The first step is to obtain a visa to visit Australia. This can be a tourist visa or a Working Holiday visa. These are some informational websites:

• www.immi.gov.au/
• www.visas-australia.com/visas/sixtwelve.asp
• www.migrationexpert.com/australia/visa/visa_australia.asp

Once you have arrived in Australia accommodation is easy to find. There are Backpacker Hostels throughout Brisbane which are relatively inexpensive. There are agencies that provide a link to hostels as well ass shuttle buses available from the airport to the downtown areas. You will have to provide your own meals though. Work can be available at the hostels themselves and this usually entails manning the office, or cleaning the rooms and facilities, however the pay may simply be free accommodation.

Cafés and Diners, especially the ones that stay open late or 24 hours will usually have positions for waitresses and cooks, but most of these will expect you to work at least three months, preferably six or more. Seasonal work on small crop farms can be found about 300 miles north of Brisbane at Childers and Bundaberg, and other similar centers on the Bruce Highway (main road in Eastern Australia).

Childers a small town in the Wide Bay district of Queensland is especially set up to cater to Backpackers and working holiday travelers. Listed are some relevant sites:

• www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/qld/bundaburg/bundaberg/accommodation/hostels/backpackers-childers
• www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/qld/bundaburg/bundaberg/directory/hostels

The hostels will have contacts to available work in the area, but also the government employment service (Centrelink) will have work listings as well. Tourist centers all over Eastern Queensland will have similar infrastructure in place, and hostels will have lists of Employers who are seeking workers.

Here are some tips regarding your stay in Australia.

1. Don’t be arrogant, Aussies hate overbearing people.
2. Tipping is not expected in Australia, as the hourly rate is much higher than in the USA, however Aussies will still tip if the service is good.
3. Consequently prices may be somewhat higher.

If you went above and beyond you may be in need of a night on the town, and what better way to get to town than in a green limo, which runs on bio-diesel and serves organic wine! Choose an organic fine dining restaurant such as Organic Orbit in Boulder, CO or visit the Ideal Bite to find the best green restaurants and scenes in Denver or other major cities. Don't forget some flowers; even if they are for youself, but like everything else they have to be organic so get them from Wild Oats or Whole Foods.

After you are done celebrating and strutting that sleek carbon footprint why not pick up your feet for the rest of the weekend and let Clean Conscience get the footprints off your carpet. You can find them at Leafing Through along with many other green products and services. Not ready to go home? Get a room at the Boulder Outlook Hotel, which has zero waste and chlorine free pools or find other green hotels under the travel section of Leafing Through. A massage runs on human power so don't skip this after your long week striving to better the earth.

Did Fido walk with you to the recycling bin? Why not throw him a bone from Whole Pets or your local, eco-friendly pet store. Whatever you do, keep doing it, take time to congratulate yourself and others, and remember that it's people like you that make this world a better place.

Go Surfing

The Internet is the great place to fish for budget travel ideas and resources. Avoid commercial site advertising "cheap rates," and dig out personal sites from fellow travel-lovers who often post photos and journal entries. Cost-cutting tips are also just an e-mail away. Most people re more than willing to share their tried-and-tested insider tips on the best days to book a flight or where to get a decent home-cooked meal in the middle of small-town holiday hideaway.

Get Set and Go

When adventure calls, be ready. Keep a list of travel essentials: what clothes, toiletries, and CDs to bring to grab-and-pack emergencies. You can fly for cheap on filler seats for certain airlines, or tag along with friends on spur-of-the-moment road trips. A well-planned tourist trip to Milan has its perks, but the rush of an anything-goes adventure takes the expression "cheap thrills" to a life-changing level!

Buddy Up

Travelling with friend can enrich your experience (and your bank account). Splitting basic expenses like food and lodging means more pocket money for both of you. Bring the whole friends, and take advantage of group rates and promos from airlines and resorts. Plus, you'll always have someone to take your picture.

Work It

If you really love to travel, why not make a career out of it? What could be better than seeing the world on someone else's budget--and being paid to do it? Plot your course now: learn ne languages, study different cultures, and find out what jobs offer overseas opportunities and what skills they require.

Another thing I would have you consider is that a great vacation can, in effect, help to reduce work-related stress, and that's not such a bad idea given there is currently no magic formula for workplace pressure. However, there is a catch. You must believe you deserve and have “officially” earned the right to take a vacation. Otherwise, your time off from the job will be just that, time off.

OK, I know what you're thinking. What's the difference? Well, for starters, true vacation time is much more than time off. Sounds simple, right, but there is one problem since both represent freedom from work. However, the one detail that separates the two is that a vacation when done right, will keep you growing, and will provide, in fact, a professional rebirth.

Here's something else you need to know. A VDR (Vacation Done Right) is an investment in your productivity because it has been shown that nothing else, in so short a time, allows you to benefit so much. But like I've mentioned, it takes planning.

Of course, there are many ways to plan for a vacation and obviously any of them will do if you're just trying to “get away” rather than trying to find the perfect “getaway.”

All things being equal, a getaway is the choice you make when you desire to relax and to rejuvenate, to heal your worries. But a “get away” is the choice you make when you simply want to run away from your work wounds. Here's the thing. If work is such a task, and a vacation is so temporary, why not take the time off and let it end at that? Because, for the most part, you will still have to compete for the opportunity to remain employed. In fact, the moment you cease to contribute to the company, I think it goes without saying what would happen then, but the point is that a great vacation should make it easier for you to remain attractive to your boss. In short, the perfect vacation should not just whisk you away from having to work. It should also help you to achieve perspective, granting you the ability to maintain your creative competitiveness for another year. But that's not all! A vacation, whether good or bad, often depends on how you look at yourself because in the exact same way that it is said that a car or a pet is an extension of the person, the same can be said of a vacation choice.

While a vacation can help give you a better understanding of how powerful or powerless you feel you truly are, it should also offer the alternative option of allowing you a time frame for your search for meaning. Remember this. In the long run, the ability to “strut your stuff” on the job will ultimately depend on not how much you are tested but by how well you are rested!

The funny thing is this. Taking a vacation is always a good thing to do, especially when it will help provide you with a clearer outlook for the next work year. An even funnier thing is this. When it comes to planning a vacation, it matters not so much as where you go (physically) as where you're coming from (mentally)!

Proud of Their Hometown Stars:

It is the Birthplace of the Beach Boys, and if you're into athletics one of the best lived here that was Jim Thorpe and the airplane pioneer Jack Northrop built his company in Hawthorne.

History of Hawthorne:

The Shoshonian Indians lived here as early as the 1500's, it passed from the Spanish to the Mexicans in 1822, and even Sir Francis drake had passed by in earlier years. During this time it was mainly for cattle grazing. By the year 1907 Hawthorne boasted a 100 houses, it also boasted a food store, meat was bought into the town by wagon a few times every week. It also had to its credit a furniture factory, and a factory making overalls, and even a glove factory, it also had an art leather business.

The church and school was combined and boasted having 16 pupils. The population grew and grew and by 1921 it had over 2,000 residents.

Events:

You could come when the children's fair is in town, a great time with fun for everyone, or how about the Halloween Carnival, Though Hawthorne is geared mainly for the residential and economic you must remember that this is the central point to go and see all that Southern California can give you, but it is a perfectly charming place to visit that goes back a long way in history.

Things To Do:

They have a great Indoor Paint ball, pool and billiards, and of course the beautiful Eucalyptus Park to visit. Plus there is lots of camping and hiking round about. As well as brooks and rivers to explore.

Way of Life:

It is fair to say that the inhabitants of Hawthorne City have a higher quality of household income, and their house prices are higher than average.

Religion:

The various Faiths' are well catered for in Hawthorne City, they have a First Reformed Church, a Methodist Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and a Baptist church.

Schools:

Five Primary schools, a Private High School, and one High School, and the Roman Academy of Beauty.

This is really a beautiful area to visit, live, or work. And on top of that the weather is the warmest in the bay of Los Angeles.

It has a Mediterranean climate and is a beautiful setting. Huntington Beach is purely idyllic and is dependant mostly on tourism of which it receives 11 million tourists that flock to this area throughout summer and almost every weekend. It has eight miles of virtually unbroken beach. And is the largest beach on the West Coast. Plus it supports 195,000 residents.

Things to Do:

It has a myriad of recreational facilities, that include one of the largest piers in the world, parks, riding stables, marina, wildlife preserve, a 8 mile bike trail, inline skating, jogging and walking trails next to the sea. And as well as the beautiful beaches it hosts the US Open of Surfing, and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, and as if that was not enough it also hosts the Van's World Championship of Skateboarding.

Life in Huntington Beach:

Could not be better it is one of the ten safest cities; there is a fine arts centre and a playhouse that gives the residents a vast variety of arts. There are many museums that can keep you entertained for hours. Forty miles south of Los Angeles, and within easy distance of Long Beach and Orange County.

History:

1895 saw the Southern Pacific Railway lay a line to Huntington Beach. In 1909 the first school was built, the 1920s saw oil discovered and it turned the area into a boomtown. In the 50s and 60s it had become one of the fastest growing cities in the country. It has 200,000 inhabitants and is known worldwide for it's surfing. The pier which when first built was 1,000 foot long made from timber, storms nearly wrecked the pier but the inhabitants voted to build a new one. It was to be the longest and highest of its era at a stunning 1,350 feet long. Eventually another 500 feet would lengthen the pier.

Lucky Residents:

It has been named as One of The Best Cities to Live in, offering it's Residents great weather, a variety of stores from small to large, good jobs, very low in crime, boat marinas and parks and a great health system. It has been said that it is a truly great place to bring up children. Also voted as one of the safest cities in the U.S.

Housing:

There is however only a small amount of rental properties for the low income family, although the council does not have many low income properties it has made an agreement with local private owners to help the low income families rent a property.

1. Per capita, New Zealand contains more bookshops and more golf-courses than any other country in the world. The image of New Zealand as ‘just a sporting nation’ is actually false. New Zealanders are intelligent too.
2. Per capita New Zealand has more sheep than any other country in the world. (The Japanese tourists go crazy over them.) In recent years the highest number of sheep the country had was some 70 million in 1981. The sheep population, however, has dwindled since then, so that by 1999 there were only around 45 million. That’s still around 11 sheep per man, woman and child.
3. New Zealand is the first country to see the sunrise, and consequently was the first country to see in the new Millennium. That’s officially correct only because the first place in the world to see the sunrise each day, the Chatham Islands, belongs to New Zealand. The three islands making up New Zealand itself are some 45 minutes behind the Chathams.
4. New Zealand has the most southerly railway station, vineyard and pub in the world. These are all in the South Island. The most southerly capital city in the world, Wellington, is in the North Island.
5. This same capital city, Wellington, has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the world - including New York. Either Wellingtonians are a hungry lot and eat out frequently, or else there are plenty of restaurants that don’t do very well.
6. Auckland, which some New Zealanders (mostly Aucklanders) consider should be the capital city, has more boats per capita than any other city in the world. Auckland has several fine harbours, and of course, the Americas Cup was hosted there with great success in the past.
7. Per capita, New Zealanders have more access to the Internet than any other country in the world. This is not to say that every New Zealander has broadband, or even good access to the Net. Some enterprising New Zealanders have found their own way to get access, with more or less success. And Wellington gets in on the act once more: it’s the most wired city in the world - per capita.
8. Per capita, New Zealanders have the second highest rate of car ownership in the world. Fortunately, New Zealanders are spread over the land fairly thinly, so there are still plenty of places where you can drive for miles without seeing another car.
9. New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote, to adopt the eight-hour working day, to operate a tourist board and to introduce the retirement pension. Unfortunately, these great gains have been eroded somewhat over the last few decades. Women, of course, still have the vote - in fact, New Zealand has had two female Prime Ministers - but many people work longer hours for less money now. With the advent of retail weekends, where shops are expected to be open at all hours, many people in retail have lost their right to any sort of proper weekend. And the retirement pension, which used to be set at 60, is now up to 65 - and may climb higher. For better or worse, people in New Zealand are just living longer.
10. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed entirely in New Zealand, in spite of concerns from the American producers, in spite of the fact that the director, Peter Jackson, had never directed one film of that scale before, let alone three, and in spite of the fact that they all said it couldn’t be done. ‘They’ were wrong as usual. New Zealanders aren’t the sort of people who give in easily.