Opening an account
You need an Australian account, and not just for convenience: wages landing in an account with your name on it are the backbone of your 88-day evidence and your tax record. Digital banks (Up, ING and friends) approve you in minutes with a passport, usually with no monthly fees and the best apps. The big four (CommBank, NAB, ANZ, Westpac) add physical branches and cash deposit machines, worth having when a farm pays cash and you need it banked, or when something goes wrong and you want a human. Plenty of backpackers run one of each: big-four for cash country, digital for daily spending. Most banks let you start the application online up to three months before arrival and verify your ID in a branch when you land, which means your account is ready before your first shift. Two follow-ups people forget: link your TFN within the first month or so, or the bank withholds tax on your interest at the top rate; and update your registered address as you move, because banks post cards and codes to wherever you told them first.
Getting paid
Give every new employer three things together on day one: your BSB and account number, your TFN declaration with 'working holiday maker' ticked, and your super fund details (fund name, member number, USI). Handing over all three at once marks you as someone who knows the system, which by itself deters casual wage theft. Then audit your first payslip like a hawk, because problems caught in week one are a conversation and problems caught in month three are a dispute. Check: the hourly rate matches the award or your agreement (check the current casual minimum on fairwork.gov.au; rates rise every 1 July), the 25% casual loading is in there if you're casual, super is listed at the current rate, and tax is coming out at the 15% WHM rate rather than the 30%+ foreign-resident rate. Also confirm the payslip shows the employer's ABN, because a payslip without one is useless as visa evidence. Payday should be regular and stated up front; an employer who is vague about when you'll be paid is telling you something.
Sending money home
Bank-to-bank international transfers lose you money twice: a flat fee, often $10-30, plus an exchange rate padded a few percent in the bank's favour, which is where the real cost hides. Multi-currency services (Wise, Revolut and similar) typically cost a fraction because they convert at close to the mid-market rate with a transparent fee. The only comparison that matters: how much lands on the other end for the same amount sent. Ignore 'fee-free' marketing, ignore the advertised fee, just compare the final landed number across two or three services before any big transfer. A few habits that add up over a year: batch your transfers (one big transfer beats ten small ones because flat fees stack), keep a rate alert set if you're moving serious savings, and never carry your wealth home as cash (amounts of A$10,000 or more must be declared at the border, and cash can't be un-lost). If your home bank charges to RECEIVE international transfers, factor that in too; some do.
Cash country
Regional Australia still runs on cash more than you'd think, and some farm towns have exactly one ATM that's empty by Sunday and charges $3 for the privilege. Keep a $100-200 float when heading remote, in small notes: the roadhouse won't love your $100 for a $6 coffee, and the honesty-box campground can't make change. Supermarket checkouts do free cash-out with a purchase, which beats hunting ATMs entirely. If you're paid cash legitimately, and some perfectly legal employers still do pay cash with proper payslips, bank it promptly with a deposit reference matching the payslip, so the paper trail supports your 88 days and your tax return. Cash with NO payslip is a different animal: it means no super, no tax record and no visa evidence, so treat 'cash in hand, no paperwork' as a pay cut dressed up as a favour. One more habit for remote stretches: keep a card from a second bank hidden separately from your wallet, because losing your only card in a town with no branches turns into a genuinely bad fortnight.
Don't get skimmed
The scams that target backpackers follow money and paperwork, so know the shapes. Never pay anyone to 'set up your TFN', 'register your ABN' or 'process your tax refund' upfront via social media: TFN and ABN are free from the government, and refund scams peak every July, targeting backpackers who've just heard the word 'refund' for the first time. Real tax agents are listed on the TPB register and take fees transparently, usually from the refund itself. Fake ATO and Home Affairs contact is the other big one: the real ATO does not threaten arrest by robocall, and Immigration does not demand payment by gift card, cryptocurrency or bank transfer to a personal account. Anyone who does is a scammer, every single time, and urgency is the tell: 'pay in the next hour or your visa is cancelled' is a script, not a process. Same for rental deposits sent before viewing a room, 'accommodation bonds' for jobs you haven't started, and a buyer 'overpaying' you for your van and asking for the difference back. When in doubt, hang up, log in to the real myGov or ImmiAccount yourself, and ask in the Matey chat; someone has seen the exact same message this week.
Budget like you mean to stay
The backpackers who go home early almost never get beaten by Australia; they get beaten by the first two months. The cities drain savings fast, and the classic arc is: land with savings, spend big settling in, panic, take the first job offered (often a bad one). Protect yourself with three numbers: a weekly spend target while job hunting, an untouchable emergency buffer (enough for a flight home plus a bad fortnight, roughly $2,000-3,000 for most people), and a rough figure for what your next visa or big move costs. Once you're working, farm and regional jobs are the savings engine of this whole visa: low rent, nothing to spend on, decent award wages. Plenty of people bank more in three months of regional work than in six months of city hospitality. Track it however you like, but check the number weekly; money quietly leaking is the most common backpacker emergency, and the easiest one to catch early. More in the Money & Budgeting guide.