Just starting out

madpuppy · Newbie

Just starting out

dave06 · Guru

Hi tracey, welcome to the forum, we too are soon jumping off and we are really really looking forward to it, one might say "CANT WAIT" of course you and I and all the rest have some trepidation, after all we are about to sell everything we have worked our whole lives to achieive

we are possibly in a different boat than you, but having said that I dont know if you have done any travelling or for any length of time, we on the other hand have travelled extensively throughout australia and tassie and for extended periods of time, you may or may not have?

if you have large misgivings then the simple answer is DONT DO IT, if you think that you can stand only yourself and your husband in very close resricted quarters for the rest of your life and you have a wunderlust that can not be slaked then it should be fine

as for work you will have an uphill battle keeping away from it, it is to be found everywhere that you are likely to wonder and in some places that you will never see, it varies from season to season and state to state, there are a lot of websites devoted to what is commonly called "harvest trails" and if you "google" harvest trail" you will find it, even on the centrelink website

on the front page of the nomad you will see various advertisements, in there you will find jobs advertised for various states

if you wait until the "recession" is over it may be too late, check house prices and see if yours has gone down and if it has then wait a few months and check it again, do your sums as we are doing, when you can afford it, sell up and get out

our sums allow roughly $22,000 per year "ALL INCLUSIVE" allowing for that ammount and factoring in interest and investments as well as life expectancy, you could work out when to go and how much to spend until the grim reaper calls!! of course this will expand and contract as you work and not work

Basil Faulty · Guru

Hello and allow me to extend my welcome to the forum.....
Now WORK is a 4 letter word and like most things described by 4 letter words it's hard to avoid. If you are prepared to work you will find plenty of it available around the country. Work is something that many try to avoid, personally work fascinates me, I can watch it for hours.
Seriously finding employment to keep yourself fed and amused is the least of your worries. You may however be expected to actually work for your wage, many these days consider that actual work is beneath them and prefer to make their living (as I do) watching others do the toil.

dave06 · Guru

GOOD GOD!!!! man you cant be serious, actual physical, exertive get yourself dirty type of work, really Basil, I must protest in the strongest possible manner!!! LOL!!

in all honesty the last type of work that we performed whilst on travels was at the augusta caravan park in western australia, a long time ago now, we pulled up, place was slow, had a cuppa with the owners, it came about that they had'nt had a break in ten thousand years so we said " let us take over, it cant be that hard" so we did for a month, it was most pleasant, no long termers and all holiday makers, great people in a good mood, we had a break from travelling, got a free camp for a month, made a couple of dollars and gave the owners a break, it really is as simple as that, work is everywhere

Bridgee · Senior Member

Hello again yes been a while since we put a post on here, but we are always reading the comments, just had to say we are now quite confident of being able to find work while we travel this wonderful country. Having travelled around oz some 30 odd years ago things were a little different as we were not GREY nomads! more like young and free spirited try hard hippies ! of course a lot has happened since then, marriage, kids, mortgage.....but now we're ready to do it again but with a lot more comfort than a little mazda 808. We have wondered what it would be like to find work, however you have just reassured us that there is plenty to choose from, we keep thinking we can't afford it then there are times when we say to hell with it lets just do it!! we are more than happy to be like Dave and offer to run a caravan park while the owners have a break, actually Dave the caravan park you mentioned is where hubby grew up (grew up ?? do boys ever grow up ???)! - well not the actual caravan park but Augusta!

chezgo · Senior Member

Hi Tracey, I don't think you will have any problems finding work especially up north. Friends of mine just got back from a trip around and got offered work in lots of places in the northern territory and WA especially Broome. They were'nt on a working holiday but now feel confident they could go again long term and work there way. Roadhouses are always short of staff and caravan parks often need fill in cleaners and some of the pubs where the tourist flock like Daly Waters tend to hire travellers. Long as you are not in any hurry and can spend a few weeks or even months in one place. When we travelled around we became friends with a couple of backpackers who were working there way around they were picking tomatoes in Carnavon at the time. They always got work not the best of pay though when your a backpacker without the required paperwork at least when you are living here they tend to pay you reasonable rates. Chezgo

dave06 · Guru

hi there sue, augusta was one of those places that you just sort of drive through to get to some where decent if you know what I mean, it turned out to be a lovely town and a great little stopover, great people great amenities and I would imagine "growing up" in a place like that would be a joy indeed, the month that we spent there will be forever remembered, and thats what life is all about, a series of memories strung together in such a way as to be pleasurable

now as far as boys growing up, I'll have to think about that one as I play in my giant sandpit with my really big neat toys, pretty green harvester, bloody big tractor and oh boy you really ought to see my big semi truck!!! BROOOmmm!!! BROOOOOmmmm!!! BEEEEPPPPP!!!! BEEEEPPP!!!

the work thing is out there, and a lot of places you simply wont want to leave, and I know a couple of mates of ours who started out on "the big one forever" and got to a state, found a terrific "life" and never shifted

Basil Faulty · Guru

Yes you have to wonder don't you about the statistics when unemployment is supposedly so high but if you think about it I would have thought that around 5% of the population would not be employable anyway, either sick,infirm,demented, damaged. The variety of work is amazing to if you are a tradie in any of the building trades there is always somone looking for someone to do a small job. I can turn my hand to most things I'm even getting a grip on this new technology. Technically I'm not allowed to "work" but I find it irresistable if I'm around something that interests me. We had a free month in Queenstown, I was "pressed" into working as Engineer on the Earnslaw while the real Engineer went back to England to bring his wife back to NZ, they put us up in a top motel, paid award rates and all because I showed some interest during dinner at the wharf....
In Australia there is no end of "unskilled" work even Bunnings will give you a start if you can tell a screw from a nail but the trick with places like that is to NOT say you intend moving on in a month....

dave06 · Guru

Basil, I know it's the wrong thing to say, but in this case its true, "WHEN I WAS A BOY" ,god I swore I would never say that, but in my younger hungry years, hungry for money to travel and better myself, I sought work wherever it lay, could be in kalgoorlie could be in meekatharra and I have worked in both of those as well as a lot of other remote places, we "chased" work, we didnt sit around drinking and drugging and thinking the world owes us a living

young ones of today have more opportunity than I ever had and yet they squander there lives, they dont WANT to work, we have a system in place that rewards these di----heads for not working, I have a cerebral palsy son, I am on a carers pension, of which I actually claim very little after wages, I work 7 days a week and up to 15 hours a day ( at the moment but hopefully that will slow down in a week or so, god I really hope so) I employ qualified people to care for my son whilst I am not there, the dragon is an "in home care supporter" she works all over the place, we dont see each other (probably why our marriage has lasted for nearly 30 years) but we have everything that opens and shuts and a lovely house, even though we are hardly there

these so called "unemployed" have NOTHING you could buy their entire lives for a $1,000 and they are happy with that, but what annoys me is MY and the dragons BLOODY TAXES SUPPORT THESE BLUDGING MONGRELS, I'm here sweating my insides out and they are home on their freckle and I'm paying them to do that, we could employ another youngster out here to "chase" the header with the grain hauler, but they reckon it's too hot, too dusty, too far, so we alternate with each other on different machines (the boss and me) so we dont get "too worn out at the end of the day" speaking of which here he comes so time for me to put his lappy away and earn my keep, but I am "NOT HAPPY JAN"!!!!

Bridgee · Senior Member

Dave you said your marriage had lasted nearly 30 years because you hardly see each other, so thats the noise we heard from Augusta, "couple heard arguing due to being in unfamiliar surroundings i.e. spending 24/7 with each other"

I don't think we will have that problem as we are with each other now 24/7 and have done so for the past few years having just sold our 7 day a week tourist business, yes we are ready for a holiday.

I remember hubby getting a job when we first travelled and he was pretty slack knowing we were only doing it for a couple of weeks until we moved on and when he said he was leaving the boss said you can't you're a good worker and offered him $40 a week to stay, all we could think was jeez mate if you think I'm good what was the last guy like!! looking back $40 a week some 30 odd years ago was pretty good, and we kncoked it back and moved on - idiots ! arrived in Sydney flat broke. Found work, me in a place called Bleakley and Grey,and boy was it bleak and grey! hubby got job at Cyclops putting spokes in bicycle wheels and has since told people he was once the 'chief spokes person" for Cyclops!!!

It funded the rest of our trip and we arrived back to WA with 28 cents ! but even though that was 34 years ago we still talk about it as being a fantastic experieince.

dave06 · Guru

HAH!! HAH!!! love it " chief spokesman for cyclops LOL!!! my first job, and I will never forget it, was on a farm at the age of twelve, 50 cents per hour, before school and after school and weekends, when I wasnt needed there I worked at the garage that just happened to be next door, at the tender age of sixteen I left home got my license and started a long love affair with massive machines, I was earning $350 per week when the average wage was $160

those were the happiest times of my life, hard and long but music was better, drinks were colder, people were freindlier, roads were a lot more pleasant and the scenery was unaffected by other peoples rubbish, it's all about the memorys, as we go along lifes little highway with all it's twists and turns we remember little bits of it, and thats what is left when we travel the last one up to the great pearlys and hopefully we can look our creator in the eye and say yep been there, done that, read the book, ate the food, drank the drink, "I'M READY" and step through as a happy little vegemite

I've worked pretty much all my life, still am, but me and the dragon get out quite regular, overdue for a break as it is, dont know where we are going to go, dont care where we go, as long as we go and when we do get in each others pockets for 24/7 we enjoy every damn second of it and wish it would never end, we are soulmates and freinds for life, sitting up here in my cabin I know I'M A BLOODY LUCKY MAN, with no complaints on the home front whatsoever, if I had to do it all over again, theres not one thing that I would change!!!

Basil Faulty · Guru

dave06 wrote:

BLOODY TAXES SUPPORT THESE BLUDGING MONGRELS, I'm here sweating my insides out and they are home on their freckle and I'm paying them to do that

Dave you are not the only one to feel this way, believe me - remember my shot at "Working Girls" a while back that got me in so much strife with some forumites? Yeah well I don't tolerate it any more, sorry folks zero tolerance from me if you are a welfare or Tax cheat. I may have told you about my quest to rid the country of these parasites? A little tax dodging is a fair thing but to work for cash then frontup at Centrelink for a handout is actually criminal, I abhore it.
I'd suggest you take a Bex, have a cuppa and a lie down or you'll stress out and we need you on the forum, the country needs you!

Basil Faulty · Guru

Bridgee wrote:

Dave you said your marriage had lasted nearly 30 years because you hardly see each other, so thats the noise we heard from Augusta, "couple heard arguing due to being in unfamiliar surroundings i.e. spending 24/7 with each other"

I don't think we will have that problem as we are with each other now 24/7 and have done so for the past few years having just sold our 7 day a week tourist business, yes we are ready for a holiday.

I remember hubby getting a job when we first travelled and he was pretty slack knowing we were only doing it for a couple of weeks until we moved on and when he said he was leaving the boss said you can't you're a good worker and offered him $40 a week to stay, all we could think was jeez mate if you think I'm good what was the last guy like!! looking back $40 a week some 30 odd years ago was pretty good, and we kncoked it back and moved on - idiots ! arrived in Sydney flat broke. Found work, me in a place called Bleakley and Grey,and boy was it bleak and grey! hubby got job at Cyclops putting spokes in bicycle wheels and has since told people he was once the 'chief spokes person" for Cyclops!!!

It funded the rest of our trip and we arrived back to WA with 28 cents ! but even though that was 34 years ago we still talk about it as being a fantastic experieince.

I'm amazed that anyone could survive in Port Augusta.....

dave06 · Guru

no Basil not port augusta, I wouldnt look after a garbage cart in port augusta, I meant augusta in the bottom of western australia

mikeody · Veteran Member

Somebody in this thread wrote "personally work fascinates me, I can watch it for hours" !
That is the best quote I have seen for ages.
I agree with it totally although I have to admit watching it for hours makes me feel quite tired.
Mike

Basil Faulty · Guru

mikeody wrote:

Somebody in this thread wrote "personally work fascinates me, I can watch it for hours" !
That is the best quote I have seen for ages.
I agree with it totally although I have to admit watching it for hours makes me feel quite tired.
Mike

I totally agree, even reading the posts here is exhausting - but fun...