Here I talk to Carmen about hostel living, potato farming in Australia for her working holiday visa and the ins and outs of getting jobs in Oz. She also talks about jaw-dropping moments along the West Coast, meeting her boyfriend and her number one tip sharing a dorm as a backpacker.
Carmen grew up in a small town in the Netherlands and knew from a young age that she didn’t want to stay there. She chose an international degree at university, but it was her backpacking trip that made her emigrate permanently. She met her partner whilst travelling and now lives with him in the UK.
Go deep into her Instagram and daydream about her travel photos here.
Where are you living at the moment?
I’m currently living in Harrow, West London, with my boyfriend and his family. They very kindly offered us to stay with them for as long as we needed to find our own place and settle down. This has taken a bit longer than we anticipated, so after six months we’re still here! I think moving in with my boyfriend’s family has made the move to London easier. It takes away much of the financial worries and stress of finding a place.
Tell me more about why you initially chose to travel to Australia? Was it something you had planned for some time?
I decided to go travelling through Southeast Asia and I applied for my Working Holiday Visa in Australia as a backup. In case I wasn’t ready to go home yet. After 4.5 months in Southeast Asia my funds were running low, but I was not ready to head home. As Australia is a Western country, I figured it was the easiest place to go to work and earn more money for travelling.
Did you travel solo? Was there a particular reason behind this?
I started my journey as a solo traveller as it was something I had always wanted to do. It was quite scary at first, so I probably would have said ‘yes’ if a friend had offered to come with me. But as that didn’t happen, I chose to do it by myself anyway. I was 27 at the time I left, so I thought that if all these 18-year olds on their gap years can do it, surely I could do it as well. I spent 2 years in Australia, of which I was probably solo for only the first 3 weeks though. After 3 weeks, I settled in Melbourne, where I found both a great group of friends and my current boyfriend.
Take me through your process of finding a job?
Finding a job wasn’t easy at first. I applied for loads of jobs online, through Seek and Indeed, but never really heard anything back. I found my first job through a friend, who worked in a cafe. I quickly found out that hospitality wasn’t for me and I only worked there for about three or four weeks. After that I got in touch with a recruitment agency through another friend, who passed me the email address of her contact at the agency. This agency was amazing and consistently got me jobs during my first eight months in Melbourne. This continued when I returned to Melbourne for another five months a year later.
What was your interview process like as a backpacker?
The interview process for the hospitality job was quite simple: they asked me to do a trial shift. They didn’t seem too bothered about the 2 glasses I broke and offered me the job after the trial.
I found my other jobs through three different recruitment agencies. A friend referred me to the first agency and an employer put me in touch with another. If you can’t get referred to an agency, I would recommend finding a direct email address for a specific recruiter and emailing them your CV. This got me several interviews with recruiters, whereas emailing their general inbox never got me a response.
The agencies would call me for an initial conversation, to find out what kind of jobs I was looking for. They then invited me for a quick face-to-face chat about my qualifications. After this chat, they would contact me through phone or email with a proposed assignment, which I could then accept or reject.
There was only one workplace that wanted a formal interview. Even though the assignment would be for six weeks, the interview process was like any other job interview. They covered the following: what are your strengths and weaknesses, why do you want to be considered for this role, what can you bring to the table, what do you know about this organisation. The usual. Luckily, it was an assignment I was quite excited about and I was (luckily) offered the role.
Can you tell me a bit more about what it was like living in a hostel and working?
There were two instances where I lived in a hostel whilst working full time: during my first six months in Melbourne and during my last five months in Perth.
The main positives about this situation are the amount of people you get to meet and the friends you make. After a long day at work, there’s always someone “home” to talk to. It is hard to be lonely when you live in a hostel. However, as there’s ALWAYS someone home, it’s hard to get a bit of down time and space when you crave it. The lack of privacy and space were the most negative parts of the experience for me. And inconsiderate people. I can’t stand inconsiderate people!
What’s the morning routine like when you’re living in a hostel while working? What about the evenings?
The morning routine in a hostel is similar to a normal routine, but you obviously have to consider more people when you’re getting ready in a hostel dorm room.
My main tips to be a considerate roommate are as follows: get your clothes and toiletries bag ready the night before & get dressed and groomed in the bathroom, rather than in your dorm. This little bit of extra preparation minimises noise and having to walk in and out of your dorm! I would usually have a packed lunch ready in the hostel fridge and cram in some breakfast before heading out.
The evenings living in a hostel would always be different. Some nights we’d have quizzes or barbecues. In Perth we had a family meal every week. Some nights I’d watch a movie with a group or go out drinking. Other nights I’d sit in my room and avoid social contact. Very much like now, really!
Did you have any initial struggles when you first moved to Australia?
It was easy to set up life in Australia! I think the initial struggle for me was to suddenly be in one place for a longer period of time again. Not being on the move means that you depend more on the people around you, so finding good friendships was important.
How did you go about getting your farm work? Where was your regional work and what did it entail?
I found my farm job through a friend, who got the number from another friend, and they had a friend that worked on this farm. I did my farm work in the Northeast of Tasmania, working on a potato farm. The diggers would dig up potatoes, which would come up on a belt before going into a bunker. Our job was to stand on the back of the digger and chuck out all the bad potatoes and rubbish of the belt, making sure only the good potatoes went into the bunker. It sounded much easier than it turned out to be. The workdays were long and challenging, but I had a great team and we shared a good few laughs together.
Can you give me an overview of ‘a day in the life’ of your farming?
Every day was unpredictable on the farm, as our work depended on so many factors: the weather, amount of trailers available and truck drivers being delayed. But during the busiest time, we worked quite consistently. I would wake up at 4.15am, eat breakfast and drive to the other farmhouse to pick up the other three members of my team.
We either met our farmer in his village and drove with him, or I drove the 1/1.5 hour journey myself. I would get on the digger and start work between 6-6.30am. Everyone usually had three breaks, mostly 5-10 min and 20-30 min for lunch. We worked an average of 10-12 hour days. This meant we returned quite late, so most nights I’d take a quick shower (sharing warm water between 7 people meant no more than 5 mins) and cook dinner. Some nights we’d drive to the other farmhouse to socialise and drink, but I would usually give that a miss when I had to be up at 4.15am again.
Head to part two of this article (coming soon) to find out more about living in Australia as a backpacker, travelling the West Coast, favourite Melbourne brunches and more. Also check out this article for some tips on finding farm work in Australia.
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