Five jobs in Australia and New Zealand that you need some guts to take!
Okay, so you and your mates have decided to take a year off in Australia or New Zealand. That’s just awesome! Every year thousands of young people from all over the world travel to these two countries to backpack. Some of these travellers stay for a longer period of time and make an extra buck along their way while working on a so called “working holiday visa”.
It’s not only the surf spots, laidback attitude and pleasant climate that attracts youngsters to come to Australia and New Zealand. There’s plenty of jobs here and the labour market is great for anyone who is willing to put in some effort!
Working in Australia and New Zealand is not only about picking apples at an apple farm and serving mocha lattes at the local café (nothing wrong with this though!). If you broaden your spectrum and if you are open to do something more unconventional we have listed some of the most odd, scary and crazy jobs you can find down under!
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Human cow pregnancy tester
Yes, it’s true. This is a real job. It’s maybe not an official job title, but if you work as farmhand at one of the many cattle stations and farms this could be one of your main duties. One of KILROYs travel consultants Anders Killander explains his first-hand experience doing this, as working as a farmhand on a family owned farm outside of Sydney.
- “The main thing I did at the farm was to stick my arm up the butt of the cows to feel if there was a fetus in the cows uterus. The technique was old school but very accurate. I think most farms today use ultrasound scanners, but the farm owner preferred us to do it the good ol’ way. Sure, it was a bit nasty but it’s also an experience I wouldn’t want to have undone”.
Snake venom milker
First of all, this is not a job that you kick-start without some proper training. With Australia having home to 21 of the 25 deadliest snakes on earth, somebody needs to get the anti-dote for these creepy crawlers venomous bites. And as you may know, the anti-dote for poisonous snake bites is made from the venom itself. So maybe if you’re not collecting the snakes all by yourself, you can work as a trainee and right-hand man besides a professional snake milker. We wouldn’t recommend it though...
Pearl diver
This one is for all the nautical bad-asses out there. Diving for pearls in Australia can actually be a financial winner. A talented pearl diver can earn up to $1,300 AUD per day! But the job itself is tough and it requires great diving skills. If you're not into diving, we’d recommend a job as deck hand up on the pearling boat instead. As long as you’re not one of those easily sea sick landlubbers, that is.
Shark tagger
Do you fancy hanging out with sharks? Well not all of us do. There are many marine biologists who work with marine conservation (of wild life) and sharks around the Australian coasts. One of the things that (some gutsy) marine biologist do at work, is attaching tracking devices on great white sharks to track their movement. Get a job on one of their boats and you have a job that’s thrilling and also contributes to the research and preservation of the sharks.
Skydiving instructor
Do you have the E-license to skydive and instruct tandem jumps? Well go on and apply for a job as a skydiving instructor! If not, there’s plenty of sky diving drop zones and academies in both Australia and New Zealand where you can obtain a so called E-license which qualifies you to instruct other skydivers. To get the E-license you must have achieved the minimum of 500 freefalls so if you have a one year working holiday permit, we’d recommend you to do most of the training and jumps at home first.
Do you want to work in Australia or New Zealand?
Working and travelling in Australia and New Zealand doesn’t necessary need to be this extraordinary. As a matter of fact it’s quite easy to get a decent job, at least if you can settle with a more conventional job than the ones above.
If you want to apply for a Working Holiday Visa in Australia or New Zealand, our travel advisors would gladly assist and help you out! What we’ll do is hook you up with a super convenient working holiday package. This means that we will arrange to pick you up at the airport, arrange for the first nights of accommodation, answer questions and help you get started in relation to bank accounts and tax file numbers, so you get the smoothest start !