preparations for a year down under - an update on my australia plans

Hellooo!

I haven't mentioned my move to Australia lately but many of you asked if it's still on, so: yes!

Let me give you an update:

The visa

I received the confirmation for my work and travel visa some weeks ago. It will be valid for one year and enables me to work in whatever job I want as long as I don't work in the same job for longer than six months.

Usually you have to apply for a visa on some government website but I was given the good advice to contact the Australian Shop in Cologne. You pay some extra money and they take care about all the application stuff for you. All I had to do was wait for their email and print it out, so I didn't have any stress at all.

You can find more info about different visas online at the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

The flight

I'm lucky to be friends with a travel agent. She was so kind to find an awesome flight offer for me. The flight is the most expensive part about going to Australia, so I'm glad I was able to book it three months in advance. It's like with other flights too: the earlier you book, the cheaper it will be.

Especially for people with a limited visa I recommend looking for an Open Return Ticket. You pay for both flights (there and back) now and then you're able to freely choose a date for the return flight within one year starting from the day you took the outward flight.

I paid about 1000 € in total now and the advantage is that I don't have to worry about the return flight as it's already safe now.

In total my flight will take about 19,5 hours (including a two hours stop in Abu Dhabi to change aircraft), which is long but still one of the shortest flights available.

If you need some more advice: this little booking guide for flying to Australia is really helpful too.

The plans

I will leave at the end of October and move in with my boyfriend in Perth. He has already rented a cute little house for us, hence I don't have to worry about a thing accommodation-wise. 

I have saved up some money to bring me through the first few weeks there without a job.

However I will start looking for a job as soon as possible (maybe even apply online before I leave Germany) because I'm anxious about being unemployed and broke after a while.

My dream is to find a marketing position or at least another internship but if it fails I'll take café or retail jobs too to stay financially stable.

Jarryd and I also plan to go on trips so he can show me the country. Sydney and Melbourne are definitely on the bucket list as well as lots of places in Western Australia. Maybe even a trip over to New Zealand if I have enough money.

I'm really looking forward to going to Oz so soon!

By the way I'm not planning to move over forever (yet) and also my visa doesn't let me anyway, so I'll be back to Germany after a year (I also wouldn't want to waste the return flight because it's already paid).

Nobody knows what will come afterwards, we will see... 

Here are some more helpful links in case you are planning to go to Australia:

SEEK (biggest Australian job website)

Gumtree (Australia's version of Craigslist)

Australia on Pinterest (to inspire your personal bucket list)

Fit For Travel (advice on vaccinations)

Australian Slang Words (weird and sometimes funny vocabulary)

If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments and I will answer them.

Happy Thursday!