05 Jan 2020

What if I told you there are other types of gap years out there?

Ones which don’t involve consuming your body weight in alcohol every second day, or getting guided tours around overpopulated cities alongside hordes of other tourists trying to get the best candid shot for their next Instagram post.

“Is it really possible?” you would cry.

Well, my friends, I’m here to tell you that yes, it is possible. And they’re not that hard to organise. The three gap years listed below you can actually apply for through our site, so if any of them tickle your fancy be sure to check out all the info we have (don’t worry, we’ll link ya).

Work and ski in Japan

This one’s for the snow lovers out there.

Imagine this: immersing yourself in a new culture, learning a language, getting some overseas work experience which will look sick on your resume… Oh yeah and in your spare time you get to ski/board some of the BEST SNOW ON EARTH.

Seriously. If you’re into your snow sports, then you’re probably well aware of Japan’s reputation for having huge dumps of powder through their winter. The main issue is that after a season there, you’ll never want to ski anywhere else in the world.

If you’re liking the sound of this, then you should check out boobooSKI. They help hook Aussies up with a wide range of jobs in ski resorts in Japan, including ski instructing, retail, hospitality and concierge work.

Did we mention that you get to ski or board for free, whilst getting paid to do your job?

If that’s still not good enough, then remember this: you’ll be heading to the motherland of sushi and sashimi. I rest my case.

Volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary in Namibia

Some people want to look back on their gap year and know they made a difference in the world. Fortunately, there’s a way to have a mind-blowing, amazing, best-time-of-your-life kind of trip whilst still contributing towards making the world a genuinely better place.

Totally Travel sends volunteers to heaps of sick locations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Their African Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia is a rescue and rehab centre for all African wildlife (think cheetahs, lions, giraffes, baboons) and volunteers are able to get very hands-on with the animals during their stay.

This can include the daily care and feeding of the animals, escorting the animals out into larger exercise areas, providing intensive care for juvenile wildlife and even horse riding and stable maintenance.

“I’ll be back in halfa – just taking the cheetah for a walk.”

Be an Au Pair in Canada

Packing up your life and travelling to the other side of the world sounds like the type of thing that you need to spend half a year working and saving up money for.

Fortunately, that isn’t the reality.

If you don’t wanna spend half your gap year working some crappy job, you’re in luck. With JCR AU Pairs, you can get yourself over to Canada with not much money at all and actually earn some cash whilst you’re over there.

They’ll set you up with a host family for you to live with and in exchange for some childcare and light housework you’ll be hooked up with accommodation, all ya meals sorted, and you’ll even get paid for your work, so you’ve got a bitta spending money for your days off.

You’ll essentially become a member of the family, whilst spending your free time exploring everything that Canada has to offer; from the epic ski fields and breathtaking scenery to the diverse cultural cities.

Who said gap years had to be spent hostel hopping? If that’s not your thing, there’s plenty of other options out there.

As long as you’re doing what you enjoy, then you’re doing your gap year right!