Gap year - choose it for me

Thunderbiscuit mainly tourist jobs in darwin working in bars/bottleshops/hotels.

there are office jobs and construction work as well but would you want to be inside all day and would you want to working outside in 100% humdity ?

I found bar work the best , start at 4 finish for about 11 still time to go out and you have time to enjoy the weather thorough the day
 
ThunderBiscuit said:
Wicked post thanks heaps for that. Skydiving instructor sounds like something whack I'd be keen on. And the working on yachts, sounds like you rolled it :cool:

Yeah I'm pretty happy to be going by myself, should be a good enough challenge if I choose a nice friendly place to boot. Plus there's a couple of mates I found out doing similar things, so will probably meet them over there. What kind of work were you doing before you left Freefaller? I'm working at a glass bottle packing factory, at least it will pay some of the bills :confused:
Click to expand...

Be aware that it took me several years to qualify as an instructor with over 200 jumps! It's not something you're likely to do on a gap year - that's why it took me 4 years to get there and did it after uni!

Also I travelled over 10 years ago so before all the 9/11 and all the stringent travelling laws and regulations making it much easier and more fun too - it might be less fun now - I don't know... You do need to plan it more now than you used to probably. So have a rough idea, but also be open to changing destination and direction. You can't be shy, you have to be rather self entrepreneurial in terms of selling yourself. You also have to be aware of people taking you for a ride. I have not scary stories to tell, but I got in a few dodgy situations (ended up behind bars twice, and in some drug lord/crime lord's property :( not fun!) However, the plus sides I experienced I can't even list on one post the main ones being: women, sights, friends, once in a life time experiences. In fact I'm getting rather excited talking about it and thinking about it!!

Before I left I did some part time work for a small IT company, some bar work/door work which whilst living at home with the 'rents made for a decent bit of disposable income.

After uni I spent a lot of time in the States and in France throwing myself out of planes which was fun! Then got myself a proper job and continued travelling the world as part of it - so it was good fun! Until I had enough of the travel - after 7 years of living out of a suitcase it gets old.
 
Freefaller said:
Be aware that it took me several years to qualify as an instructor with over 200 jumps! It's not something you're likely to do on a gap year - that's why it took me 4 years to get there and did it after uni!

Also I travelled over 10 years ago so before all the 9/11 and all the stringent travelling laws and regulations making it much easier and more fun too - it might be less fun now - I don't know... You do need to plan it more now than you used to probably. So have a rough idea, but also be open to changing destination and direction. You can't be shy, you have to be rather self entrepreneurial in terms of selling yourself. You also have to be aware of people taking you for a ride. I have not scary stories to tell, but I got in a few dodgy situations (ended up behind bars twice, and in some drug lord/crime lord's property :( not fun!) However, the plus sides I experienced I can't even list on one post the main ones being: women, sights, friends, once in a life time experiences. In fact I'm getting rather excited talking about it and thinking about it!!

Before I left I did some part time work for a small IT company, some bar work/door work which whilst living at home with the 'rents made for a decent bit of disposable income.

After uni I spent a lot of time in the States and in France throwing myself out of planes which was fun! Then got myself a proper job and continued travelling the world as part of it - so it was good fun! Until I had enough of the travel - after 7 years of living out of a suitcase it gets old.
Click to expand...

Wow sounds like you've had some cool experiences, care to share the story about ending up behind the bars? Sounds like something that would be a pretty top notch story haha. Yes good point about the skydiving actually, will have to keep that in mind

rsatd said:
Thailand, lady boys, go!
Click to expand...

My thoughts too... Apparently there's at least one in every bar and they even shave their adams apples down :eek: Not too keen on reaching the end of the night to find that I've been dealt the tranny card :mad:

Amp34 said:
Normally I'd say go to South America, however I am considering heading over there on a working holiday visa in the near future, depening on how much money you have Oz (and NZ) are probably the best places to go and work whilst you travel and finally you mentioned adventure things and Oz and NZ are pretty much the places to go for that sort of thing.:)



Randomly, I have no idea where they are but from those photos I'd suggest A is Australia (or maybe South Africa, but probably Oz), B is the Alps (Swiss) and C is the Rockies?

Probably totally wrong but good to guess. :p

As for choosing based on them I'd go B, if you are interested in walking then they look the best option for that. A are too "low" and look like it will be mostly flat and C are too rockie, maybe a bit to wildernessy for the average traveller. B though, just right, nice and steep in places but with a bit of walking space too.:p
Click to expand...

Great post, yes I like the sound of Oz/NZ, definitely pretty much what I'm looking for. Going to look into it some more as friend went there for a little bit. Do you have any more info on NZ in particular? Seems like a little untouched place.

Good guesses, A was Oz, B is Austria though but C is spot on. Need to find some more mountains to add in for my next round.

Keep the suggestions coming, thanks heaps to those that have offered up some so far
 
Try an spend winter doing a ski season. If you already ski/snowboard you will love it, if you don't you will never have a better opportunity to learn.

I would reccomend going go whistler in Canada. You need to sort out your visa earlly -and will need to arrive at least 1 month before season starts to sort out a job. It is a very easy place to find work. One company owns the mountains plus all the restaurants and bars on the mountain. They therefore employ literally thousands of people -restaurant staff, lift operators, ski instructors, ski hire, office staff etc. They have staff dorms which are obviously cheap accomodation and there are a lot of parties. Needless to say you will get a free lift pass (along with discounted rates on the food etc). I went there myself but I didn't have a visa so I just snowboarder for six weeks as I had relatives to stay with.
The skiing in whistler is sone of the best in the world, hence it is now v expensive so working there is a good chance to experience it.
I should add that if you are into that kind of thing britsh Columbia is a kind of hotspot for drugs -weed is practically legalized this liberal attitude combined with the fact that Vancouver is a major port means that a lot of stuff is available and v cheap.
 
EdwardTeach said:
Try an spend winter doing a ski season. If you already ski/snowboard you will love it, if you don't you will never have a better opportunity to learn.

I would reccomend going go whistler in Canada. You need to sort out your visa earlly -and will need to arrive at least 1 month before season starts to sort out a job. It is a very easy place to find work. One company owns the mountains plus all the restaurants and bars on the mountain. They therefore employ literally thousands of people -restaurant staff, lift operators, ski instructors, ski hire, office staff etc. They have staff dorms which are obviously cheap accomodation and there are a lot of parties. Needless to say you will get a free lift pass (along with discounted rates on the food etc). I went there myself but I didn't have a visa so I just snowboarder for six weeks as I had relatives to stay with.
The skiing in whistler is sone of the best in the world, hence it is now v expensive so working there is a good chance to experience it.
I should add that if you are into that kind of thing britsh Columbia is a kind of hotspot for drugs -weed is practically legalized this liberal attitude combined with the fact that Vancouver is a major port means that a lot of stuff is available and v cheap.
Click to expand...


I think I'm gonna do this, but in NZ. Seems like a pretty sweet little place to visit from what I've heard and I'm pretty confident I can do what you've described there.

Will probably get some work in the capital, Wellington to get some dollars in my pocket first..

wellington.jpg


Looks pretty nicely laid out with the water etc. What's everyones thoughts on my call? I'm pretty happy with it :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom