A Trekker Travel How-to Guide: How to Work and Travel in New Zealand – Advice from a Backpacker
Featuring Hannah a 26-year-old British backpacker.
Hannah came to New Zealand in 2023 from the UK on a working holiday visa. Visiting for the first time, she came alone and initially arrived in Auckland. Hannah had a working background in public relations.
Kia Ora Hannah! What inspired you to come to New Zealand to experience a working holiday?
For me, New Zealand was a great place to start my travelling journey. Firstly, as an English speaker, I wasn’t required to learn a second language. I had heard that it was a safe country and that it was super easy to navigate for backpackers. There was so much infrastructure out there that provided support for travellers, whether it was Facebook pages, forums, or just hearing about what it was like to be in hostels around other people, it just felt like such a friendly place to travel to and you could feel the support that would be there for you, even before arriving.
Another big factor for me choosing New Zealand, or at least why I initially favoured it over other countries, was because of its nature. Most of the travel destinations I considered centred around the natural environment and I knew that New Zealand had some of the best places for that on earth, it has beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, you name it, it had it all and the wildlife looked suburb. As a keen hiker, it also offered some of the best hikes available, which I took advantage of during my trip.
Another reason I ended up choosing New Zealand as my first working holiday was it wasn’t too big. It didn’t feel like an intimidating destination, and it is full of small and beautiful towns which is something that I was looking to experience and explore.
How did you prepare for your trip? Did you apply for jobs before arriving or sign up for job boards?
I didn’t do much preparation, to be honest. I had worked before my trip and saved up a decent amount of money which meant when I arrived I could do a couple of months travelling before having to look for work.
I was working at a public relations agency back in the UK and had some contacts, but I didn’t sign up for job boards, as I assumed I would go into the same type of work I was doing at home.
So did you end up working in public relations in New Zealand or did you try something new?
I did get a job in public relations lined up for when I arrived in New Zealand which I arranged through a contact I had at the agency I was working for in the UK. I even did the interview a couple of weeks before I flew out and met up with them when I arrived, but it didn’t work out. After that, I thought to myself, I’m going to go travelling and then when I start to look for work, I’m not going to look for work in public relations, because I’m a backpacker now and I want to do a job that doesn’t have the same responsibilities so I could enjoy my time in New Zealand without being locked into something office based and familiar.
Did you experience any issues finding work based on your visa type?
No, none at all!
What challenges did you face finding work when you started searching for a new position?
I didn’t find many challenges at all. After arriving in New Zealand, I travelled down South and I’m sure, just like many other backpackers before me, when I got to Queenstown, I thought to myself This is the place for me!
I decided to set up shop there, I got myself sorted with accommodation and I got a job at a local cafe. However, after a while, I woke up one day and thought, I don’t think Queenstown is where I want to be for my working holiday.
I wanted something a bit more authentically ‘Kiwi’ so to speak, and there were so many other backpackers like myself where I was staying. I wanted to get out and explore something different!
What sort of work did you do on your working holiday in New Zealand after leaving Queenstown?
After working in the cafe for a short time, I ended up getting a job fundraising for different charities as a full-time travel role.
I was in my hostel in Queenstown planning my next move and I met someone who had overheard me saying that I was going to start looking for a new job. He told me about this amazing travelling charity role in the company he worked for and I thought, that sounds like something that’s right up my street!
I applied and I was offered the job. For the next 8 months, I ended up working as a travelling fundraiser all over Aotearoa. I travelled both the North and South Islands and went on road trips to all the little townships throughout New Zealand.
My job was to represent a charity, talk to members of the public about issues facing New Zealand that the charity was working to solve and inspire them to jump on board with the campaign. It was wonderful!
Were there any benefits or perks included in your work, like accommodation or travel?
Yes! That’s a big part of what made this particular job so amazing for me! As part of the job, accommodation was included along with a team car to get you from A to B.
We would travel around, me and a bunch of other backpackers and people from New Zealand and it was great!
Picture making a bunch of friends, going on a road trip and working all at the same time! It was awesome!
What was the work culture like at your job?
Brilliant! It was an awesome work culture and because of the type of work, everyone was there for the right reason and was motivated to do something good.
I worked alongside a lot of backpackers who were from all over the world and we all shared an equal respect for the country, the work we did and each other.
We made sure to work hard and play hard, we made so many memories along the way.
Not only was it a working trip but it was also a holiday and having that balance was super important for me.
What were your favourite and least favourite parts about working in New Zealand?
I’ve wracked my brain, and honestly, I can’t think of anything I didn’t like.
I just had such a blast! I valued that it was something different and something fun. I also knew it was temporary and I wanted to make the most of it, I genuinely didn’t get the chance to feel any negativity toward working in New Zealand at all. It was constantly a new and exciting experience.
My favourite part of working was getting the opportunity to talk with Kiwis all day and get to know them. They are super lovely, so genuine and very generous people. It’s just a great country to be in and the people were equally as fantastic.
What were some of the biggest differences between finding work in the UK and New Zealand?
I guess the biggest difference was the competitiveness for some of the roles, especially the ones that were more appealing to people on a working holiday.
When you apply, you’re competing with a lot of other backpackers for some of these jobs and obviously, so many backpackers come to New Zealand to enjoy the same experiences.
In the UK, it’s not really like that, you don’t have that same competition. In New Zealand, you need to constantly be aware of the available jobs in the areas you are looking in and make sure that you apply for the jobs that suit you quickly. You need to make sure that you take time with your applications to get the best possible result.
It’s not a massive country, and there are a lot of travellers. There aren’t endless work opportunities so making sure that you a putting in the effort and care to your job applications is so important.
What has been the highlight of your work and travel experience in New Zealand?
The highlight of my work and travel in New Zealand was a 3-week road trip that I took with one of my best friends who visited from home. We hired a car, bought a tent and made our way around the South Island.
We saw some of the most amazing places, my favourite place was Mt Cook National Park, we did the Mueller Hut hike as well as the Huka Valley Track, it was like being inside a National Geographic magazine, it was absolutely breathtaking, the hikes and the views were phenomenal.
Adding on to that, I ended up living in Wellington for the last 3 months of my year-long visa and it was absolutely wonderful to live in such an interesting city. Yes, Wellington is extremely windy but, it’s so full of life. It’s full of bars, students, and music whilst also being surrounded by native bush and beautiful wildlife. It was definitely a highlight of my trip, having that opportunity to live life like a Kiwi in Wellington!
What advice would you give someone considering doing a working holiday visa in New Zealand?
Do it! Be prepared in terms of finances, it is an expensive country to travel and work in but it’s 100% worth it especially if you are a first-time traveller.
Make sure you’re prepared with the right kind of backpack! If you’re a hiker, that’s so important.
Be conscious of the types of clothes you bring, they aren’t joking when they say it’s four seasons in one day!
Go with an open mind. Make sure to embrace the Māori culture that is throughout Aotearoa, because it is one of the most rich and inspiring cultures I’ve personally ever experienced, you’ll have so many opportunities to learn about it and embrace it.
But most of all, make the most of it. A year goes by very quickly and it’s such a unique opportunity. You’ll meet lots of amazing people from all over the world, enjoy it!
What’s next for you Hannah?
What’s next for me? This is the question I get asked the most now. I have been travelling around Australia for a while. In the upcoming months, I’m going to go home, back to the UK and reconnect with my family, friends, and my home town.
I’ve decided to volunteer at a hostel in Greece for a month, which is hopefully going to go some way to combat the inevitable travel blues.
I’m going in May which I thought was the perfect time as it’s the start of a new season. I’ve never worked in a hostel before and I’ve never volunteered before, so I thought it would give me experience in that area if and when I do decide to do more travelling in the future.
I have loved being in that hostel environment and meeting other backpackers so I think that will be great for me. After that, I will be home for summer and start figuring out what I’m going to do next, I know I’m probably not done with the whole travelling thing just yet… Sorry, Mum!
But for now, we will just have to wait and see what the future holds!
