Getting a bike related job in Australia

Hi guys,
I know there are a few Aussies on here so I thought i might give this a try. Im currently on a bike touring trip without an end date. Im in Thailand now and will probably go to Australia in April. I like to stay in one place for a while and get a job. I prefer not to get one of those backpacker jobs on a farm but like to do something with bicycles. Work as a mechanic or in a bike park or so... does anyone know if this is possible and have any advise?

Advice: stay in Thailand. Riding a bike around here is an absolute shitshow.

Do you have any experience as a bike mechanic? May be able to point you towards something if so.

Cycling is a lot less popular here than in London, but it's definitely growing. So that's got to be good for job prospects.

Melbourne is more of a cycling city than Sydney.

Thanks for the replies guys! Why is that @mr_tom ?
@sensom I never worked in a bike shop but I'm an engineer and have been fiddling with bikes since I was a kid.

It's a really hostile environment. The car is king and if you're not driving one, you're basically a non-person. The laws around cycling are meaningless to the point of ridiculous, yet joyously over-enforced by armed policechildren.

… all of which means that basically no-one rides a bike. So there's no infrastructure to speak of and what there is is typically of the worse-than-nothing variety.

It is the worst country I have ever ridden in.

Weather's good though.

Walk your bike it's why Teenslain is so happy out there.

Are you talking about Sydney Mr Tom? Cos Melbourne and Adelaide are great places to ride bikes.
NSW has horrendous anti-cyclist laws, but the other states are alright.

The others are totally correct about the attitudes towards cycling. Those in power are actively discouraging cycling in NSW - $320 fine for not wearing a helmet, $425 for jumping a red light, $100 fine if you don't have a bell (wtf?), removing cycling infrastructure and having constant crackdowns on cyclists, "for their own safety".

That said, I cycle to work most days in Sydney* and never had any problems, but it depends lot on where you ride.

*well, until I got a new job further from home, and a child.

Though I'd agree with some of this, it does seem fairly weighted towards NSW which is notoriously shit (and getting shitter) for cycling.

I'm in Melbourne and the standard of driving is still pretty rubbish, whereas infrastructure is pretty good - far better than in London or New York (both of which I've spent a lot of time riding around).

@kjlem Your best bet would be Reid Cycles. It's definitely not glamorous (think Halfords but exclusively bikes), but they're usually very good for Working Holiday Visa Holders (a lot of employers will dismiss you out of hand on this kind of visa). Pays alright too.

No, I live in Melbs. It's not as grim as Sydney but that is the lowest of bars. It's pretty dreadful compared to London, even.

Thanks again guys, much appreciated. This is more the reason I wanna go to oz

Im not too interested in cycling in the big cities, but was thinking about going to somewhere north (Cairns maybe) and work for a few months and then cycle some of these sweet desolate roads in the spring.

Time for an update! Im working as a mechanic on a farm in south Australia at the moment. Starting to get exciting about doing some touring again. Will do adelaide to melbourne via the great ocean road in about two months. Probably do melbourne to sydney later, not sure about the route yet, anyone who did this?

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If you fancy, PM me when you get into Adelaide. How long will you hang around? Will you have a bike with you?

Oh, is that bike touring? That answers the last question I guess.

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