How To Spend Your Tax Refund?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…no, not Christmas – tax refund time!

If you are a backpacker and have been in Australia for more than six months and have paid tax, obviously, it is time to organise your tax refund!

Tax refund you say, what exactly is that?

Well, it is quite simple really. As a backpacker in Australia you are eligible to claim any tax you have paid to the Australian government during the last tax year. The average tax refund for a backpacker in Australia is $2600.

Let that sink in for a minute….$2600……

Imagine what you could do with $2600!!!!

Tax is one of those scary words that makes you feel like you’ve done something wrong even when you haven’t – like ‘airport security’ or when your Mum used to shout at you and say your middle name – but tax doesn’t have to be terrifying!

We at UltimateOz highly recommend (and use ourselves) Taxback.com. As a tax refund service for backpackers they are second-to-none. They deal with thousands of backpacker returns each year and this year are sweetening the pot even more. This year, those wonderful people at Taxback.com are giving three lucky people the chance to win $1500!

What to do with all this hard earned cash – well, you came to the right place for inspiration!

1) Ultimate Thailand

How about a little plug…I mean, an awesome trip to Thailand!?

Seriously though, Ultimate Thailand is an amazing experience in one of the best, most hospitable countries for travellers.

Now that the military situation has calmed down, you have nothing to worry about on a trip to Thailand and our Ultimate Thailand trip gives you a ‘best of’ tour of one of the most fun countries anywhere in the world!

Fancy a few days in Bangkok? Done. How about a trip to the jungle? Got it. Some of the most amazing beaches in the world? Check. Full Moon Party? Of course!

For $849 for the tour, with flights on top, you could have an amazing, 10-day tour of Thailand and still have over $1000 to spend while you are there or when you get back!

2) Fiji

How does a trip to paradise sound?

No seriously, Google ‘Fiji’ right now and have a flick through some pictures. I’ll give you a couple of minutes….

Ready?

For flights to Fiji, keep your eyes on the usual sites and find the cheapest fare you can. Once you’re over there, you can choose from a few tours you can book directly with us at Ultimate Travel.

Awesome Adventures offer an amazing experience and we at Ultimate Travel get some great rates on one of the best tours Fiji has to offer. Spend nearly two weeks travelling to six, gorgeous islands, meeting locals and travellers alike and snorkel and scuba-dive to your hearts content.

If you head there from May to October, you have a great chance of swimming with manta rays too which is an unbelievable experience. The rays are huge, graceful and like nothing you’ll ever see gliding through the water.

3) Nullarbor Traveller

This one is certainly off the radar a little. Australia has its highlights – the East Coast, Uluru, The Great Barrier Reef etc – but it also has its unsung heroes, and this journey from Adelaide to Perth (or vice versa) is about as unsung as it gets.

Very, very few people travel the south west of the country, around the Great Australian Bight and along the longest straight road in Australia across the Nullarbor Plain – which literally translates to treeless land.

It might sound a bit boring but this tour is an unbelievable experience. Swim with dolphins, tuna, seals and great white sharks, take a trip across a coastline as beautiful as the Great Ocean Road with a fraction of the tourists, see some of the most remarkable beaches and natural landmarks in Australia and see somewhere that 90% of backpackers wouldn’t even dream of visiting.

Nullarbor Traveller have various options for exploring this amazing area. If you are looking for the trip of a lifetime that is a little more off the beaten track then this is definitely the best thing you can spend your tax refund on.

4) Skiing…With a Difference

We could rave about how awesome a weekend ski trip from Sydney is, but we’ve already done that so we’ll show you something a little different.

This one is a a little further afield than the snowfields of New South Wales and Victoria as it takes in the South Island of New Zealand. On the Haka Tours Snow Safari, you’ll take in six mountains over seven days in an ultimate skiing adventure.

If just hitting the slopes is not a big enough thrill for you, how does heli-skiing sound?! Haka Tours offer a great rate for heli-skiing which ticks the adrenalin and awesome boxes. You can also do the usual/unusual New Zealand stuff – bungee jumping, canyon swinging, paragliding etc – and the guides hunt out the best powder on each mountain.

The views are incredible, the slopes are incredible – the whole damn thing is incredible!!

5) Northern Aboriginal Experience

When travellers come to Australia, it is rare that they get to experience a true, Australian way of life. I’m not talking about doing some farm work in the Outback, spending time at a cattle station or in a small town, I’m talking about an indigenous experience with an Aboriginal tribe.

G Adventures offer an amazing experience north of Cairns where you get to see the history and culture of Australia’s first people. You spend your three day tour learning about the Aboriginal way of life, their history and culture and the skills they have utilised to survive in Australia for thousands of years.

The highlight of the first day of the tour is a spear-fishing experience with your Aboriginal guides as you eat what you catch before bedding down under the stars. Other amazing, truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences on the tour include a meeting with an Aboriginal elder who will detail the history of his tribe and explain the creation story of the Aboriginal people – known as ‘Dreamtime.’

You will also learn about Aboriginal art and survival techniques and have a four-wheel drive experience through the rainforests of Far North Queensland. This is really more of an experience than a tour and is a phenomenal way to see a side of Australia that seems to be slowly disappearing.

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How about it then? Fancy an adventure courtesy of the Australian tax man? Of course you could be really sensible and save the cash, pay off the inevitable travelling debts…but who wants to be sensible?!

What will you do with your tax back? Got any trips planned or doing something a little more responsible? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook!

P.S. Let the Ultimate Travel crew know if you are one of those lucky three winners!