Australia and New Zealand are the most popular destinations for people on a career break. It's easy to get a working holiday visa, so you can do paid work abroad there, and the countries are set up for you to backpack around them. For a combination of work and play, Australia and New Zealand can't be beaten!

Australia and New Zealand are the most popular career break destinations for several reasons.

For one, they are included on almost every round-the-world ticket, so all RTW travellers will go through them.

Secondly, if you're under 30, it's ridiculously easy to get a working holiday visa so you can do paid work in Australia or New Zealand for a year or two, and earn enough money to carry on travelling!

Thirdly, they are fantastic places to visit, full of beautiful people, beaches and mountains!

Working in Australia and New Zealand

Almost all career breakers who want to do paid work abroad in Australia and New Zealand do it on a working holiday visa. Here's the deal for Australia:

  • You must be under 31
  • You can work in a temporary job for up to 6 months
  • You can stay for a year, then if you've worked as a "specified worker" (ie in specific industries in regional Australia), you can apply for a second visa which is valid for another year
  • You need sufficient funds to support yourself when you arrive
  • You can't have a substantial conviction (a little one is OK)
  • You must be a citizen of the UK or another specified country (most of Western Europe, plus Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong)
  • You can only apply for this visa once and you have to get to Australia within 12 months of getting the visa, if you want to use it!

Americans can't get the working holiday visa, but they can get the very similarly-named work and holiday visa (almost identical except you can't get the second year).

New Zealand requirements are pretty much the same, except the second visa is only available to citizens of the UK. The list of countries whose citizens are eligible though, is much much bigger, so if your citizenship means you're not eligible for the Australian working holiday visa, have a look at New Zealand.

If you're too old for the working holiday visa, your options are much more limited. Contact the Australian or New Zealand embassy for details of other work permits that are available.

Travelling to Australia and New Zealand on a career break

The vast majority of career breakers travel to Australia and New Zealand on a round-the-world ticket. This applies if they're on a working holiday visa or simply travelling.

You usually fly into one Australian airport then out of a different one, travelling overland to get between them. The same applies to New Zealand, you fly into Wellington and out of Auckland, or the other way around.

You can of course get a simple return ticket or open jaw ticket if you prefer.

Travelling around Australia and New Zealand on a career break

Australia and New Zealand are built for people like you who want to travel cheaply and meet like-minded people on a career break.

There's good value, organised travel by bus and train. Car rental is also affordable and easy, should you wish to travel about by yourself and go exactly where you want.

There are hostels all over the two countries, in busy cities and quiet towns. These are a great way to meet people and even if you're not used to hostelling, you may be pleasantly surprised as some are very well equipped. Many also provide events for travellers.

This sounds obvious, but do try to remember how big Australia is! Loads of travellers plan their trip without really looking at how long it takes to travel between Australian cities. New Zealand is much more compact, but do remember there are two main islands, so it's going to involve a boat trip at some point.

Do Australia and New Zealand sound like your cup of tea? Find all our organisations with Australia and New Zealand travel and work programmes here.