Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:41 am-
Hi Melissa,
If you are going up to North Queensland to explore Cairns,the Great Barrier Reef, Port Douglas and the Daintree (which you definitely should!), a few great budget backpacker
hostels I have stayed in along the coast are:
PK's Jungle Village (Cape Tribulation) -
www.pksjunglevillage.com.au/ (resort-style, by the beach, fantastic)
Parrotfish Lodge (Port Douglas) -
www.parrotfishlodge.com.au/
The Serpent,Cairns -
www.serpenthostel.com/ (a bit further out of Cairns but still close and a lot nicer than some of the more central ones - they also have a bus to take you everywhere)
And further down South there is a place called Mission Beach which is worth a visit and a great backpacker place there is called Scotty's.
In terms of work, a great website for backpackers looking to find temp/casual work all over Australia is
Jobaroo www.jobaroo.com . It's also got visa information and other useful stuff for working travellers.