Going to Australia
Going to Australia and building fishponds!
By Shitoru Nakajima
When I had to travel to Australia a few years ago I would have never imagined I would get one of the useful pet jobs and consequently, good work experience. I found some advertising online for some odd animal jobs in certain places in Australia so I thought it would be a good opportunity when I went there. I applied as pet sitter in Brisbane. I was however, hired by a family was looking at completing their garden with fish ponds and making it look very pretty and nice. As a part of the job with animals I had build some small ponds and garden features back home in Japan so I thought I would take them to a hardware store and have a look around.
We purchased some low voltage pumps so that the water obviously wouldn’t be electrified and then got some nice large ponds from a few pond shops to make it look very nice. The idea behind their ponds was to attract native species of frogs to their garden so we had to do a lot of research online as to the best methods of doing this. I would help for a few hours a day constructing the ponds and digging in the ground and the family provided me with free accommodation and food so it was a good deal!
After a few weeks we had the pond all setup and it looked fantastic, and we noticed that there were already a few frogs coming to the pond which certainly made our job feel very much complete. The owners then wanted to add some fish to the ponds so I did some more research for them and found the perfect fish that you could put in the water. We went to the pet shop and bought them and then we found that they really did add some great character to the fish pond and really make it look amazing.
My host family were extremely happy with my pet care service and were very pleased that I had come all that way from Japan to help them out with their fish pond. We had done an amazing job and they wanted to give me a glowing recommendation to future employers which I was very happy that they did! I was very happy of my overall animal care and pet-sitting in Brisbane in Australia and various work related to the pond and I went on to enjoy the rest of my holiday. If you are looking at doing some work when you backpack, then have a good look around like I did!
In fact, many travelers study, travel, and work in Australia as dog sitters, dog walkers, and other tasks related to animals to gain valuable work experience. You can also opt for TAFE courses in Universities in Australia, visit plush cities in the country, and earn good amount by working with animals.