Thousands now look for working holidays in New Zealand(2)

Yang Xue at work in a restaurant in Hamilton Photo: Courtesy of Yang Xue

So, before chasing her career Yang packed her bags and set out to visit New Zealand and hunt for jobs there.

"You have to go there yourself to appreciate the beauty there - you don't need to Photoshop your pictures at all," Yang said. She discovered that temperatures ranged from being so cold at night that people had to have blankets on to sleep, to 30 C in the day. "All the different races get on well with each other. The Maoris, especially, are very friendly. In my time there I felt there was no racial discrimination," she told the Global Times.

Because New Zealand is a prime agricultural producer, much of the work for visa holders involves simple or manual jobs on farms, vineyards, market gardens and orchards. Local government encourages fruit pickers, for example, to move from town to town after short stays.

Yang Xue's first job in New Zealand was sorting fresh apples but the work was affected by weather constantly. Sometimes when there was rain she found herself only working for two or three days a week and for the first two months she was short of money.

"When I started to get paid in New Zealand dollars, I realized the prices of things were not that expensive." Dairy products were cheap and milk was even cheaper than bottled water.

Career impasse

Ye Shihan had been working in China for three years when she felt she was at an impasse in her career and her private life. She was earning a reasonable salary but felt she needed to travel.

"It had been a year since my last relationship had ended and I hadn't found anyone new. There were no opportunities for promotion at work. I had some savings put aside and I wanted to travel and experience another culture before started going to work for a new company."

She asked her friends if they wanted to go with her but they didn't want to leave or were planning to marry or have children. Ye, who is now studying in Australia, applied for and got a New Zealand working holiday visa and stayed back in her hometown until her visa came into operation.

She said New Zealanders were less inclined to work on farms so it was easier to find jobs in the country areas rather than in the big cities like Auckland and Wellington. The average pay was about NZ$15 ($11.84) an hour and was paid weekly, usually on Thursdays.

Ye Shihan first applied for a job at a Chinese restaurant in Wellington but was declined - the restaurant didn't employ temporary workers. Then she set off for Cromwell in the South Island to become a fruit picker. It was when cherries were in season and many of the local orchards needed workers to pick and sort the fruit.

"The pay was slightly higher than other jobs in that area and it was popular with working holidaymakers." But as a former office worker from Shanghai she was at first far from adept at the job. However the longer she worked the more she earned. "For each bucket of cherries I sorted, I was paid NZ$3. There is a minimum hourly wage which was good news for me - for most of the time I earned below the average wage."

As a bonus the cherries she was dealing with every day were the largest and sweetest she had even seen and the workers had first taste.

Back in Shanghai these holidaymakers look back on their time in New Zealand with fondness even if hard times were involved.

Yang Xue's fourth job saw her working in a vineyard in Blenheim, at the tip of the South Island. There she had to bind vines with wire and this tiring repetitive work was not only exhausting but had to be done in the middle of winter. Her hands ached from carrying heavy scissors and wire and she was constantly cold.

But to make a living she stuck this out for two months staying in a local bed-and-breakfast. "It's your attitude that counts not where you live," Yang said. "For the first two months I was back into Shanghai, I missed the purity of everything in New Zealand, the environment and the culture."

More confident

And after her New Zealand experience Ye Shihan feels she is more confident and competitive at work. "I don't complain so much and work and study harder. If I have a problem I quickly figure out what solutions are possible."

She suggested new applicants for the visa scheme should be aware that the country is not exactly as some imagine it. "As well as the wonderland there is also a practicality that has to be realized." She said she and many of her companions were not able to make ends meet, especially at the beginning of the holiday, and had to dip into their savings. Some of the people on the visa worked two jobs at a time, going without sleep. "I met some who were picking fruit and sorting for 20 hours a day. They earned a lot more money than we did but went against what I thought should be a holiday."

After visiting a few other countries looking for different cultures and experiences Ye Shihan applied to study for a graduate degree in Australia. She has absolutely no regrets about her time in New Zealand.

Some of the people who started on a holiday visa have managed to obtain permanent residency in New Zealand - Mark Shi is one. "I struggled in Auckland as a construction site laborer being paid by the hour - I was only used to office work in Shanghai."

But his employer realized after a while that Shi's architectural degree was more useful to the company and moved him to a better position. Then he was offered another position with another company.

"The best thing I have been given was not the permanent residence visa but a new attitude to life."