So I’ve been in Brisbane for about 2 weeks now. I’m still on the job hunt after a couple of failed attempts at farm work. Its been nice chilling at the beach every day but I really need to get a job soon, money is getting tight.
Attempt One – Caboolture Strawberry Picking Farm
On the Facebook page, ‘Backpacker jobs in Australia’, I had seen an advertisement for farm work in Caboolture – picking strawberries. I got the contact number and gave the owner a message, He replied and the ball was rolling. We had arranged for me to travel from Brisbane to Caboolture on the Monday, start work on the Tuesday… Ideal. Once I had arrived, I was picked up at the train station and taken to the farm and then to the “accommodation”. I use quotation marks here because I wouldn’t class it as accommodation in the slightest.
Anyway, the guy was lovely enough, he had shown me the strawberry fields and took me round the “accommodation” facilities but it wasn’t for me. The rooms were like little metal port-a-cabins and not clean at all. I understand that on a farm, its not going to be the nicest of places to live but I was hoping for at least live-able. After realizing that I couldn’t live in a tin hut for weeks on end, I fabricated some story that I had to get out of the farm work. The guy was nice enough to give me a lift back to the station and that was that. Fail number one.
Attempt Two – Beerwah Strawberry & Raspberry Picking Farm
After spending another couple of days in Brisbane, job hunting, I managed to find an advertisement on Gumtree. After contacting the advert, I managed to arrange for me to arrive on the Friday. This farm was advertised as being in Caboolture, although once I got to Caboolture Station, I was driven about 20 minutes further north to Beerwah. The advert had also said that I would be in a share-house and it had a few pictures which looked lovely. Once I arrived though, I was shown to an old rusted camper van, put up on bricks and pallets 
– Not quite a share house. There were stains all over the mattress and the whole thing looked filthy. Great. This time, I wasn’t even shown the farm or anything. Just my dingy little camper.
Eventually one of the guys from the farm that was meant to be sorting me out with everything came over. He asked me if there was anything I wanted to ask him, I had one question – “Can you take me back to the train station?”. Again, some made up story and I was on my way back to Brisbane. I’m lucky the travel on the rails is relatively cheap. Now I’ve reached the point where any job will do. I’m starting to care less about the farm work and my second year visa.
Every Other Day
Except from the days that I’ve been travelling up and down a railway line, I’ve mostly been at the South Bank Beach. It sounds like I’m just relaxing and not caring about work but the truth is – I’ve been multi-tasking. The Wi-Fi is actually better there than it is in the hostel, so I’ve been doing my job hunting there. So far I’ve applied for a variety of different jobs. I’ve even put my own advert up on the Facebook page and on Gumtree. Hopefully I’ll hear back from something soon. Other than the sunbathing and job hunting, I’ve really not done anything exciting at all.
Although one of the evenings, Suzanne and I went back down to the South Bank area at night, At the moment the Brisbane Festival is on, it kind of reminds me of The Edinburgh Fringe. There wasn’t many acts on when we were there but we did manage to get some lovely cinnamon donuts. The whole area is also lit up, it definitely looks the part! Even the Victoria Bridge had been lit up in pink – the colour scheme of the festival. It was pretty smart, the shade of pink reminded me of the Kasabian album, 48:13. Coincidentally, the same colour of balloons I had at my 21st birthday party.
If you are reading this and have any advice about finding work in Australia, please leave a comment or contact me! It would be very much appreciated!
Thanks for reading!
Alzo
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