Stepabroad Working Holiday: Brisbane 2018

Imagine finishing work and heading straight to the beach to catch some waves or into the mountains for a sunset hike. For most of us that seems like a far fetched reality too good to be true.

A couple months ago I felt the exact same way, but a Working Holiday in Australia with StepAbroad has allowed this distant dream to become my new reality for my time working abroad in Australia.

For the past few months I've been participating in StepAbroad's Working Holiday in Brisbane, Australia, and loving every moment of it. Life down under is definitely a little different than back home in Canada, however after experiencing what the locals call "winter" here in Queensland, I've got to say I'm all for it. Being able to go surfing comfortably in the midst of winter is definitely an idea I could get used to. No matter how many times I see people bundling up in jackets, scarves and beanies in 16 degree weather, it will always get a smile out of me.

Stepabroad has made the crazy process of moving across the world to work in a new country extremely straightforward and easy to understand. They helped me in obtaining my working holiday visa, setting up my bank account and tax file number, getting my phone set up, and finding accommodation. This initial process of moving and adjusting took me a couple weeks to get used to, but once I'd settled into my accommodation and found a job I liked it was everything I could've expected from it. I ended up working a job at a local digital marketing agency that I absolutely loved and met some incredible people that I still keep in touch with frequently.

Just about every weekend I was making trips out of the city to go for a hike or off to the beach, and at the end of the summer I spent two weeks road-tripping up to coast from Brisbane to Cairns. Australia has so much to offer and making money while travelling allowed me to experience so much more of it than I would've been able to without doing so. Even with working there's still so much more to see and can't wait to get back some day.

Moving abroad alone was a huge step for me, but left me with some of the best memories of my life and has made a huge impact on my life overall. It's taught me important skills that I had never had to learn living with family and friends. By forcing me out of my comfort zone just about every day I was constantly trying new things and picking up valuable lessons.

Overall if you're debating going on a working holiday, I would 100% vouch for taking the leap as it was an incredible experience and changed my life for the good.