First off, set up a bank account during the first week of your arrival. The sooner you do this, the better. People who are well-informed know that you must do this within 6 weeks of your arrival. If you decide to open a bank account in Australia after 6 weeks, you’re then required to provide more proof of identifications. Those proofs include driver’s license, credit cards, and your birth certificate. Whereas if you’ve opened your bank account within that 6 weeks, you’re only required to give your passport as proof of identification.
To save yourself the hassle, make sure to open a bank account right away once you’ve arrived in Australia. If you plan on immediately looking for jobs to fund your travel, then make sure to have a bank account ready so that your employer can deposit your payment. It’s noteworthy that cash-in-hand payment is illegal in Australia. That’s not to say that the practice doesn’t exist. But it’s so much better to be careful and stick with legit employers.
How to find a more long-term accommodations in Oz?
Network with fellow travelers to find good accommodations together. Another thing you can do is browse house shares or apartment shares on Gumtree and Flatmates. Gumtree is one of the most popular websites for virtually anything. And living space is often advertised there as well. While Flatmates is a dedicated website for people offering their space as well as people looking for space.
What SIM options you should go for?
As we’ve touched upon this topic in the first part of this post, choosing a provider would greatly depend on where you’re going. In the country. If you’re going to choose to spend a lot of time in the outbacks—the rural areas—then you’re definitely going to need the provider with the best coverage.
If you’ve gotten Telstra because you needed to spend time in the outbacks to fulfill your 88 days of rural work, then you can move on. Especially if you’ve decided to move out of the outbacks and into the cities, you may find it in your interests to switch to a cheaper sim. This may be particularly useful for those who have a strict budget and would like to save as much time as possible.
So if you’ve gotten your second year work and holiday requirement down and now ready to explore the Australian cities, then it can be time for you to switch. The reverse also applies. If you’re going to the outbacks after some time in the city, then getting a SIM card that gives a better coverage would benefit you.
Get a Tax File Number asap once you’ve decided to find work
In order to fund your year-long travel, you’re going to be working. And your employers are obligated to provide your tax number to the government. If you’ve already landed a job before you get your tax number, then that means you’re going to need to give your TFN in 28 days. You will be taxed close to 50% if you don’t have your tax number ready by the time you need it.
