Work and Stereotypes

If you want to travel and are willing to work, then Australia is your place. Unlike the US where there is an influx of labor from Mexico, Australia must draw upon the world for labors on its farms. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people follow the harvest seasons around the countryside, traveling and working along the way. You have your pick of jobs: macadamia nut harvesting, grape vine pruning, cattle herding, sheep shearing, the list goes on. Or, you can become a WWOOFer, a Willing Worker on an Organic Farm, in which you work for ~5hrs a day in exchange for free room and board. Stints can range from 2 days to 6 months. It's a hugely popular program and maybe I'll come back as a wwoofer years down the road.

I have met a ton of Asian travelers here. At first, I was surprised to find such a high number of Japanese, Koreans and Chinese -- but on second though, Australia and Asia are relatively close geographically. So amazingly, people make an effort to differentiate between ethnicities, unlike in many parts of Europe, where all races are lumped together as "Asian."

Another surprise is that there are so many Japanese and Korean workers. My previous conception was that the Japanese and Koreans are economically well off and don't do farm labor. But I was getting a biased sample--most of the Japanese and Koreans who immigrated to the US were wealthy and highly educated. It's a misconception just as that of most Americans who believe Chinese and Indians are mathematically talented -- because only the best (and usually those in the hard sciences) were able to emigrate out of the country.