Doing amazing work in Australia as an Au Pair

I recently went to Australia to do an Au Pair job and it was amazing! I never thought I would actually have as much fun as I did! The people were so nice and the country is simply stunning!

I was looking to changing up my life and was recommended the job of an Au Pair by a friend. After finding a perfect job in Australia I applied and to my surprise got it first go!

The best part was that I wouldn’t need to pay for the accommodation during my time there! The money I saved was amazing! There wasn’t even any fee to pay for the application which was even more surprising to me! The family I stayed with were so nice and their children were so much fun to look after.

They never caused me any trouble at all! It was actually extremely sad at the end of my job; I didn’t even want to leave! I think that you will find this is exactly how all Au Pair jobs are if you give it a go! If you have even ever simply thought about doing one, then now is the time to apply and get out there!

Being an Au Pair you are a student at an Australian language school and work as an Au Pair for approx. 15 hours per week (baby sitting, simple housework like cleaning, ironing and washing) in a family, that provide full board. You only pay for the English Language Course. Your work times (possible on evenings and on weekends too) should be arranged directly with your family.

Hence, you experience the Australian lifestyle and also have the
opportunity to spend free time with the international students of the language school. Students from all over the world participate in the program.

I have been in Brisbane for 3 months. I didn’t have much money to live in Brisbane for such a long time. But luckily, I got a nice Demi-pair family.

I learned useful English from the family through the real Australian life. And their son became a good English teacher and a little brother to me. I was very happy.

Thank you for everyone who helped me. I love beautiful Brisbane and wonderful friends. I want to be back to Brisbane some day. 

It’s really funny when I look back at how I first became an Au Pair. Not a lot of men do the job as they really only give it to women. Well as a German, I really wanted to see the world and I wasn’t going to let it get in my way that I was a man! I was from Berlin and had been to many different places in Europe, but I had dreams of seeing other countries that meant I had to travel long distances but it was always very expensive for somebody on my salary.

I looked into ways that I could go to these countries for free, and well given there wasn’t many options I soon found out about the job of an Au Pair. You don’t really get to go to the other country for free, but you do get free accommodation and free food which is actually pretty good! So I looked into it a bit more and found that they were all girls who did the job. I thought why can’t a man do it and decided to apply anyway and before I knew it I actually had a response from a lovely family called the Jones who lived in Sydney in Australia. I didn’t know too much about Australia or Sydney as I had never really considered Australia as a place to visit before. I did remember when Sydney had the Olympics, but that was about it and I was pretty young when they were on. So the Jones family rang me up one time and spoke to me and told me more about their family. It was a man named Chris and his wife Samantha and they had a pretty big family. Well a very big family actually. They had 5 children which was made up of a baby, a toddler, a 3 year old, 5 year old and teenage girl. They sure had been a busy couple of the years! Well given that it would be my first actual Au Pair experience I thought to myself that it would be good to start off with a big family as I could then realise how hard it can be to do the job and it will give me some great experience in the long run. So all I had to do was pay for my plane ticket to Sydney and then I could start my job.

The Jones family picked me up at the airport in Sydney and took me to their place. It was in a place called Bondi which I knew had a pretty famous beach there so it was pretty amazing to live right near a beach. Not that I needed the beach as the Jones family had a very large pool that I could swim in whenever I wanted and an even more amazing garden that really amazed me. Both the Jones parents were in real estate so they had to go to work most of the time and they left me in charge which I did find of a bit of a challenge at first but I soon got used to it. I found it hard because there were so many kids to look after, but after I got the teenage girl and 5 year old off to school and the 3 year old off to day care it was me, the baby and the toddler which actually wasn’t too bad as they were quite well behaved for young children. I would feed them, change them and read to them and even get their pets to come in and entertain them which I really think they enjoyed. It was also a great opportunity for me to brush up a bit on my English as it was pretty bad at the time and how the Jones family hired me is beyond me sometimes! After a few hours of looking after the kids I always had to make sure I did the cleaning around the house to make sure everything was in perfect condition and just the way the Jones left it before they went out. I was a pretty good cook too so I would sometimes even make them a bit of food and dinner for when they arrived home to make them happy and have a smile on their face which was a pretty good feeling when they arrived home. I also liked to surprise them sometimes so I would go down to the shop and buy them a present like a box of chocolates or some flowers and I think they really appreciated that which was good because I liked seeing them smile. I was finding this job to be quite good and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot more than I actually thought I would which was even better.

After a few months living with the Jones my time was soon coming to an end. The Jones though did a surprise for me which was actually quite good! Not only had they supplied me with free accommodation and fed me but now they were willing to do more for me which really made me a bit emotional! They took me into the city of Sydney where I got to experience so many famous things that I had seen on TV and in the books! Things like the Sydney Opera House which was an amazing building, and then I also got to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge which also was amazing to actually see in the flesh. They even bought me the chance to walk on the bridge itself and over the big famous metal arch which was really amazing to see the city from that height and experience such an amazing thing. I actually couldn’t stop smiling all day when they did that for me and it was really one of the best times of my life.

Now while the family you stay with as an Au Pair might not offer you all of that, the fact that they will offer you free accommodation and free food really should be enough to entice you to go and work for them. It’s something that you will be amazed at the fact that you have done it, and you get to see another country so yeah, you should do it and do it now!

aWhen I first ever thought about becoming an Au Pair, I never actually thought about where in the world it could take me. You see I actually wanted to do it because I liked children, no other reason than that. After a while though, I realised that it had the potential to take me to places I could have never imagined seeing!

So it turned out pretty good in the end! The first such place I ever went to was Australia for an Au Pair job over summer and wow, it was amazing! You see I come from Switzerland and it is pretty cold there and usually very snowy a lot of the time. So it was great when it was winter that I could then go to the other side of the world to enjoy a summer in a country that is very famous for their sun and sand! And boy did I have fun! Seriously it soon became the greatest time of my life! I still smile about it a lot even by just thinking about it, so you know you have had a great time when this is the case! But how did I get involved and what was my choosing of a country like Australia and why? Well let me tell you about it and how I went on my Au Pair journey.

I did a bit of research online for some Au Pair jobs and thought that I would probably only get to go to places around Europe that were nearby and never thought it could take me literally to the other side of the world. I soon found though a family called the Hiley’s and they lived in Melbourne in Australia. Well I didn’t really know too much about Australia except that they have kangaroos there, and I was always fascinated by the way a kangaroo would hop and loved seeing them every time I went to my zoo. So I sent the family an email and wanted to find out more about their family. They had a smallish household and it was a man and a woman who lived with their twin children who were toddlers. Well this sounded pretty good to me as I wanted to work mainly with smaller children as I liked smaller children! I soon put in my application and after a few days I heard back from them and found out they had accepted me! It was a bit of a buzz knowing that I would soon be on the other side of the world in a country working with children! I packed my bags and said goodbye to my parents and then went to Melbourne where I met the parents who were called John and Kylie. They were very nice. They took me back to their house and showed me to my room which was very nice. I had my own TV and computer in my room and they even gave me a little bit of money so that I could buy some things to make my room look nice. The best thing though was that I was getting free accommodation on the other side of the world and had only paid for my air tickets! I thought it was a pretty cool deal! Their house was amazing, it had its own garden and its own pool, so I had to go and buy a swimsuit so I could go swimming as I didn’t have one in Switzerland! They even had some animals, a dog and a cat and I love animals so that was ok with me!

My basic jobs were really to look after the twins when they both had to go to work, as well as do some cleaning around the house and look after the pets. It probably sounds like a bit of hard work but coming from where I do it was pretty normal really. I found myself working around 5 hours a day and it was generally a fairly easy job. I did find it difficult sometimes to control the twins as they were sometimes a little bit naughty and would play up a little bit. That wasn’t to stop me trying to control them though and before long I managed to get a good level of control on them and they would listen to me which I liked! The pets too were fairly easy to look after and I would take their dog for a walk just like they asked so that their dog would get some exercise. When John and Kylie came home they would ask about my day and we would eat dinner together. They would let me go on the computer and ring my parents back in Switzerland where I could chat to them, and I would also get the chance to watch a bit of Australian TV in my room which was nice. Sometimes I would finish a bit early and John and Kylie wouldn’t mind if I went for a swim in their pool, just as long as I was sure the twins were asleep or not in any danger of coming to the pool. It was pretty amazing knowing that I would usually be locked inside my house in the cold in Switzerland, but instead going for a swim in the beautiful Australian heat!

So in the end I found it to be a great experience and one that I am looking into doing again very shortly. This time though I think I will go to America and try and work there. That’s nothing against working in Australia; I just want to try something different! But if you want to Au Pair then I think you should go to Australia. You only need to pay for your ticket over there and the rest is covered! You get free accommodation and free food and you will find that your host family will easily look after you so well that you will feel like you are back home again!

I had always loved children, even when I was little. I loved looking after them and wanted to look after them all the time! One time my friend told me about the job of an Au Pair and I had actually never heard of it, so I did some reading and found out more about it. It was very interesting and sounded like something I wanted to do.

I had never left my home country of Switzerland before so it sounded like a job that would give me the chance to finally see another country. I gave it a go and I applied for some jobs and one family that got back to me lived in Australia. I had never really thought too much about Australia and thought it might be a great chance to see another country and give it a bit of a go. They wanted me specifically to be a bit of a night nanny and look after their new born triplets, so I liked that idea and then I was in Australia in Brisbane trying my hand at becoming an Au Pair. It was a big move for me as I never thought about travelling that far, but when I arrived in Brisbane I was pretty glad I did! It was very warm, so I was very happy when the family I were staying with had a pool for me to use! They also had a pretty big garden which had some great trees in it for some shade, so that was even better to have a lay in and relax during the day. And did I mention I got free accommodation? Yeah they let me stay there for free which was even better because it did actually save me some money. They even gave me food to eat which was also great!

The first things I had to do as their night nanny was just some general cleaning around the house which was pretty standard. I then had to control the children at night, and make them go to sleep and clean their nappies and their clothes which I soon got the hang of really quickly. I would also have to feed their dogs and take out the rubbish which is something I did back at home anyway so it was nothing new and I liked it anyway so I wasn’t going to complain. The babies were even easier to feed and look after though as they were on a very standard routine which was really easy to follow. And I do mean easy to follow as it was almost like the babies actually knew what times they had to be fed and when it came to eating. If only I could’ve gotten them to sleep as easy as some of the other things they were used to! It was great work though and I did find it very fun and very enjoyable, and the fact I got to work with children of course to me was the best part of the job and I never found myself complaining about it at all because of the fact I was working with children. I really do think it’s a good job for people who want to work with children and who want to go to the other side of the world and experience new things, so you should really think about doing it if you are after those things I just said. Giving something like this a go could nearly change your life!

When people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would often deflect the answer because usually my answer would make people laugh. You see I didn’t want to become a sports star, or an astronaut or a fire fighter like a lot of young boys do. I wanted to become a nanny. I wanted to work with children and give the chance for development for young children all around the world. And it was pretty easy to see why that would make people laugh!

It was generally always a job that girls would do, and a job that really you hardly every hear about a guy doing it. But I never let that get me down, because in the end it’s about what I wanted, and not about what anyone else wanted. Who cares if I got looks? Who cares if it made people laugh at me? I wanted to be happy and I wanted to be able to do what I had been passionate about since I was young, so I eventually got over the things people would say and I would then try and pursue my dreams! The first things I did towards this was always making sure I was available to do babysitting jobs and help out with my friends and family when it came to their children. This gave me plenty of experience growing up and allowed me to really become even more passionate about doing work with children. I did however not like babies, not one bit! This might sound a bit silly given that I have said I wanted to become an Au Pair and a nanny but I really seem to have a problem when it comes to dealing with the smelly nappies of babies and how I have to clean them. I just have never been able to get used to it and I don’t think that I ever will! That soon looked like it would finally become a problem when I found myself being asked to do my first Au Pair job in another country, so I think it’s time I told you all about this story so that you can hear it from my point of view! It certainly made things difficult at the time but it was something that was fixed as soon as I was capable of fixing it!

The job was all the way in Australia, and I had actually been to Australia before on a holiday with my family not too long ago. Coming from Austria it’s great to see these places on the other side of the world and get to meet the locals as they really can make a difference to your stay, and Australian’s are some of the nicest people I have ever met so it was very easy for me to be able to go and work with them! The host family met me at the airport and then took me back to their place, and it was a very nice place indeed, it was very large as well which I liked. It gave me a lot of space to settle in, and in my spare time I like to paint so they even allowed me my own area to do some painting which was great! They had 2 children, a young girl who was 5 and a baby who was about 5 months old. This made me a little bit nervous to be honest as I mentioned before I don’t like babies. I didn’t let on too much about this, but it wasn’t something that I could really hide for too long as they soon caught on that I was very different around their baby. I would constantly refuse to change its nappy and I wouldn’t want to help out with the baby at all. As you could imagine the host family weren’t all that impressed and they did keep getting angry at me for it. I had to keep making excuses constantly about why I wouldn’t help out with the nappies and the baby but it got to the point where they got so angry that they nearly threatened to send me back to Austria as they weren’t at all pleased that I wouldn’t touch their baby. But I soon noticed something. They actually hadn’t really done much in their house when it came to baby proofing their home. They had lots of dangerous things around that had the potential to really cause some injuries to their baby or worse even kill it. And back at home in Austria my dad was a carpenter so he had taught me a little bit about carpentry and what it took to build certain things. So I then offered them an ultimatum and said that I would be happy to build them some items for their house and help them baby proof all the areas that were dangerous if they would let me stay and only look after their older child. They were a little bit sceptical at first but they soon accepted.

The father took me to a local hardware store where I then got some wood and materials and went to work building them stuff for their home. I thought a great thing for them to have was a play area for their kids, as they could then be safe and play in comfort in an area that was designated just for them, and the family loved the idea! I soon built that pretty quickly and then got started on building them a decent fence, as their other one had actually fallen down and was looking pretty rugged. That didn’t take me all that long either and I certainly had caught the building bug and wanted to build more! I did make sure that I baby proofed everything as well while the family thought of more things for me to build for them and their house. One thing they were always keen for but never had the time or money to either build it or buy it was that of a big cupboard for their children to put all their toys away and have an area where everything they needed was all in the one place. Well it just so happened that before I left I had helped dad build a fancy cupboard so I was very happy to help, and they were very pleased with the finished result! I think it wasn’t too long before they forgot completely about me not liking babies and it made things run all the more easier from then on in!

So if you think to yourself there may be an issue with you doing an Au Pair job for somebody, then you may always offer some other service that you may be good at as this will help you land a job with a family and not cause any problems when you arrive. You may be a good builder like me, or good at electrical work or even be a good painter like me, as I also helped them paint their kitchen and paint a few artworks for them which they hung up in their house and made me very proud! And if you are a guy who is thinking about becoming an Au Pair, then you should also really consider doing it because you should never think that just because you are a guy you aren’t capable of doing the job the same as a girl can. Never ever let people get you down either, because it is quite easy to take things personally when people often say negative things about your decision on becoming an Au Pair. If it’s something you are very passionate about and feel you are committed enough to do it, then go for it, because despite my issues with babies and their nappies it’s something that I love doing more than anything else, and I would never change it for anything. So go out there right now and apply, and become an Au Pair today!

Sometimes I used to wonder what sort of job I could find that would really help me out and get me far in life. I wanted a job that could take me many places around the world, and make it feel as though I was making a difference. Well there aren?t that many jobs out there that can fit all those categories, but one job I did find that made me very excited was that of a night nanny. 

Now I started doing this when I was quite young as my mum and dad had lots of foster kids and I always liked looking after them. My mum got a pretty big job promotion so she needed to get lots of sleep, and dad worked at nights so I gladly put my hand up and said I would take care of the babies at night time when they needed their rest. 

Well I soon found that I enjoyed it quite a lot and as I got older I soon also found myself doing night nanny jobs all over London, getting paid for it in the process. I really liked the fact that I got to stay up late when it was pretty quiet and there weren?t many people around and just relax while looking after kids that I usually found to be quite cute and a fairly easy thing to look after. 

What I was never aware of was the fact that my night nanny work could actually take me around the world and let me experience different places, and when somebody brought that to my attention I did actually get a bit excited! I had never been anywhere further than France before, so the chance that my night nanny work could take me somewhere abroad was a big positive. 

I had a bit of a look around the net and found some places that were offering night nanny positions in countries as far away as Australia, Canada and South Africa. Australia intrigued me as I had always wanted to go there since I was very little, so I thought I would apply for the positions I saw online. And before too long I was offered a night nanny position in a place called Launceston in Tasmania, so I was soon on a plane and off to Australia for my first international job as a night nanny.

It was an amazing experience too I have to say that straight away! I got the chance to meet so many incredible people and see so many different things! The family which I stayed with, the Hartford?s couldn?t have been more nice to me and their children really weren?t all that difficult to deal with either. 

In fact I don?t actually think I could?ve asked for two better kids to have to deal with when I was in Australia! It really was a case of almost two perfect children, so I really don?t know why they needed to employ the services of a night nanny in the first place! 

As I had already gotten used to different sleep patterns as my work as a night nanny back home, I never found it difficult to adjust, even given that I was in a different time zone. And the Hartford?s were so accommodating to my every request, and I even helped them with some suggestions for their kids as well which I?m pretty sure really helped them out in the long run! 

I?m actually heading back to Australia in a couple of months to do another night nanny job in Melbourne, and I promised them that I would pop down for a visit to see how things are going and to see how their kids have been doing since I have left.

I really think that you should give a night nanny career a chance, as you really do make a difference and get to see the world. Exactly the things I was looking for before right? Well stick to your guns and you can achieve it and you really never know where in the world you can eventually go! Good luck with it and may you be a night nanny for some time yet!

Mira Kioto

When I first told my parents that I wanted to become an Au Pair, they were pretty sad. They didn’t want me to travel around the world as it would mean they would miss me very much. But I told them that I would only be gone for short amounts of time and that I would have fun, and it is what I wanted to do. So they soon gave me their blessing and I would soon start applying for some Au Pair jobs.

It was pretty hard at first to find an Au Pair job with a family that I wanted to work with, as there were so many different options and potential places that I could visit and see, and do an Au Pair job. There was a really nice family is London that wanted an Au Pair, but I soon found one in Australia in Perth that seemed very nice. I am from Japan, so I have never ever left Japan before, so it would be a bit of a new experience for me and something that I would have to get used to very soon! I had to pack my bags and make sure I had enough things for my stay in Australia, and soon I was on a plane to Perth. You see I had to pay for my flight to Perth, but that was pretty much the only thing I had to pay for, as after that it was all free. I had to stay with my host family but they did not charge me, so that was good that it was free.

When I arrived in Perth my host family was at the airport and they had two twin boys which were very cute. They collected my bags and took me back to their place, which was a medium sized house but very nice indeed. It was only around the corner from a beach and there were lots of parks nearby as well as shops so that I could do shopping when I had spare time. I was very very happy about the place I was staying in! They showed me to my room, and it was a very nice room and one that I certainly looked forward to staying in. They had put on new sheets for me and given me a towel, and told me how to use the washing machine and computer so that I could communicate with my family back home in Japan. That was good as it would save a lot of money on phone calls for both of us! After I settled in a bit and did a bit of unpacking, they showed me around the house a little more and then they presented me with a list of things that I would have to do as my job as an Au Pair. I was essentially a night nanny, as the mother worked from home and could look after the twins during most of the day. So at night time I would take control and help out with the two twin boys. At first it was hard because they both suffered reflux, so they were always coughing up stuff and not going to sleep properly which made it difficult, because that also meant that I would not get to sleep properly and that meant I was always tired. I would usually like to go to bed at a decent time but being a night nanny that is obviously a bit difficult so I soon had to get used to some late nights. But that meant I could sleep in a bit during the day which I soon got used to.

The two boys would soon get over their reflux which made it a little bit easier, and soon I would realise that my sleeping patterns had gotten used to staying up late so the lack of sleep that I had at first wasn’t a problem for much longer. It didn’t take me very long to fall in love with the little boys and I would sometimes almost think they were my own children which I thought was good for when I am older and have children of my own. The host family was very nice, and they would always make sure that I was comfortable staying there and that I had everything that I needed to have. They would buy me food that I like which was nice and I tried a lot of Australian foods which were alright. I would also always make sure that during the day I would clean the house for them, and make sure that their dog was fed and I would even take their dog for a walk sometimes if the weather was nice enough to take him for a walk. It was pretty fun to do so because I would get to see a lot of Australian people on my walk and meet them and experience what the Australian suburbs were like which were pretty amazing. There were even moments where I would have free time and go into the city of Perth to check out what was happening there, and I got lots of photos of my time which definitely made me very happy indeed. But I still would fall hardest for their little boys, who really were the cutest things you could ever see. And they were always so well behaved. Besides at the start when they had reflux, I had no issues with them and they seemed to be able to get into a bit of a routine which was great. They would know when it was time to be fed and when it was time to have their nappies changed, so it was fairly easy from there.

So that was my time as an Au Pair in Perth in Australia and it is a time that I wish I could have back as I really really enjoyed it. I will be looking into doing another Au Pair job somewhere soon, hopefully in England as I really want to see England. If you are reading this and are thinking about becoming an Au Pair then I definitely would recommend that job of an Au Pair to you. If you love children and want to see the world then it is a very good job to have and it’s one you can do for a good amount of time to really get your experience up. So I really think that you should apply for some jobs after you have read this so you can become an Au Pair, as it’s something I think you won’t ever look back on and will enjoy for a long while.

Coming from Austria and going to Australia as an Au Pair

When I was little, all I wanted to do was go to Australia. It really seemed like an amazing country that I became obsessed about visiting. All I would talk about to my friends was about one day going to Australia and getting to see kangaroos up close and personal so it really was a chance for me to see the other side of the world when an Au Pair job came along in Australia.

I had never really thought about too much becoming an Au Pair, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of children. But thinking about the fact that I would get to see the country of my dreams, as well as living in a house for free while I was there was sort of an offer that I really could not refuse. A lot of people would think that me wanting to go to Australia had something to do with me being from Austria as the countries sound the same. It’s even funny because in Austria there were t-shirts saying “there are no kangaroos in Austria”. I would used to laugh every time I saw this t-shirt and my mother even bought me one for Christmas one year which was good. But I don?t know why I liked Australia so much but I was just so glad that I could then go across there and look after children and get to stay for free. I found a family in Adelaide who were just about to welcome triplets into their lives and wanted somebody to come along and help them out. They also had a couple of dogs and needed a bit of cleaning done around the home, none of which bothered me at all. So I soon applied and got accepted and was on a plane to Australia, and I was crying because not only was I happy that I finally got to visit the country of my dreams but also sad because I would be away from home for so long. I soon got it together and found myself arriving in Australia. It was amazing.

The family I was staying with picked my up at the airport and took me to their house. It was a very big house, so big I could not believe! They had an amazingly beautiful garden in their home and even had a pool which was great to relax in as it was quite hot in Adelaide at the time of year I was there. They then took me to my room which was right next to the room where the triplets were so that I would always be close to the triplets when they needed assistance. They were all young girls and they were all so cute and I knew that I would have no trouble in helping them out. They also introduced me to their dogs who were also pretty cute, and I soon felt pretty comfortable and at home staying in their place which was a great thing. Their dogs were probably the hardest thing to look after, more so than even their children! Why do you think that was? Well they were very loud and hard to keep quiet, but they were quite naughty and got up to a lot of trouble, so I had to keep them in check. The babies though were really well behaved, and you could never imagine they were newborn triplets! I really honestly thought they would be a big handful to look after but they were all so sweet and quiet and really easy to change their nappies. It was also a breeze when it came to feeding time as they were always very quiet in their own demeanour which made it very easy for me to get their bottles and feed them all at once. I got pretty good at it I must admit and this coming from somebody who doesn’t like children remember?! I found myself working around 4-5 hours a day which really wasn’t too bad and I would sometimes find myself with a bit of free time which was good as it gave me a chance to see some parts of Australia and explore the country I had been dreaming about! I would go to the zoo in Adelaide and go to other places in the city and I would meet lots of Australian’s which I really liked. I also tried a lot of Australian food which I also liked too, and I really did like Vegemite, I really did! So many people told me I wouldn’t like it but I did! I think even the triplets were surprised I like it, so I did laugh at that!

Some of the most interesting things I found when I was an Au Pair in Australia is just how nice the people were and how relatively easy the jobs were that I had to do. I realise that different Au Pair jobs would bring with them different responsibilities and different families would no doubt ask you to do different things when you are there. I think the things I found most difficult were when I had to do things like gardening or help clean things like the oven. I had no idea how to clean an oven, or water a flower, so I eventually learned but it was still very interesting I have to say! I learnt about all different types of fertilisers and cleaning products and given that English isn’t my first language I had to always make sure I read certain labels at certain points so that I didn’t become too confused with things when I used them to clean! I didn’t want to clean the oven with fertiliser and fertilise the garden with oven cleaner did I?! I did find it amazing though to finally visit my country of my dreams and certainly appreciated all that my host family did for me. We managed to take a bit of a road trip one weekend and I got to see Kangaroo Island and some other amazing parts of Adelaide. I mentioned so much about how it was a dream come true and it really was, I still do keep smiling about my experience every time I think about it. And it’s something that even know I am looking at doing again, because I miss my host family and I certainly miss Australia as I loved it so much. I really do think that if you want a great experience that can take you to the other side of the world and give you a free place to stay with free food, then you really can’t go wrong with becoming an Au Pair. It sounds like something everyone would say, but I mean if I can do it then there is no doubting that you can do it too! Just remember that next time you are thinking about doing something that you aren’t to sure about it and I know you will be fine! Really I do!

somebody who really likes children, I honestly thought that being an Au Pair was the perfect job for me. It would be a job that I could work everyday with children and still get to do things like travel the world and see amazing places. A few of my friends have had the chance to do it and they all loved it so much, so it was something that I just knew I had to give a go! I made sure I asked them as many questions as I could about what it takes in becoming an Au Pair and things that they would suggest when it came to applying for jobs and how I could easily make sure that I did get myself a job as an Au Pair.

They had some great tips for me and they directed me to the right sites that have applications on there so that I could put my name down for positions all around the world, so I made sure that I really put my name down in many different places so that I could get noticed by many different people because I was really keen to find something and find something soon! I thought it might be a good idea too to get some experience in looking after kids for my Au Pair job, as it really was about time that I started to work with the children that I like so much as I hadn’t really had a chance to do much work with actual children. I got to work with a family nearby who had a couple of young boys around 3, who were pretty easy to look after and didn’t really cause me all the much trouble. Another family I would soon help out were a family of 5, whose youngest child was only 2 so again, it wasn’t the hardest. I cam home one time though to see a job offer in my email inbox from a family in Australia who wanted me to come out and help them with their newborn baby and older son of 3. Well I hadn’t had the chance to work with a baby yet so I was a little bit sceptical but I was still pretty sure that I could do it, so I accepted the job and soon I was leaving Germany to travel all the way to Australia! I had never been on a plane trip that long before and wow was it a long trip! Lucky I was able to get some sleep and soon I was in Australia and meeting my host family who were very nice! But soon things started to turn a little bad.

When the family took me back to their house I was amazed at the size of it as it was very big and very large and a lot bigger than I was actually expecting. The fact that they only had 2 children was also amazing given the size of their home and the amount of toys they had for their kids! I soon got to work on their children and learnt all things that I had to do around their house, which I have to admit did take a bit to get used to as I really didn’t know some of the things they meant so it did take me a while. The first thing though that really started to get a bit bad for me was when their baby started to cry. Now as I mentioned before I had no experience working with babies but I honestly thought that it wouldn’t be too hard to work with a baby as they are just smaller children who can easily be worked with. Well I was wrong. As soon as their child started to cry there was just something in me that went wrong, and I didn’t have the emotional capability to deal with it. No matter what I did the baby would keep crying and I had no idea how I could prevent this, as nothing at all seemed to work with the baby. The worst part about it was that I could tell the family were getting annoyed and frustrated about me not liking the baby and I was scared they were going to get enough of me and send me home which I didn’t want because I was so in love with the place I was in I just didn’t want to leave! I kept trying with the baby but it was as soon as the baby cried that things would turn bad, and I mean really bad. I just couldn’t cope with it and there would be times that I would even run outside of the house crying myself at the emotional stress from it and it really was getting to the point where I was just expecting for the family to kick me out and send me back home. I had to think of a way that I could stay in the house because I was just so against the thought of going home that I had to do something! I noticed that the family had 2 dogs, and the dogs were never getting outside enough and getting hardly any exercise. This is when I had a thought about it. I had a bit of experience back home walking dogs, so this is when I put a suggestion to them!

You see I thought it was a good idea that I could offer my services during the day walking their dogs and exercising them, because I remember the family telling me that they really wanted to train their dogs and get them outside more often but they never ever had the time so that they could actually do it. So during the day when I wasn’t looking after their other child and when I didn’t have to go near their baby, I would take their dogs for some long walks which the family was very happy about. I would even make sure that I would train them as I was very good at training dogs given then I had some great experience back home doing that as well. After a few weeks of doing this you could that the dogs were getting in to a great routine and loved being walked, and they also were soon getting into a great routine of being trained and soon could do so many different things that the family were just so happy with what I had achieved! And it even managed me to stay with them for the full time I was meant too which was even better! I did manage to get a little used to their baby crying and towards the end it wasn’t as bad as it was at the start which was of a great relief to me, and I still to this day am not sure as to why I had that reaction. But the good thing was though that I was able to stay and stay with the family I had grown to really love!

I would easily recommend becoming an Au Pair if it’s what you want to do, however I would also recommend really doing some research into yourself to see if there are any hidden phobias or things that you don’t like. Mine was babies and their crying, so you could avoid yourself a lot of trouble if you found this out prior to you leaving! That way it could make things a lot easier for you on your Au Pair adventure.

Why I became an Au Pair and why I loved it so much

A friend of mine once went overseas and was an Au Pair. I had never heard of an Au Pair in my life so when she told me a little bit more about it, I soon became quite intrigued and interested. I would listen to her stories and have her tell me as much as she could, and you know what? I soon wanted to do it! I did a bit of research online and found out more about the profession and then really decided that its something that I could probably do and that I would probably love doing. 

You see an Au Pair if you don’t know is essentially somebody who goes to the other side of the world to help be a live in nanny for someone. You get provided free accommodation for your troubles and get to experience what home life is like for people in another country and all you really have to pay for is your plane ticket and you are set! How good does that sound? 

Well I thought it sounded amazing, but before I began applying for positions around the world I thought it might be good to get a bit of experience around my local area and my own country to see how good I would be at the job as well as to fill up my resume with all amounts of experience. You see I am from London, and there are always places around here that need people to look after their kids and become a nanny! I found a great place to get some experience in and the place was actually two blocks around from where I lived. 

I did the role of a nanny there for about 3 months and really got to know the family well. They had two young daughters who were just the cutest things you would ever see, and they made it a treat to work with them! And it would be my next job that would make me miss them even more, as my next job was an absolute horror! I’m not kidding when I say they could’ve sent Supernanny over to their house and wouldn’t have made any difference at all! They had a young boy who was just a loud little snot who made me almost give up on being an Au Pair altogether! It was the longest 3 months of my life! And the thing is that the parents didn’t even care he was naughty, so that pretty much made it ten times worse! I was just so glad when my time there was over, and I decided that it was then a perfect time to try applying for an overseas Au Pair job.

The first ever Au Pair job I landed was in Germany. It was only very close to home and didn’t really require too much money to be spent on airline tickets. The family I stayed in were so lovely, and the fact I spoke German and they spoke English made things extremely easy to communicate! They had a little boy who worried me at first because I thought it was going to be a repeat of my last job, but unlike my last job this boy was a pure little angel and made things extremely easy when it cam to working there! 

The parents worked at a local chocolate factory so I sure did put on a bit of weight when it came to eating all the chocolate they provided me! That job lasted 6 months and I soon returned home eager to do it all over again. And I thought it was time that I applied for an Au Pair job that was a little bit further away from home, so I had a look at places like America and South Africa and soon I found one in Australia of all places. 

My Uncle’s wife was born in Australia so I knew a little bit about it from her, so I then found myself jet setting all the way to Sydney for my next job. This time they had four kids, and it was the most I had ever had to look after! Three of them were triplets though and they then had an older son who was 9. It was a fun experience looking after triplets; let me assure you of that! 

I certainly envied how the parents could cope with them because they weren’t the best behaved triplets! I sure had my fair share of moments in trying to control them so I couldn’t imagine what lengths the parents would have to go to when it came to getting their babies in control! This job lasted me the longest so far, it actually went for a whole year and that was actually great as it gave me the chance to see things in Australian culture that I never had before! I got to experience Christmas in the summer, I got to see all their amazing sports they get passionate about and I got to spend so much time at the beach that I swear I was going to turn into a prune! It was such an amazing experience! After my year had ended, I then looked for another job and that’s where I am now, still looking and hoping for either another Au Pair job in Australia or maybe something in America, not too sure yet so we’ll just have to wait and see where I end up.

I would easily think that you should go out and become an Au Pair because really it’s an amazing job that can bring you so much! I mean how often will you have the chance to travel to the other side of the world for a job and not actually have to pay to live there while you are there? It’s a rare occurrence and one that you should never look past once it’s offered to you! And as you have seen from my experiences, you have the chance to see so many different countries and experience a wide variety of culture as well as families. It really does open up your eyes to so many different things and give you such an amazing insight into other countries. So I think you should go and apply RIGHT NOW as you won’t regret it!

Going to Australia to be a Nanny

I think it all started when I was around 12. I found out I really loved younger children and wanted to be able to work in a career where I could help look after them. I thought maybe about childcare and that seemed to be a career path I would take. But I soon then realised I would actually like to be able to see some other countries as well and I didn’t think childcare could really do that for me. So I thought about doing some nanny work or becoming an Au Pair.

It was something that really didn’t seem like too much hard work, I would get to work with children AND I had the potential to see the world if I took it overseas! So I thought to myself I could do it, and I started getting a few qualifications and some experience up here in the USA so that I could look a lot better to future clients when I applied for their positions. One such position that I saw was in a place called Hobart in Australia. I had never heard of Hobart but I knew a little bit about Australia so it sounded fun and like a good experience for me to have. I applied for it and had a Skype ‘interview’ with the family who seemed very impressed with what I had to offer. The job would only be for 6 months and all I would have to pay for was my air ticket to Hobart! They accepted my application and within 2 weeks I was on a plane, arrived in Australia and made my way to Hobart! It was all pretty exciting!

The family themselves though were very very nice, but I have never seen a more busier family in my entire life! Both parents worked full time and were always on the go with their jobs, so the reason they then needed me was to look after their 3 children which I had no trouble with! They had a newborn, a 1 year old and a 2 year old so they sure had been even busier over the last few years when it came to making babies! Their children though were a bit of a handful, but I have to admit that’s how I like it because it makes the job all the more interesting for me and makes it never boring! It’s always bad when you get a ‘boring’ family as I like a challenge, and this is exactly what their children presented to me! The newborn baby especially. He was a gorgeous little thing but oh my god did he cry a lot! And he even had a bad case of reflux which made things a lot worse. I had to keep taking him to the doctor and getting him checked up, but it did make things a little bit easier once all of that had cleared up thank god! I said before I liked young children and well I do, but the trouble some of these kids caused wow! The 2 year old boy was a little horror, he would never listen to anything I would ever say and he would always throw tantrums whenever I tried to tell him what to do. At first it was hard, but as I said I like a challenge so I soon gained control of the little boy and things would be fine after that. Their 1 year old daughter was actually pretty sweet and she didn’t really cause me too much drama, but the boys, wow! I had to really control them!

It was fantastic to be able to go to Australia and experience a new culture because their way of dealing with things could be seen as quite different to what I was used too! And the way they spoke as well, there were lots of times where I couldn’t understand them so I had to just try and pretend or even just basically ask ‘what did you say’ which was quite funny. And I still can’t get over the fact that the whole time I was there I was provided with free accommodation. That to me was amazing, all I had to do was pay for an air ticket to the other side of the world and then there I was, staying for free. It totally astounded me. And I met so many different people and made lots of friends, but the main thing was that I soon found myself loving the children and really not wanting to leave! When my 6 months were up I was very sad, I found myself crying and wanting to stay a bit longer! But the family did tell me that if they ever needed a nanny ever again that they would give me a call and that I would always be welcome if I ever found myself back in Australia. That was a great thing for them to say and it really did bring a bit of a smile to my face after a very hard time having to go home!

So if you are out there and wanting to work with young kids and you also would love to see some other parts of the world, then you should really think about becoming a nanny and doing it overseas because the experiences you have will be absolutely amazing. Really, I had the time of my life and I am looking again online as we speak to see if there are some other positions for me to go after and go somewhere new in the world. You really do need to be prepared to look after children and do so in the best possible way, and you should never become complacent or assume that every job you get will be easy because trust me when I say that’s never usually the case! Just keep your head in the game though and you will soon find yourself having a blast in another country!