Where do u go on hols?
 

Those lucky devils out there that have now been in Oz for any length of time, where do you go to on holiday now? Keep exploring Oz, venture over to NZ? or Maybe Fiji, SE Asia... etc?

I'm curious to know how you view your holiday options now you are more "isolated" if you get my drift...

:)

Re: Where do u go on hols?
 

A big holiday destination up until a couple of years ago was Bali. Fiji seems to be taking over though as prefered place.
I reckon most Aussies stay in Oz though, I'd like to see Cairns & some of the islands like Hamilton & Brampton off QLD coast.

A lot of Aussies view anywhere outside Austrlia with suspicion; even those who do pluck up the courage to go somewhere else just refer to it as "overseas" - very odd, we've got a guy at work off to France but it took my 15 minutes to get him to tell me where, he just kept saying he was "going overseas" and was amazed that anyone was interested in him being more specific!

Be warned too - a lot of Aussie jobs will not allow you ANY holiday in the first year! They let you carry the entitlement forward, but a year is a blinking long time without a break!

What a mad idea!

No holiday for a year yould send you stir crazy!
(But then again I'm not in Oz where every day must be a holiday & that's why you don't get one for a year!;) ;) ;) )

Bye
Mark

Is it specific jobs you are refering to.

That is rather scarey, no hols for a year:scared: Especially when your getting setup there, need the odd day off for appointments with builders, solicitors doctors, schools etc....

Any more info, like WHY?? Do they think we will run back to the uK and never come back or something?

Cheers,
JTL

Dont know I get 20 days A/L but 15 of them are forced to be taken over xmas. Not much good to me as I am going to UK for 1 month in May 2005. Will have to take unpaid leave. It stinks but what can you do.

I am lucky in the fact that when I have needed afternoon off for foxtel to be installed or delivery of goods I can work the time up and take the afternoon off.

It is not just POM's that get this rule about working a year before being able to take leave it is the same for aussies aswell.

Jo

It just depends on the type of job you do and the company rules (white collar can be more flexible than some blue collar jobs) - it is called leave accrual system, meaning you do not actually have entitlement to the leave until the following year, so you accrue leave for the first year, usually this first year leave is called pro rata. Some companies do let you take your prorata leave at certain time, but many would not let you take more than you have accured, eg you roughly earn 0.38 leave per week, so you need to work a fair few weeks to have a week off.

The normal holiday is 4 weeks per year - usually does not increase with time served but then you are entitled to Long Service Leave after 10 years - 12 weeks paid off. I wish they would get rid of this cause I would much rather have five weeks a year rather than the promise of something unlikely - I mean in this day and age how many people stay in a company ten years!

Also one nice thing a lot of companies let you keep accruing leave year after year and then you can can take a nice long one every two years, obviously trips back to the UK are usually a bit more than a two week trip!

I have currently 25 days stored up and hope to take two weeks this Christmas to see visiting family and the Gold Coast theme parks with the kids, last (only) holiday (apart from a couple of long weekends) I have taken in two years here was back to the UK!

Cheers

PS - yes I am anal about leave I design payroll systems!

Re: Where do u go on hols?
 

We've been to Exmouth twice, Kalbarri & Albany.

Going to Kalbarri again later this year, then the UK for three weeks and next year Exmouth again then the Gold Coast.

holidays
 

Annual leave in Australia is 4 Weeks, 5 weeks if you are rostered to work on weekends, like Police, firemen, etc.
Generally you get 20 days (4 weeks) off a year, therefore you "accrue" 20/12 of a day each month. . . . e.g. if you work 3 months, you can ask for 20/12 x 3 = 60/12 = 5 days = 1 week off, on full pay, if the boss will let you go.
If you quit the job, you are entitled to be paid your holiday money accrued to you.
Each State determines the working conditions of employees, and there is also a "federal" system for employees of the Australian national gov't . . . the "Commonwealth"
Employees in each State, and federally, work under an "award" scheme that determines the rate of pay you are entitled to receive for that particular job, the hours you get for meal breaks, the holidays you take, etc. These are closely monitored by the trade unions here. Things are changing and there is "Enterprise bargaining Agreements" in place in many industries now determining pay, conditions, etc.
In the old colonial days, the British adminstrators, like judges, civil servants, etc. wouldn't come to Australia or New Zealand, unless they got 3 months leave on full pay every 10 years to be able to sail "home" and come back to their jobs. Eventually, Britain withdrew adminstration for the colonies here and the locals took the job on, but they realised they were onto a good thing, so the civil servants or "public" servants here, refused to let that "lurk" go and obtained it for themselves as a right of employment. Early in the 20th Century, private industry got the benefit of "Long Service Leave" as well, so now, anyone in Australia or NZ has 3 months (13 weeks or 90 days) on full pay, every 10 years.
You are entitled to "pro-rata" entitlement after working 7 years or longer, if you quit your job before the 10 years is up.
As you can see, 10 years accrues 90 days. Most gov't or private jobs accrue 9 days LSL each year after the first 10 years, so if you've worked 26 years in the same job, like me, I get 4 weeks + an extra week for weekend work + 1.3 weeks (9 calendar days) = 6.3 weeks off on full pay
Some States entitle their workers to a "holiday loading" of an extra 17.5 % of their pay over the 4 weeks to make up for any penalties, allowances, etc, that they would miss out on by being on hols.
It's a tough life here in Australia.
We only get 10 or 11 Bank ("Public") holidays on full pay a year, too!

I'm looking forward to annual leave again. Totally foreign concept here in the US.

Older Australians view overseas with suspicion, but the younger crowd, the 18-30's (which I'm not a member of) are big-time travellers, even if it is only to places like Bali or Phuket.

Australia is a victim of the tyranny of distance.

To answer the original question, in the last 7 years Ive been to the US (+Hawaii), NZ, UK, Singapore, Fiji, Yepoon, Port Douglas, Tasmania. Those were all 1+ week holidays. Shorter time off is usually local (Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast/Bundaberg), although we did go skiing for 4 days at Perisher last year.

As for the annual leave entitlement, my experience is that most companies will allow you to take the annual leave accrued to you (ie 5 days every 3 months) after the first 3 or 6 months of service, depending on the company of course.

Thanks for clarifying that, MrsD! JTL was raging when he heard he might not be able to take any time off at all in the first year! As long as we can take the pro rata leave, it's not that bad.

Cheers,
Mrs JTL

MrsJTL, as I said it depends on the company, but in most cases employers will let you take some at least after 6 months.

Dagboys company let him take some that he hadnt accrued yet. BUT I have to stress that is not the norm, the company he works for is exceptionally good to their staff & the holiday was our honeymoon :) . But it just shows that employers arent all ogres ;) .

If anyones worried about it, my suggestion is to ask about it when you are at the interview discussing wages etc.

I had to accrue leave before I could take it. I was saving up all my leave to go on a holiday back to the UK, so I had to last over a year without any time off (except for a couple of long weekends). It was hard not having a week off here and there (especially as I was working longer hours than I did in UK).

When we did holiday in Oz, we went to Qld ( Sunshine Coast, Whitsundays). Would have also done NZ, Tas, WA on future holidays were it not for bub (we had previously done the NT, FNQ, SA and other places while travelling otherwise these would have made good holidays as well).

Re: Where do u go on hols?
 

Nobody goes to Europe anymore - it's too crowded.