Planning for your Australian working holiday trip

When you arrive in Australia you'll probably need some accommodation straight away. We advise booking a hotel online for the first few days until you get settled. Check out the discount hotel club to get you started.

You'll need to think about how you want to travel around Australia. The bus and train services are good but lack the flexibility of your own car. Check out the Oz experience for a flexible travel pass or the Traveller's Auto-barn for guaranteed buy back vehicles and budget rentals.

You can buy second hand cars from other working holiday visa travellers from the Kings Cross car market in Sydney (and other locations, see their website below for details). Prices range from £500 upwards and most include all the travelling gear you'll need (water bottles, camp stove and cooking equipment, sleeping bags, etc).

There are plenty of hostels and budget hotels in the main tourist areas and it's no problem to just turn up in a town and get a room (as long as there are no special events going on).

If you want to get a real feel for the country camping is recommended and if you're on a budget it will save you a fortune in accommodation. Most villages and towns have camp grounds with low cost sites. All the state forests and national parks have areas set aside with varied facilities (average rates are around $8AUD per night). We suggest checking out the extensive tourist information office network when you arrive for details.

You'll need to make sure you are covered by travel insurance for the duration of your trip. Cover varies, but you should make sure that at least your policy will fly you home if you have an accident.

The links below should help you with your research, we've even included details of the major supermarkets so you can check out the prices of food (and more importantly alcohol!). We hope you find them useful.