you tend to hear the same things over and over. Here are a few things a traveller hates to hear when they return home, found from research and my own personal experiences.

Flight Etiquette - Is it ok to ask...?

Inspired to write this post on my flight back to Melbourne from Brisbane after sitting in my low cost airline seat with the gentleman behinds knees in my back for nearly an hour before plucking up the courage to ask him to move his knees after debating for 10 minutes if it would be rude of me to ask I thought maybe I we should start a conversation on what we all think is acceptable on flights?

Why I am Grateful For Travelling

Gratitude, when practiced daily, is a pretty powerful tool. It's easy to lose sight of all the amazing things we have in life and when you are stuck in a job or without one, loveless relationship or perpetually single, bad weather spree that last weeks, it is easy to over look all the things that make life great. Travelling has taught me to be greateful for so, so much. To overlook the "big" things holding me back and try to enjoy the small things that - in the end - make life worth living.

I fell out of a habit I had when I settled into a job again of practicing gratitude but with the new year rolling around and a happily placed promo from the beautiful Amy over at Designing Her Life I am going to get back to making a list of things I am grateful for and sharing them with you here and on social media. So for today, here is my list of why I am grateful I took to a life of travel.

A few tips on achieving your goal of travelling.

Everyone has a Goal for the future, long or short term. Dream body, dream wardrobe, dream apartment or house, dream holiday. For me is is always the latter because at heart i am 100% a wanderlust. So last year when I decided to leave the comfort of my home in England for a life backpacking in Australia I was faced with a big stepping stone on the way to my goal. How do I afford it?

Even a short 7 day holiday can set you back a fair way nowadays with dreamy locations at the end of long, or short, plane journeys or in expensive cities with an amped up price in the aftermath of the economy crash and boom. So how do you go about saving for that dream location? In this post I am going to talk you through a few steps I used to saving for that dream trip over a short and long period.

5 Dream Worthy Destinations to Add To Your Bucket List

I have a dream - although it always changes - It is always consistent. My dream is similar to so many of you reading this, I want to see the world. Wanderlust runs in my veins, I got it from my mothers side, so there is nothing I enjoy more that thinking up dreamy locations to visit. Today I want to share with you a few of those breathtaking locations and why they should be on your wish list. 

Going Organic...

Nowadays there always seems to be a big debate on organic food and drink. Where to get it from, why is Costs more, does it really taste better? Even the farmers at market debate the pros and cons of not spraying their crops. After spending my time on a partly organic farm in South Australia I decided I would impart a few facts I learned so you can make up your minds whether organic is best or not. 

How To Enjoy Your Regional Work

It's likely when you go to do your regional work that you have never done anything like it before so it can be hard to adjust, especially if you are used to a big bustling city heading out to the outback. Here are a few points on how to make the most of your regional work.

How To Save Up For Long Term Travel

Now I am no expert when it comes to saving, my mother will tell you I love to splurge all my money, but when saving for long term travel having a plan certainly helps. Despite my love of spending when it comes to something I really want I can work out where to trim the fat and where I can afford to keep saving. So here are my top tips for budgeting for your big trip.

Things I have learned from travelling (solo)

When I first started travelling I had no idea where it was going to take me. All I had was this great and overwhelming desire to move my feet and see the world, if I am honest I didn't really have a plan or do an incredible amount of research. The words of those around me back home were either tinged with negativity and doubt or overwhelming excitement and my own nervousness was clawing at the back of my mind but on the road, I have never felt more contented and happy than I have in the last several years of my life.

Travelling has a way of showing you what really matters in life and travelling solo teaches you lessons you would never have learnt if you hadn't had booked that ticket. It has changed me in this short period of time already and this is what is has taught me;

I'm Glad You Exist

So today I received word of bad news. A friend of mine whom I went to senior school with but lost contact with unfortunately passed away. It is a sad day when someone so young passes away but it is even sadder to think that with a little effort I could still have been speaking to her. 

I shared my thoughts on this to my Facebook, not to receive sympathy, likes or comments but to give my friends on Facebook a reminder, one I now share with you the beautiful soul reading this, that life is short. It can be made shorter due to illness or circumstance and that social media is making us all lazy as we can just "like each other's lives like it is contact. It is not. It is a cheap replica that makes us all lonely and feel our self worth is based around how many "friends" or "followers" we can gather.

So all I ask of you, whoever you may be reading this, is to do me a favour. Just one small favour. One you may thank yourself for in years to come. Pick up the phone and call that person you haven't spoken to for a while, pick up a pen and hand write some beautiful words of love and care to that family member you haven't seen or spoken to in months, or maybe years. Make an effort to really connect and reconnect with every person you have met, and will meet, from this day on because before you know it you could be too late. So take the time to tell somebody "I'm Glad You Exist".

How To Find Second Year Visa Work...

If like me you decide you want to stay in Australia a second year you will know that you have to do 88 days of 'regional' work to apply for your second year visa. Today I am going to go over a few pointers and some advice on how to look for and choose the right thing for you based on my experience and experiences of travellers I have spoken to.

Where does your food come from?

I don't know whether it is working for the farm and all the fresh vegetables I can get my hands on there but I thought to myself the other day "why have I never wondered where my food comes from?". Even before I came to Australia I had heard about how good South Australia's produce is and after working at the farm I now have a huge respect for what goes into producing market fresh goods. So I thought I would share a few points on what goes on behind the scenes in farming and a few facts about the produce to give you a better idea. 

It takes a team to make a farm great.
At the farm I am currently working on Brenda and Al have a team of Wwoofers (5 of us), 2 daughters that help and 2 full time employees to help them with the day to day running of the farm. They prefer not to use too many chemicals so weeding is done by hand and can take several hours just to do a small plot. Then you have to add in fertilising, picking, packing, building maintainence, feeding the animals, planting new crops, laying new water lines for the crops and about a million more jobs just to run the farm before you can even consider all the work to be done for the markets. This is done over 7 days a week with the farmers themselves working long hours to get all the work done before you even account into it the helpers.

Produce with marks are still edible. 
Supermarkets will only stock unblemished produce of a certain size because aestetics of a piece of fruit or veg is what makes it sell. However at a farmers market you will probably find that there are a few marks on the item and that it still tastes better than what you get at the supermarkets. Unblemished goods are sold as 'premium' goods but even the 'rejects' with splits in the top (from tomatoes trying to abosorb too much water) or marks from the leaves can still be eaten and taste just as good at the premium product.

Produce from farms will be fresher than from the supermarket.
The advantage to farm work and backpacking is when you get talking to others working toward their second year visas you find out what it is like to work in other farms and packing jobs. On one such occasion i was speaking to someone who packed for a supermarket and she told me it can be stored and shipped for up to 8 weeks before it hits the shelves. Where as produce from your local farmers market is fresher with having only been picked a day or two prior to the market and stored in large chillers on the farm.

It is now crazy to me that I have never considered this before and I now feel I have huge respect for the farming community for all they go through just to give others fresh food. Hopefully this post will make you think twice before you look away from farmers markets again because now, to me, not only is the atmosphere better but the food is too.