Working Holiday is a New Zealand travel reality television series in which eight young Kiwis are sent to different destinations around the world to spend six weeks working abroad.
The series premiered in South Africa on DStv's Travel Channel on Tuesday 12 August 2008, at 20h00. There are eight 60-minute episodes in the series.
Repeats
Wednesdays: 04h00
Sundays: 18h00
Mondays: 02h00
Synopsis
Now that's an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Still, that didn't stop eight brave young people from boarding a plane, with no idea of where they are going, to spend six weeks working abroad.
Marie, a delicate 21 year-old, soon finds herself shovelling manure in Italy; Andrew ends up in Cambodia and on crutches; outspoken Kate turns up in a London 'ghetto' and Tania finds herself under house arrest in Nepal.
With tears and homesickness at the outset, this series highlights the difficulties in grappling with a new culture but also shows the rewards on offer to those who persevere.
Working Holiday does not shy away from the realities of travel, especially for those travelling for the first time, and captures the experience of living and working abroad.
Episodes
Episode 1: Cambodia
Model and self-styled man about town, Andrew Eggleton ditches Ponsonby (a chic suburb in Auckland New Zealand) for Phnom Penh where he works as a bar assistant and rugby coach but ends up with an AK47 in his hands.
Episode 2: India
Wellington DJ Sandon James trades chic inner city life in New Zealand for a rural Indian adventure even though he hasn't a clue where the country is on a map.
He works as part of a Motorbike tour operation in Goa run by English expatriate Susie, and a rafting tour operation in the jungle run by another English expatriate John, and finds his job in Goa comes complete with snakes and scorpions and really isn't that much of a goer for him.
Episode 3: London
Former Miss Popularity contestant, Kate Hemus, grabs a free OE (overseas excursion) imagining it'll be like living in the film Notting Hill only to find she is based in the burbs working as an assistant to an avant garde artist in Stoke Newington.
Episode 4: Nepal
Northlander Tania Ruddell travels to Nepal to teach and carer for orphans at the Orphan Help Centre in Kathmandu - only to find herself under curfew while riots take over the streets.
Tania, a Whangarei lass who is still looking for her calling, is caught in the crossfire of political unrest and finds herself under house arrest.
Episode 5: France
Aucklander Jake Howie dreams his Working Holiday in the south of France will see him celeb spot in St Tropez, but being a housemaid means life's no beach and life in another country not the high wave that he had hoped he could have an easy ride on.
A 21-year-old party boy who still lives at home, finds his working holiday leaves him buried in chores rather than sunning himself on glamorous, celebrity-filled beaches of his dreams.
Episode 6: Turkey
From the South Island of New Zealand Sandra B Devine experiences traditional small town Turkish life and finds the experience isn't exactly a delight.
A sports coach who considers herself in touch with her spiritual side, she finds life in a village with no mod cons isn't her calling.
Episode 7: Austria
Wellingtonian Esther Hamilton finds it's not so easy to carve out a new life half a world away in Salzburg. Esther, a 26-year-old up-front, out-spoken, quirky finds straight-laced Salzburg isn't ready for her approach to life, the universe and everything.
Episode 8: Italy
Marie Smith is a delicate and pretty blonde 21-year-old who overcomes last minutes nerves to leave home only to find she will spend six weeks in shapeless overalls getting her hands dirty.
On her first trip away from home, young Marie Smith finds working among Tuscany grapevines leaves her speechless - plus she barely speaks a word of Italian.