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So, i finally decided to write the blog i wanted to create for a couple of weeks now.
The situation is the following: I'm 19, male and from germany. I finally finished school and saved up/worked for some money. I'll be heading to Australia with a friend in exactly 1 week from now for about a year on this fancy "work and travel" thing. We booked our flight, got our visa, insurance etc. pretty much everything we need for now. All that is left are a couple of questions that I couldnt google with a satisfying result. I'll just post a couple of questions here and I hope (even though im pretty sure here are some ;p) there are some people who can answer them, be it Australians/people that worked and travelled before/romanians just whoever can help me  .
I'll just start:
1. We've been thinking about a couple of options how to live the cheapest ("live" as in sleep). The options that came to our mind were the following:
1) the obvious one, sleeping in a hostel; the problem - its quite expensive and not really nice anyway, its just the easiest way.
2) renting a flat/live with someone else in a (i didnt really find a good translation) living community; problem - i checked multiple australian websites but i just found weird stuff that costs alot of money. I dont know about the renting prizes in australia, but in germany you can get a cheap flat for around 200€ a month (cold), which would turn out to be way cheaper for 2 people.
Does anyone know good websites for flats/people looking for roommates etc. ? and is it possible in australia to only rent a flat for lets say 1-2 months?
3) A friend of mine did it in new zealand but im not quite sure how possible it is in australia. They basically bought an old car (a combi is the word i guess) with 4 seats, took out the 2 backseats and put 2 matresses in there and slept in their car almost all the time (cheapest way). the problem is new zealand is quite different to australia.
so my questions are whether sleeping in a car would be possible in australia (im quite sure its not allowed to park your car in the middle of sydney and go to bed there, and its probably not that safe aswell)? can you get a car for 2000-3000 aud that has a license/drives and is big enough? how are the used car salesmans over there since we are both car chobos and dont want to get ripped off t-t ?
so, moving on i come to my next question:
work.
People always say all i can expect to get as a job over there are some shitty paid jobs as fruitpicker and stuff. i wonder if thats true?
Another overall question:
How much can you get away with spending monthly for food/having fun -(rent/hostel )? I thought I'd be spending around 500 € a month for everything but im not really sure since i have never lived alone before.
Well, so much for the questions that come to my mind right now, i hope some of you can help me a little, i might edit and ask some more questions if they come to my mind
Thanks in advance!
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I have two friends who have been doing work and travel in Australia, exactly the same situation as yours.
First of all, there are A TON of people who are doing this. a TON.
This is an advantage for you as that means nealry every Australian who has work to offer , which can be done by Work and Travelers, knows whats going on. You dont have to explain yourself all the time. Also you can always ask some of of the other W&Ts where to sleep, where to work , etc.
My friends used to sleep in hostels a lot. Rooms with up to 20 people in it. They told me that your "roommates" basically do everything imaginable , while you are trying to sleep. Your old car idea sounds a lot better in that regard.
Regarding the jobs: You can often times find jobs as a waiter or as a casheer, but fruitpicking is quiet famous because you often times get paid in "all you can eat" and sometimes they have housing as well.
Well I have no idea how much it costs, but I hope I could help you a little.
Have fun. Make a trip to new zealand
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Whereabouts in Australia are you going? It is infinitely cheaper to live in somewhere like Adelaide or Hobart then Perth or Sydney, both accomodation-wise and food-wise. Towns are always much cheaper than the cities too.
Fruitpicking jobs are certainly around but most of them aren't in the cities. It would depend on where you want to stay in the cities or smaller towns and things. The Barossa valley in SA and the margaret river region in WA always have these kind of jobs going.
You could very easily get a car for less than 3000 euros but it would be unlikely to be fuel-efficient. There is the auto trader magazine and the quokka magazine that advertise private second-hand vehicles as well.
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1) Backpackers: There is a mix of them. They are quiet expensive overall. From very nice to very dirty. Buy lonely planet and go the the ones recommended. Hej you are backpacker, you're not going in an all in for 2 weeks in turkey with your family.
2) easyroomate.com.au (took me a second)
3) All this questions are quiet stupid tbh. You'll see once you are there, as anywhere you can get anything but you gotta be very carefull buying a second hand car abroad. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're lucky and get something decent..
4) All the jobs you gonna get is the jobs that the australians don't wanna do. Fruitpicking, pearlfarm, shitty factory job, meatjob, etc... This is what backpacking is in a WHV, enjoy
Ps: i been twice with a WHV in australia
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I did my year of wh in 2004/5.
Hostels will be quite expensive, 500 dollars are NEVER going to last you a month. Sometimes, you get cheaper rates if you stay longer.
Look into WWOOF - ing.
I found my shared room on gumtree. But again, 500 dollars per month is delusional. You will pay that alone for accommodation in the cheapest backpacker, when sleeping in a dorm.
The jobs you can get have a huge range, and depend on your skills as well. If you have learnt any craft, you will be king, and companies will be begging to sponsor you for a long time stay. I'm talking roofing/plumbing/welding/electrician/carpenter here. Some fruitpicking jobs are actually quite nice, but if you are mr. smartypants, they will usually break you. Learn humility. Picking anything small was shit, paprika and aubergines was pretty much the worst, picking pumpkins and planting watermelons and pineapples were the best jobs I had. I have also first-hand accounts from friends who scored some nice jobs in the big cities, basically Janitor and Nanny jobs for rich people, they were taking home 200-300 dollars every day for very 'light' work.
One option you can also look into: in the big cities, you can do some 1 or 2 day courses, to get some kind of certification, that then will allow you to work specific jobs. Like one for transport safety, which then allows you to work on roadworking sites, holding the sign that stops cars. Usually quite well paid.
Of course, waiting/barista experience would be a big plus.
About transportation: Yes, buying a car is an option, but you will probably have some troubles selling it again when you take off, especially if you are in a hurry. A good way imho - which I have never tried, though - is to check the big caravan rental companies, they usually always advertise in the backpacker magazines that they need ppl to drive back their vans when people book the one-way option.
Food, you can spend very little on, all the backpacker places have kitchens, some even offer free breakfast. If you go fruitpicking, everyone usually brings some of the veggies from 'their' farm and you only need to buy a bit of rice/pasta and meat and you are good to go. Provided you can cook 
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EPT
