Road Trip – East Coast Australia – # 9 Work and Travel Australia 2018

What is Australia without road trips? I believe that anyone who visits Australia just wants to have the best time of their lives! And a road trip is the perfect opportunity to have the best time with unforgettable experiences! December 2018 was this time for me. I was on a month-long road trip with my best friends Charlie Taylor, Kevin Delan and Carlos Böttcher!

In this blog post I will give you more insight into our great time along the East Coast of Australia!

Our vehicle – The ultimate dream campervan

If you go on a road trip, you should definitely think about which campervan to go with!

We were a group of 4 so we decided to go with a huge family campervan. On one hand, it lessens some of the road trip feeling. On the other hand, everyone has a lot more space and for a month, sometimes, you need that! We had 2 large beds with 2 people sleeping in each: a bed over the driver’s cab and a bed in the back of the campervan.

Here is a picture of our campervan:

Our Route – The East Coast of Australia

The route we chose was easy: just along the coast from Sydney to Cairns. Since I love to plan everything in advance, I planned this road trip quite a bit in advance.

Our mission was to get to Cairns in 28 days. Here’s a screenshot of my road trip planning notes!

And now, I want to share with you our stops along the route:

Stop 1: Narrabeen Beaches

The first stop was the beaches in the north of Sydney. After we got out of the city, we went to the beach to switch off for a bit!

But to be honest, it is a rather normal beach that you do not necessarily have to stop at or stay long 😉

Stop 2: Palm Beach

On the second day, we took a walk to the Lighthouse of Palm Beach. Palm Beach is a beautiful place to just relax and enjoy the sunset.The special thing about this beach is that there are beaches on both sides: one faces the sea and the other faces the bay. This is definitely a must see!

Stop 3: Hunter Valley

The following day we drove a bit into the country, in the direction of Hunter Valley. The Hunter region is the wine growing area Sydney and was really lovely. There are so many places to go wine tasting! We also went to a festival, which made Hunter Valley amazing, all over again.

Stop 4: Port Stephens / Nelson’s Bay

The beaches of Port Stephens and Nelson’s Bay are stunning! We had an incredibly relaxing time there. An insider tip is to go to the Tomaree Mountain to see the sunset. The views will transport you to Thailand! With an incredible view over the country, I think it was one of the best sunsets I have ever experienced.

Stop 5: Byron Bay

Everyone was raving about Byron Bay, so we had to make a stop there. But to be honest, Byron Bay was not that exciting. It is a small seaside town with a lighthouse. We were anticipating the incredible atmosphere that Byron Bay was recommended to have. However, we did not really experience that aura, because we did not live in a hostel. Furthermore, the weather was not the best. Maybe that was the reason that we did not find it as exciting as anticipated.

Stop 6: Gold Coast

The name Gold Coast alone tells you that it is an incredibly beautiful stretch along the East coast. It is, essentially, a city by the sea with many foothills. The party center, Surfers Paradise, is filled with skyscrapers and is very popular amongst teenagers. We stayed in a hotel in Surfers Paradise which was loads of fun, with 2 days of partying! Gold Coast was definitely worth stopping at.

Stop 7: Brisbane

Brisbane is the largest city in Australia after Sydney and Melbourne. They have a beautiful skyline and we rented the “lime scooters” to commute around. These electric scooters are available around every corner and you can rent them via an app. You pay a few cents a minute and it is definitely worth it, because you get to experience the whole city in a short amount of time!

My favorite place in Brisbane is the Southbank. It is on the other side of the river and you have a great view of the city. There are many restaurants, bars and an artificial lagoon that you can swim in!

Stop 8: Glasshouse Mountains

The Glasshouse Mountains are further north of Brisbane. We only made a little stop there. It is an experience close to their beautiful natural flora and you can definitely spend a few hours hiking there.

Stop 9: Fraser Island

This was my second time visiting Fraser Island. This time we booked a two-day tour to see everything on Fraser Island.

I would recommend renting a four-wheel drive from the start, or drive your own onto the island. It is just a lot more fun to spend a week driving on the island. You get to drive on the beach and there are many scenic spots to experience nature in the summer.

Stop 10: Airlie Beach / Whitsundays

Airlie Beach was definitely the coolest city I experienced on my trip!

It is a small town with many bars, restaurants, discos, and a lagoon. The lagoon is lovely and a great place to refresh yourself. You can spend several weeks, or even months of your trip at Airlie Beach!

We visited the Whitsundays on a sailboat and I have to say, Whitehaven Beach definitely impressed me. It is covered entirely in white sand, as you know it in the Caribbean! It was certainly worth it to spend A$450 for the experience.

Stop 11: Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island is a beautiful island, further up north than the Whitsundays. You can definitely spend a few days here. Even though there is not much going on, the island is more about relaxing, hikes and koalas. I even hugged a koala!

Stop 12: Mission Beach

Here, I felt like I was being transported back to Thailand! There were palm trees and coconuts everywhere on the beach. Unfortunately you cannot swim in the open sea because of crocodiles and jellyfishes. There is, however, a cordoned-off area for swimming. It was a lovely opportunity to have visited but this is not somewhere I would stay longer.

Stop 13: Daintree Rainforest

This is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world: 200 million years old, 4 times older than the Amazon! On one square meter, you will find more plant and animal species than in all of North America. It was interesting and eye-opening to visit this “magical rainforest”. Definitely worth a stop.

Stop 14: Cairns

I expected a lot more from Cairns. We stayed there for 3 days over Christmas and it rained the whole time! So a tip for you: If you want to travel northern Australia, be sure to visit during the Australian winter. In the summer, Australia’s northern regions experience the wet and rainy monsoon season.

Disappointingly, Cairns was rather boring. There is a lagoon and a couple of restaurants but nothing too exciting.

 

I hope you got a little insight into my fun-filled and exciting road trip!

You should also check out my Instagram account @fabianxarnold and if you have questions you can email me. I look forward to your feedback and wish you a nice time.

 

 

How has my life changed in Australia?! – # 8 Work and Travel Australia 2018

In February 2018, I came to Australia as a backpacker. That should change soon. I had slowly settled in Sydney and worked as a Labourer for a few weeks. And then suddenly came this event, which has changed everything. In this blog post I will tell you a very exciting story. Therefore, stay tuned and read it to the end.

 

Fabian – the backpacker in Sydney

In Sydney I had settled down so far. I lived in a hostel right at Darling Harbour until then. The city of Sydney was very nice. Everything was so big and even more exciting than Melbourne. The city center was very busy and not as chilled as in Melbourne. You just realize that it’s more about work. But every time when I went to Bondi or Manly I felt like I was in another world. The lifestyle has grabbed me immediately. Everyone was active in sports! Surfing, doing sports on the beach, playing football or even exercising in the outdoor gyms. What was really amazing for me was the whole BBQ area, which is set up everywhere on the beach and which anyone can use for free.

My job was hard and tiring to work in the sun as a labourer. But it was worth it, because I earned a lot of money. I made a lot of friends in the hostel, so it felt like I had a second family in Australia.

 

The event that should change everything!!!

And then the day came when everything was about to change. I was invited to an event from Bodaskins, which opened a pop-up store in Sydney. I was very excited about what to expect as it was my first event in Australia. Of course, I was a bit excited too. That’s always part of it. In the evening I went by bus to the event. I was about 20 minutes late. I got into the store and luckily not so many people were there. The music was loud and everywhere were leather jackets in all colors and patterns. Otherwise it was a white room without decoration. I looked around but did not know any of the people. I went to the bar and got myself a drink first, with which I then walked a bit around the area.

After about 20 minutes, a guy came to me, who was also alone. This guy was Australian, about six feet tall, and blond hair. He had a very strong Australian accent at the beginning, and it was very hard for me to understand him because of the loud music. Actually, I did not understand him the whole evening. But I noticed right away that he is a very nice guy who I will get to know better. I spent the evening with him, and we walked around a bit. We learned more about each other. He was a rugby player and had played for the Australian national team.

After an hour, he introduced me to his manager. He was very open-minded and wanted to get to know me. Of course, I had nothing against that. This may be a chance for me to gain a foothold in Australia. After another 20 minutes, a man came in, which is one of the most famous journalists in Australia. He said to the manager he should definitely sign me, as I have a lot of potential. That made me very happy. When the event ended around 10pm, I was just about to take the bus home when the rugby player asked me if he should drive me home. I said, “Yeah, why not?”

In his car, we continued talking and I looked at his Instagram account. His name was Charlie Taylor (@charlietaylor on Instagram), he was 22 years old and was born in Sydney. He had about 178,000 followers on Instagram at the time. At this time, I had 142,000 followers.

He drove me home and we exchanged our numbers, so we could stay in touch.

The next weeks after the event. The beginning as a model and influencer.

The next few weeks had changed a lot. Charlie went to Love Island. This is a TV show that is about finding love. That was the reason why I had not seen him after our first meeting at the event. Even with our smartphones we could not communicate because he did not have a phone for the time he was on Love Island!

The manager of Charlie had contacted me in the meantime and asked for a meeting. Of course, I confirmed that directly. When I met him, it was clear to me that he believed in me and that I should trust him. I signed with him and was thus as a model and social media area as an influencer in the agency The.MGMT housed.

It was the first time for me to have a management and I thought from now on everything will be better. That’s the way it should be.

I was constantly invited to events, I came to the newspaper more often and my followers grew very fast. This was partly due to Charlie, because of the very strong social media growth due to the TV show Love Island.

After several weeks working as a labourer, I was fed up with racking my guts at the construction site. Since I now had a management role as a model and influencer, I wanted to focus 100% on it and seize the opportunity. So, I quit my job as a labourer and was 100% time focused on modelling. Through my manager, I also got a free gym, where I could now train regularly again. I often done cardio sessions with Charlie. He had stopped playing rugby to focus on Social Media 100%.

It was a very cool time always go to events with him and enjoy life in Australia.

 

Best friends Charlie and Fabian. DifferentSame.

In July, I decided to move from the hostel to Charlie’s apartment because he was looking for a roommate.

With Charlie I become good friend. Every day we did something together and lived together. Also, our characters were very similar. We are both very determined and want to achieve something in social media. We are both very athletic and love to be outside and among people. After a long time, which we had done something together, we were always better friends. Small quarrels meant that we only got to know each other better. I got to know his past and he mine. I believe only by arguing, one is welded closer to each other!!

Besides Instagram we wanted to start with YouTube. Since we both did not really know how to properly cut videos, we needed a videographer. One of my backpacker friends was very interested in videography and also bought a drone. His name is Robin aka @thePostler on Instagram.

We offered him to live with us in the apartment. So, we were already three. The three of us started making videos for YouTube. After several weeks we had the idea to create a YouTube Channel for Charlie and myself. We called it DifferentSame because it describes us both very well! We come from different countries, but actually have the same thoughts and goals. Therefore, we are different but same!

 

Exciting events for YouTube.

In the next few months we did a lot. We were invited to YouTube workshops by Google and got to know an incredible number of new people. Today I can say that I know more people in Australia than in Germany.

We’ve travelled to Melbourne for the YouTube show in Australia. We flew to Thailand to live cheaper and to produce cool content.

Unfortunately, Robin left us after Thailand because he wanted to go to Germany … Therefore, the project YouTube and DifferentSame was put on hold.

I moved to an apartment in Bondi and Charlie found a new apartment in Marouba, another part of Sydney.

 

The here and now.

Today (January 2019) I’m still living in Bondi and Charlie moved with his girlfriend to an apartment in Zetland (part of Sydney). We have not seen each other much lately, as we both have our own business to do. Charlie has found a new videographer, with whom he now goes more into comedy. He also founded his own clothing brand for which he is currently in China. My best friend from Germany Kevin visited me and Carlos (@carlosbottcher on Instagram), whom I can also count as one of my good friends! I concentrated more on modelling. In a few days, my parents will come to Australia, which I have not seen in almost a year. That’s why I’m so excited!

 

In December, Kevin, Carlos, Charlie and I were on a road trip. We travelled the east coast of Australia from Sydney to Cairns with a Campervan from Apollo Campers within a month. I’ll tell you more about that in my next blog post. You can also check my Instagram account @fabianxarnold or if you have questions you can email me. I look forward to your feedback and wish you a nice time.

 

Yours,

Fabian

Next Roadtrip Tasmania – A landscape like in a picture book – # 5 Work and Travel Australia 2018

After our road trip to the Great Ocean Road I arrived back in Melbourne, I had no idea what I should get up to while being here. I went back to the hostel and reunited back with my mates and thought what I should do with them while I’m here, also because the hostel mates would fly back home to Germany next week, which was unfortunate, we couldn’t plan a new road trip. The following road trip came around the corner much quicker than I thought!

 

Road to Ultra 2018 Melbourne – I was there!

The next big event in Melbourne was Road to Ultra 2018. I got tickets for myself and two of my mates from a good friend I had met whilst in Melbourne. I was so excited, because it was my second time at a festival. In the past I have visited a color festival in Germany, which was great, unfortunately that was my last appearance at a festival.

More than 50,000 people were expected to come to the Road to Ultra Festival in Melbourne. The DJs Axwell and Afrojack were there as well.

Being sneaky and coming up with a lie, I snuck backstage and managed to have a small conversation with Axwell. I also witnessed the grand finale of Axwell live on stage. I stood about 5 meters from the DJ desk and had more than 50,000 people in front of me! I could not believe it, It was awesome and I recommend everyone to go to this festival. Somehow festivals have never really touched me but after this experience now I’m looking forward to the next one, festival fever has seduced me.

 

My worst time in Australia

2 days later I was alone in Melbourne, because my two mates left Melbourne and flew to Germany. First, I thought, “Okay, I’ll work on Instagram, edit some pictures and take a look at the city.” After two days I still haven’t found a new Travel mate, I was a bit queasy, I wouldn’t normally say I was having a minor melt down, but within two days I didn’t speak a single word and therefore needed someone to talk to and let my emotions out. I picked up the phone and called my parents, calling best mates from Germany Hagen Richter and Patryk Stawinoga.

This helped me a fair bit and started to calm down a little.Since I had found no new travel Mate in this hostel within three days, I decided to change the hostel and try elsewhere to find a travel mate. The new hostel was the best decision I had made in the last couple days, within 24 hours I met 3 new friends, with whom I am in very good contact still to this day. One of them is Mirko, whom you already know from my Instagram Stories, I got along with him right away and started planning our next trip to Melbourne and around Australia.

New destination Tasmania?!

One morning we came up with the idea to fly to Tasmania, before we are going to travel the east coast. We looked for flights, an accommodation for the first night and a campervan to travel through Tasmania.It was March, during the day temperatures were fine probably around 22-24 degrees, on the first day we bought only a blanket for the Camper Van and thought that would be plenty, but we were wrong. By nightfall it had cooled to 5 degrees and it was so cold that we had to turn on the engine to use the heater. In addition, we were forced to be closer to each other to try create some heat. The next day we bought two new blankets directly, so that situation would not happen again.

What is to see in Tasmania?!

Since I hadn’t seen much in Australia yet, it was my plan to see all the beautiful nature of Tasmania. Yes, of course we were clever enough prior to plan to see everything in Tasmania, as described in my last blog post, we made a plan on how to do our road trip. We considered first to travel the east coast, where many beautiful beaches are. In the second week we wanted to see the west in which the mountains and lakes sat. We read earlier that Tasmania has the clearest air and

the clearest water in the world, so we were very curious about what we would encountered there. You can see our itinerary in the screenshots, we literally drove a large circle counterclockwise.

In addition to many other beautiful places I had two highlights in Tasmania: “Bay of Fires” and “Wineglas Bay”.

Bay of Fires

Bay of Fires has a white beach, as I had previously only seen in pictures, I thought something so amazing like that doesn’t exist, that these pictures would be edited only with Photoshop. As we walked along the beach, the sand creaked under our feet, it was unbelievable, the water was crystal blue, the air temperature was only 15 degrees despite blue sky and sun. Mirko was not willing to go in the water, but I decided to put on my swimming trunks, and jump into the water whilst filming with my GoPro.Tip: For those who want to go to Tasmania: Definitely plan a day for Bay of Fires to enjoy the beach!

Wineglass Bay

The Wineglas Bay is as the name suggests, a bay shaped like a wine glass, to get there you have to hike for about an hour. However, if you decide to just watch Wineglass Bay from the mountain, it’s about a 30 minute walk. Unfortunately we did not have much time and therefore could not really enjoy the panorama, but in when there is great weather it’s definitely one of Tasmania’s highlights.

Of course, there were many other beautiful places on the east coast but I would be writing for hours and hours this was just a short ride on the East Coast, let your thoughts wonder and stop where you want. In the north of Tasmania, there was not that much to see! Lots of beaches, a few cities, a few sightseeing points, but nothing that amazed me with excitement

The next thing I remember is the mountain “The Nut”. It is the most northern point in Tasmania. The mountain is at the last corner of the land mass and looks like a nut. It is surrounded by cliffs and is completely smooth on top, with a air lift you can be transported to the top and start your walk, the trip takes about 45 minutes, during the walk you have a beautiful view that looks over the ocean and the coast of Tasmania, this is definitely a “must do” in Tasmania. As the trip started we were sighted with many national parks, First we approached the “Tarkine Wildernis”. We drove for over 100 km on a gravel road, the road felt like never ending, you can picture it a long road with trees that filled either side. We also experienced a beautiful sunset, we sang songs and also told each other funny stories from Germany.

Please visit Tasmania in the australian summer!

The next day were the worse, we experienced bad weather, It was only about 8 to 15 degrees throughout the day and it rained consistently. Therefore, we could not really enjoy the whole beautiful panorama, do not hike and do not go swimming.The whole beautiful highlights such, we visited Lake St. Clair and Cradle Mountain, but we could not go hiking and enjoy nature, we literally just drove around all the time, virtually viewing all of the sightseeing points in western Tasmania, which we then drove back to Hobert, the largest city in Tasmania two days earlier than originally planned. The last two days we went to the south again, visited a cave and planned a beach day, altogether we drove about 3200 km and literally saw everything you can see in Tasmania.

Stranded in nowhere in Tasmania without reception …

Alas, I almost forgot to tell you that, we borrowed our Camper Van from Wicked Campers the car was a 20-year-old Toyota that had almost fallen apart. In the second week of our road trip we got stuck with our car, (Ok I admit we were not always careful with the car) often we were stupid but had loads of fun. We drove with 80 km / h on the gravel road and felt like rally drivers, until the worse thing happened! We got stuck somewhere in the middle of Tasmania, Ironically, the ass of the world, where we had no reception and no Internet with our phones.

What happened?!

We started up a mountain with our Camper Van and suddenly it started to smell funny, like  burnt rubber or something, then it started to smoke, the engine had switched off and wasn’t turning back on. My Travel Mate Mirko was starting to panic but I took it easy and made fun of the situation, luckily we had enough to drink and eat for the next few days.After about 20 minutes, a pensioner couple drove past, which we could stop the pensioners, however, were afraid of us, the male driver pulled up wound down the window just enough to see his forehead, they were both so afraid he even locked the doors. The couple unfortunately couldn’t help us, we only asked them if we could ride to a point where we have internet, but that was probably too much to ask …After another hour had passed, approached a large 4WD, thankfully it stopped, out stepped a male who was a mechatronics engineer which he was with his family. He briefly looked at the engine and said that the air conditioning had blown … We tried again to start the engine and it worked! Was magic, thankfully we could finally continue.

Conclusion

If you are in Australia from November to January or in Melbourne, you should definitely drive to Tasmania for one to two weeks. Tasmania has beautiful beaches to the east and beautiful nature (mountains and lakes) to the west. At this time you should actually have luck with the weather and you can fully enjoy the panorama. However, if you have been there before, it is not a “must to do” for once again. I still want to go to New Zealand anyway and many have told me that Tasmania is similar to New Zealand.

For us it went first back to Melbourne and from there with a camper van to Sydney. But I’ll tell you more in my next blog post. You can also check my Instagram account @fabianxarnold or if you have questions you can email me. I look forward to your feedback and wish you a nice time. 

Greetings from Australia your Fabian!

The flight and the arrival at the other end of the world (Australia) – # 2 Work and Travel Australia 2018

The day finally had come. I was leaving my usual environment, my home, my family and my friends behind me for a year. Was I excited? NO! I still had not realized that in a few hours I would be on a plane to Australia. At lunchtime, I ate with my family in our usual restaurant and then everything went incredibly fast …

The day of departure to Australia

Usually I’m always well organized, but that day everything was so messy. I had to say goodbye to so many people, that I messed up the time schedule and my bag was not packed until half an hour before I was leaving for the airport. Of course I had everything layed out, but hadn’t checked yet to see if it would fit in my backpack … and of course it was too much to fit. I had to decide within a few minutes what I would leave at home and what I would take with me on my trip! With much stress and effort I repacked my bag, but there was no time to look over what I had packed again.
I had to get to the airport immediately, otherwise I would miss the flight. When one thing goes wrong, everything does, so of course there was a traffic jam on the highway. My navigation system told me that I would not make it in time to the airport for my flight. But as if by magic, the traffic jam resolved and I arrived at the airport on time. Luckily my parents were already at the airport to welcome me; because they were on their way home from Austria and they wanted to say goodbye to me at the airport, as there was only very little time!

The flight to Australia

The time I spent at the gate, on the plane and in the first few hours in Australia was where I have been most afraid in my life. Alone and on my own with the thought that I will go home in a year! Luckily I had a travel mate from the time I arrived at the airport, so those of you who would like to have a travel mate for the flight and the first days of your trip, definitely stop by www.urlaubspartner.de and have a look!
My flight to Australia took about 23 hours with a stopover in Delhi, India. The first 7 hours on the plane I had survived without problems. No little kids screaming or anything else that could bother me (well, except for the 7 hours). The second half of the flight was not as good as the first. I had a mother right next to me with her baby, which cried throughout the whole flight. But I survived! In order to not get jetlag at all, I arranged for my first flight to depart in the evening (Australian day time) and to travel through the night forcing myself to stay awake. Then, only in the second flight (Australia night time) I let myself sleep. So once I landed, I managed to get straight into the Australian rhythm.

The arrival and first days in Down Under

When I arrived in Melbourne, Australia, it was only 7 a.m. The sky was overcast and it was around 20 degrees. I was overjoyed to have arrived in Australia and could hardly believe that I was at the other end of the world, so far away from home.
I then took the bus, which was heading towards the city center, to the first hostel. When I arrived in the city, it felt more like being in London or in another city, but not Australia. The sky had turned blue in the meantime and it was 25 degrees, but it somehow didn’t feel like Australia. That was not what I had imagined.
Arriving at the hostel, I had already met the first backpacker within a few minutes. I was really happy with the hygiene of the place. Of course you can not expect it to be 100% clean, but basic hygiene was definitely there, no cockroaches or anything like that! The only thing that bothered me in the first few days was the kitchen. I could not believe that people could cook properly in a hostel kitchen! Everything was filthy and really disgusting, but after several days you got used to it and learned to handle it.
I was in a 6 dorm bedroom and luckily had roommates who went to work, meaning it was always nice and quiet and I could sleep well. Since it does not bother me to sleep with strangers in my room, the “Hostel Life” was not a problem for me. The only thing I missed next to a clean kitchen more than anything else, was a toilet that only I or my family uses, luckily I was not born a girl, guys definitely have a much easier job to survive on such toilets.

What else did I had to organize? In the first days I had a lot to do and organize, such as get me an australian sim card, apply for my tax code, etc …

 

Step 1: Which SIM Card?  and how did I get one in Australia?

Getting the australian SIM card was the first thing I did because you need them for everything in Australia! For that you have to research which provider is best. There are three major providers offering all prepaid SIM cards. That means you have a contract for a month, then you have to extend it yourself. That’s what every backpacker I’ve met has done.
The largest provider is Telstra, Telstra has by far the largest network coverage in Australia and even `down under` you have reception. Optus is the second largest supplier and obviously a bit cheaper than Telstra. Vodafone is really great for the price. Unfortunately, with Vodafone, you only have reception in cities and if you are on a road trip, the majority of the time you have no signal. I would recommend you use Vodafone for cities and as soon as you are on a road trip just use your Telstra SIM card for this month. Since the cards are free, I would just pick a SIM card from Vodafone and one from Telstra! So you are on the safe side and can still save your money! Of course, the offers can always change, I paid 40 AUS $ per month. For that, I got 18GB at Vodafone in the first three months and then 9GB. At Telstra you get about 5GB. Voice and SMS Flat in the Australian network was in both rates included! Just make yourself aware which offers are available by looking on the internet beforehand, then you can simply buy the SIM cards in the nearest kiosk (7Eleven).

Step 2: How to apply for my tax number in Australia

The next step is to apply for the tax number (TFN). For this you need your Australian phone number and a local address. Just use the address of your hostel. The TFN will be sent to you within 7 to 28 days. If it does not arrive, which is often the case, or you’ve changed the hostel you can also call the authority and they will give the TFN to you. It takes a few minutes to apply and you can easily do that online on the following page: https://iar.ato.gov.au/IARWeb/default.aspx?pid=4&sid=1&outcome=1

Step 3: Complete bank account and pick up bank card

To complete your bank account and pick up your card, you simply go to the nearest branch and follow the instructions: Mostly, a bank employee sits down with you and explains it to you. While you’re at it, be sure to ask for a superannuation account! It’s like a retirement account you need to work in Australia. The employer is required to pay X% of your salary into this account. Just before you leave Australia you can apply for the payout, since I do not want to live in Australia until you can get the pension: DWestpac Bank will apply for this account directly with you. The Commonwealth Bank can help you with this, but you have to open it online yourself.

 

The next blog post is about my experiences and recommendations in Melbourne. Check it out!!!