Where can I find seasonal work?

A far simpler question to answer here is where can't you! As a super-popular destination for those on a working holiday visa, New Zealand offers a vast and diverse menu of seasonal work possibilities.

While jobs in just about every sector can be found year round the two main areas for seasonal work are the hospitality industry during high tourist season (November to February) where numbers being employed are at their highest and the fruit growing/wine producing industry which runs according to growing and harvesting seasons.

Fruit picking jobs overall see more working travellers than any one other industry because the positions are readily available, the nature of the work tends to be more casual and normally those involved get to be outside and immersed in the loveliness of New Zealand's natural world – the very thing which drew many of them here in the first place.

Although there are some exceptions depending on the region, the crop and the type of work available, things generally start getting busy in the fruit-picking world around December when soft-fruits are ripening and hit a peak in March, April and May. Head to Hawke's Bay, the Bay of Plenty or Nelson during this time – where demand is highest - and some kind of fruit industry work is relatively easy to come by. Check out our detailed guide to fruit picking in NZ

When it comes to hunting down the job positions you have a few choices. These include newspapers and notice-boards in anything from hostels to supermarkets, recruitment agencies, job package providers such as Base, online job searches and backpacker-dedicated job listings. This latter can be found scattered liberally about the Internet – check out our jobs noticeboard to get you started.