Backpackers looking to extend their stay in Australia often think of working on a farm as hard but necessary work, but a German woman has revealed that travellers can spend their working hours in a far more idyllic place.
Sirirat Nensewicz came to Australia in March this year on a working holiday visa. The 27-year-old told Yahoo Finance She had visited Australia before on holiday and had always wanted to return and live there.
She is currently completing the 88 days of work required by the government to extend her visa for another year. She initially thought she would have to do “physically demanding” farm work, but was pleasantly surprised to learn she could work in hospitality and tourism instead.
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The woman from Hamberg currently has a “dream job” on Pumpkin Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef, where she works 24 hours a week performing various tasks such as bartending, housekeeping, gardening and general island maintenance.
“It depends on the day, but we also have two days off a week, so I also have a lot of free time to snorkel around the island and just enjoy the island,” said Nensewicz. Yahoo Finance.
“It’s not too strenuous and it’s not the same every day. We have a lot of free time for swimming and snorkeling.”
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Wages “much better”
Nensewicz currently receives free accommodation through her job, but has to cover her own food costs. Apart from rent, the cost of living here in Australia is quite comparable to that in Germany, she said.
What particularly struck her? The salary. Nensewicz worked in social media in Germany for more than three years and quit her job before moving to Australia.
“If I convert it into euros, (the cost of living) is pretty much the same as at home, but the wages are much better,” she said.
With her job on the island, Nensewicz currently earns $800 every two weeks.
Before that, she had worked in tourism for Beef Week in Rockhampton and said she earned $34 an hour there, and $55 on public holidays.
“Back home, I had a real office job at an agency and earned a lot of money. But here at Beef Week, I got almost the same hourly wage,” she said. “Compared to the job and the demands it brings, it’s pretty good.”
Nensewicz said she found the hostels in Australia to be “quite expensive” but was lucky to have an aunt and uncle in Brisbane who she could stay with.
More and more backpackers are returning to Australia
Home Office data shows that more than 122,000 Working Holiday Maker visa applications were approved between July and December last year, up from 111,000 in the same period last year and significantly more than the 23,000 recorded in the same period during COVID restrictions in 2021.
The influx of backpackers means that it can be difficult to find work. Dutch woman Fleur recently shared online that she was finding it “difficult” to find work in Australia.
“It’s so hard to find a job right now. I’ve been living in Australia for two years and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said.
“It feels like there are too many backpackers. Last week I had 60 hours, three jobs. This week 18 hours and one job because there are too many backpackers here and everyone is begging for hours.”
Fleur said that she lived in a regional town in Western Australia and that even then it was “full of backpackers”.
Nensewicz said she too had struggled to find work in the hospitality industry and recommended that other backpackers wait to look for jobs until they were physically in Australia.
She said she was “lucky with the timing” when looking for her current job, applying online after searching for islands in Queensland.
“Before I found my jobs, I sent over 100 emails with applications and never received a response,” she said Yahoo Finance.
“I had much better luck when I actually went there, talked to the managers and handed out the resumes in person.”
Nensewicz said she plans to go to Brisbane after her job ends next month and find another job in the hospitality and tourism sector that is part of her required work. She hopes to then extend her visa for the full three years if possible.
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