Hello deadman23,
we had thought about riding the north or the south route quite at the beginning of our trip-planning. But if we choose the south route, we have to pass the Iran and Pakistan... and we are a bit unsure about the security situation in these countries...
Inter alia because of this, we had decided us for the northern route. And also we are curious about countries like Russia, Kazakhstan or Mongolia which we are very interested in because of the endless landscape and the sparse settlement!
Unfortunately we had to cancel Japan from our route because of this unimaginable nuclear accident. Now we are planning to get a shipping container from Vladiwostok to somewhere in south east Asia. We hope, that this plan will work out!
Many greetings from Upper Bavaria
Bea & Helle

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Hey Bea & Helle! Sounds like an awesome trip, I'm jealous!

If you ever need some tips/info about working in Australia as a traveler, let me know, I would be happy to help. I worked and lived in Australia for almost two years and I did a lot of the fruit picking thing, which can be quite good money if you know where and when to go!

Just on a quick note, the best fruits to pick are cherries and mandarins. Most of the other fruits are really not as good compared to those two, although the vines can be pleasant to do too. The cherry season starts around mid-November and ends mid-January, while the mandarin season runs from mid-March to late August if I'm correct. In both cases you can easily make 200$ a day or more if you work reasonably hard and if you land at the right place!

I'd be happy to share some of my contacts with you! Hope this helps.

Take care,

Sam

wakold, i might need your help with that. I'll be heading east from India next year in jan and hope to make it to Australia by march-april. I could do with those $200 a day. :-)

Sure, I'll be happy to help! In April the winter is pointing its nose in Australia, so make sure to have some warm clothing! The nights do get really cold. If you're ever interested to pick mandarins, you'll have to head for Gayndah, in the state of Queensland. Let me know whenever you'll need more details.

Hello wakold,

thank you for the great tips!

Yes, we are planning to work in Australia with a Work & Travel Visa, but we heard from others, that you can only earn very little money with this jobs... :confused1: so it´s great for us to hear, that this information isn´t correct in general!

We are planning to arrive in Darwin in December 2011 if everything goes as planned and then we will see, where we will travelling at first...

If it´s o.k. for you, we would like to contact you in December to get some further informations from you?

Up until that many thanks for your help and your tips!

Greetings from spring-like Upper Bavaria
Bea & Helle

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Hello Bea and Helle:

Unfortunately I have internet slower than my Ural today, so I can't see your website yet.

But any RTW is eexciting and you chose Transalps!! (I have a 93! )

I'll be interested to read about your adventures, exploits and experiences! And, if you come through Estonia, contact us throught the HUBB communities list for Tallinn as mentioned by Grant!!

Tchüss!

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
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Hi again Bea & Helle.

Well the truth is that indeed, most people doing the fruit picking business in Australia don't earn that much money. And there are 2 simple reasons for that: they go to the wrong places at the wrong time. As long as you land in a good farm and you pick the right fruit, I can assure you that you can make some good money (all is relative of course). But of course many factors are in play, such as your ability to work hard, and fast with your hands, and the season which is sometimes hit and miss. But recently the droughts have eased in Australia and as a result the crops are much better than a couple of years ago.

But, just to serve as an example, when I picked cherries in Cobram, last December 2008, I made anywhere from 200 to 375$ a day. Of course I am a very fast picker and at that time I had 4 seasons of experience behind me, but this is just to show you that if you are motivated and you can learn the trick, there is no reason why you wouldn't make some reasonable money. Even better than that, I was lucky to see one of the best cherry seasons Tasmania had seen back in December 2007, and during a short but amazing 15 days, I made anywhere from 350 to 500$ a day. But more reasonable expectations for any new picker would be a stable 150 to 250$ a day during a moderately good season.

The only problem is that the seasons are often short, ranging anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. This is why many pickers like mandarins, because although the money is not as good (anywhere from 100 to 250$ a day of hard work), the work is very stable and spread over many months.

I see that you will be most likely arriving in Darwin in December. That's the wet season by the way, unless I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's the case . It can be tricky to drive in the bush during those times, lots of crazy storms and torrential rains. In any case, my advice would be to drive eastward all the way to Cairns, and then head your way down to southern Queensland, where the citrus fruits grow. That'll give you around 3-4 months to cruise down this beautiful place of Australia, until you reach Gayndah in March. Unfortunately for you, however, this time of the year happens to be the jellyfish season in Northern Queensland (i.e. Cairns area), so I'm not sure if you'll have the chance to enjoy great snorkeling and diving at the Great Barrier Reef, but if you can you shouldn't miss this opportunity.

Once again, let me know if you need help anytime!

Take care, and have a nice trip.

Sam