UltimateOz: Gap Year in Australia

Hi! For me, being in Australia is the first trip that I'm doing alone. Having the support of Ultimate OZ for my first week here helped me a lot! Making friends and doing many activities are a good start for a trip like this. Because I'm a French Canadian, it's more difficult to have some interactions in English with the others. With the Ultimate crew, I wasn't shy to exprime myself and have fun with the other travellers. I recommend Ultimate Oz for every travellers all around the world!

I've travelled quite a bit, and UltimateOz is by far the best group tour I've ever been on! I was so excited to come to Sydney, and UltimateOz made the adjustment so easy! The tour guides and all the staff who work in the office are so welcoming and made me feel right at home. I was also really impressed with the variety of activities we did on the tour. We got to visit the main tourist attractions (nothing beats the Opera House!), but also parts of Sydney that I would not have gotten to see on my own. Basecamp is definitely a big plus! You get to do so much out of the city - sandboarding, holding reptiles, hiking - AND I got to meet a kangaroo joey!

The best part though was definitely the people! I made some amazing friends and hilarious memories, and I know we'll keep in touch! Even the tour guides became our friends and fit right into the group, but were there to help us whenever we had questions or problems.

Some more minor details that really made the trip that much better: accommodation and food. We stayed in a hostel in Sydney, but it was so clean and high quality compared to most I've been to (trust me, I've seen my fair share) - it felt more like a hotel. Plus there's a bar underneath (woop woop)! We also had amazing rooms at basecamp, and all the meals included were delicious (having flashbacks to the BBQ!).

A big reason I originally signed up with UltimateOz was to have help with jobs, housing, and other necessities the whole time I'm here. I'm definitely glad I did because having that security is a huge bonus to me. The first week just made me happier with my choice! UltimateOz is an incredible way to arrive in Australia, and I highly recommend the tour to anyone coming to Sydney for a gap year!

Its the first time ive ever travelled on my own! The team were so friendly, so supportive and honest. They have so much travel experience which helps you pick the spots to go to and to avoid. Would definitely recommend. great package to meet new people and find your way around in the first week. The groups are a good age range too! At 26 i was worried that id be too old compared to the others. Shame it has to end but ive just booked to do the east coast for a month with ultimate

Ultimate oz was great they helped me out with everything I needed in Australia! Base camp was a blast. My favourite part of the tour was riding down a sandboard on the sand dunes. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet the famous Josie the kangaroo as she passed away but there’s a new baby kangaroo there which is sweet! I would definitely recommend Ultimate Oz to get you started in Australia as it’s a busy and confusing country!

Had an amazing time with all the people over there! Nice staff and you really have to do it during your first week of your gap year! They will help looking for work and planning your next travel adventures. We had Anna as guide and she was more like a friend to us!! We laughed a lot and I really would do it over again. Dont worry about your gap year everything will be clear after this week. You will make friends all over the world

I only booked my UltimateOz adventure a couple of weeks before I left (I recommend booking earlier than me) but the contact with Ultimate was great, they were really helpful with my (quite vague) questions. When everything was booked up I started the rest of my preparations and the Ultimate website, blog and e-mails really helped me with sorting out what I needed to do and what I had to take with me.
When I arrived in Australia a bit delayed and got to UltimateOz HQ on the pre-arranged airport shuttle I immediately felt welcome and making friends turns out to be really easy when you travel alone, especially if you start with a group of people who are experiencing the same thing as you.
The first things you do upon arrival is installing your simcard and going to the bank. It really is nice to not have any stress or trouble getting a simcard or opening a bank account because everything is already provided for (all you need to do is leave some information on the bank site when you're still at home but it's done in a couple of minutes).
After arranging these gap-year-essentials, the fun part starts; the amazing activities! Without exaggeration, my week with UltimateOz was one of the best weeks I have ever had. I have had so many new experiences I never would have gotten without this tour, it was simply great. Before I left, I found a video on the Ultimate website and I really thought it was exaggerated, but when I experienced it myself, I thought back and realised every place I went to was as beautiful and magical as in that video.
My tour guide was Anna Gault, and she made our week so good. She was always kind and helpful, making sure everyone was having the best time. She was really funny as well (there has been no place we went to without a laugh because of Anna's talks) and took a lot of pictures to make sure we would take home loads of memories. At the end of the week, she was no longer just the tour guide, she felt more like a friend.
I'm sure I'll meet up with her and a lot of the other friends I've made in just one week again. If you're doubting about starting your gap year in Australia with UltimateOz or doubting coming to Australia at all, go for it. I came to Australia with little to no expectations, but I've already made so many friends here in just one week because of Ultimate, I cannot wait what the rest of my gap year will bring!

Fantastic week where I've met really nice people and a wonderful group guide. During the week with Ultimate Oz I had a lot of fun and I made amazing activities. The Start&Fun package was the perfect start into my Work&Travel adventure, and I would recommend the organisation to all young people who want to travel to Australia. It was a great experience! Thank you Anna for this wonderful week. It was really amazing!

I had a very good time this week!
It was so much fun and very helpfull for my Start in Australia :-) Our tour leader Anna was fantastic we had so much fun with her!
The trip includes a lot of great experiences like sightseeing around Sydney, sandboarding and a 2 day getaway at Basecamp. 100% loved every minute of this week!
The tours were great and you will find friends from all over the world! 😊

Had some fantastic days with UltimateOz.
It was the best start for our working holiday and met nice people.
Our guide Anna was really organized. She‘s amazing and really friendly.
The tours were great and you have the Chance to meet friends from all over the world!
If you're going to Australia, do UltimateOz! Just do it! The guides are amazing, and they make sure your first week in Oz is absolutely amazing. You do so many activities and great things for the cost, and they get so many things ready and in order for your stay in Australia. Highly recommended!

I booked the start and fun program and it was a great experience. Everything was planned perfectly and it was a very nice and relaxed tour guide. The Ultimate Oz crew was verz friendly and motivated to help with any problems which needs to be solved. I would totally recommend this to everyone who wants to have a nice first week in Australia with many other people.
I will do more tours with them every time.

At first I was not really sure if a starting week like ultimate is really necessary, but now I know it really helped me out. It counters all the stress of entering a strange country, and all you do the first week is just having fun, more fun than any other week before. Also you settle some necessary things, for example getting a bank account, a sim card and they provide you some helpful tips about Australia.
#bestweekever

It was a perfect start!
Before I left Germany I thought about traveling without an organisation. Im happy that I changed my mind. I think an organisation like Ultimate is definitively recommendable because it gives you the perfect start. You meet up with great people and you make a lot of experience. Its worth it.
Whenever you have a problem or you need help while booking a hostel, Ultimate helps you.
So if you are reading this review right now you should definitively book the start and fun week.

Thanks to Ultimate OZ for the awesome week.

- Julius :)

Ultimate oz is a fantastic introduction to Sydney! I would fully reccomend if you are traveling alone, I have made loads of fab friends!
You find lots of little gems that you would never have found without the company, like sandboarding in a national park!!!
Becky and steph were fantastic guides, so enthusiastic, helpful and most importantly always made sure that everyone was having fun!
Base camp out in the bush was a brilliant experience of the real Australia. It was fab being outdoors and seeing all the nature and wildlife.
Thank you Ultimate Oz, see you in Bali!

It was a perfect first week in Australia! ltimate Oz has been a fantastic introduction to Australia! Becky and Steph were always enthusiastic, answered all of my questions and most importantly made sure that everyone had fun! I would highly reccomend using Ultimate Oz if you want to see all that there is to see in Sydney, make lots of new friends and see all the little gems you wouldn't have found without them.
Thank you Ultimate Oz for a brilliant week, see you in Bali!

Best experience on my first week of my Australia work and travel, about to come back to Sydney on my last 2 nights and it has been a blast so far! Everyone is so helpful such as the tour guides Becky and Steph.

Basecamp one mile beach is so beautiful at morning sunrise , we get to have some free time at camp to go and swim in the beach but wished we had more than just a day at the sandy beach!