Hey,
I’m about to move from Spain to Sydney in october and would like some kind of cycling related work. I’ve done deliveries on a bike before and am most definitely comfortable pedaling all day. Messenger work or delivery work would be great as would pedicab driving.
Looking around online I was able to find some pedicab info indicating there are pedicabs in Sydney but beyond that I couldn’t find much.
What kind of work would be available to me in Sydney? I will have a working visa when I get there.
Also, if anyone works as a messenger, what’s it like, how well do you need to know the city? I can usually figure cities out quite quickly but I’m wondering If that would hinder my work. When I did deliveries it was always one long delivery run, following a map and the same thing every week. I think messenger work might be less boring but I do wonder if I could find everything easily enough.
I currenty run a pub crawl in Madrid and have noticed that a good chunk of the people I meet from sydney seem to be cyclists. They also can’t stress enough how terrible cycling conditions are in Sydney. I ride around in Madrid everyday, anyone in Sydney who could compare conditions?
Thanks for the help guys.
Hello Rob,
The pub crawl by bike sounds great until you get drunk and fall off. Might need some full on legal waiver here in Oz as the public liability would be huge.
I’ve never been to Madrid but imagine its a very large city with complex roads and a sound cycling culture which is found to a lesser extent here. I have only worked in Sydney as a bicycle courier for one week many years ago but was able to learn the more frequented runs quite easily. Good luck with your move and work and for all your cycling needs go and see my mate John at Clarence Street cycles.
Haha, pub crawl by bike would be fun. My pub crawl is a regular walking pubcrawl, I take the tourists around. Basically I get paid to be drunk. Still though the highlight of my night is the half hour ride into town from the suburb where I leave and then the drunken ride back home. This is why I really want some kinda work that involves pedaling all day.
While Spain may have an established cycling culture the city of Madrid does not. I do run into other cyclists BUT there are few of them. I find that the general craziness of Madrid traffic is what protects me. Drivers are expecting the car next to them to drift into their lane and then across all four lanes of traffic, so they keep their eyes open. Them keeping their eyes open also keeps me safe. It is still very hectic traffic.
Anyone know any courier services in Sydney?
Also what can one expect to earn? I don’t really care if it’s much or not, but assuming I’m at least competent at the job, would I be able to pay rent in Sydney as a courier?
Also, does anyone know any pedicab services? It looks like good fun.
Thanks again guys.
hi robert,
there are a few courier companies in Sydney: Crisis and a few other I forget the name of. go to www.sydbma.org, its incredibly difficult to navigate, but its the sydney courier site. i have no idea how much you would earn as a courier. also, i dont see many pedicabs around, just every now and then. more popular in summer i would think.
and yes, sydney is very cycle unfriendly. i just ride very defensively and assume that every driver wants to kill me. makes life easier and safer.
sydbma is pretty inactive at the moment, austbma.ning.com seems to be taking over for sydney.
at present only mail call is hiring in sydney. occasionally crisis hires inexperienced riders, but only about 8 or so in the past year. mail call hire that in 2 weeks.
first month or so will involve chasing work in the suburbs and making $100 a day on a good day, once you get faster and know the layout better you can make more.
but the industry is declining and the work volumes are getting lower every year, if it’s a job you’re thinking about I’d recommend it for a nice holiday job, but it gets pretty tiresome after a year.
there’s other work for cyclists, paddy, of messenger fame, has set up a bike skill training thing down in sydney park, there is pedicab work(but i don’t know how consistent it is), you can always buy a maxi from trisled for $2k(or just get a trailer) and start up your own delivery company(deliver food from supermarkets or whatever; 2 ex messengers are delivering printer parts around the cbd on a cargo bike, and making a killing too).
there are little conventional opportunities, but with the push for green energy in sydney, you can always find something if you keep your eyes open and know the right people.
i’ve been pretty lucky and managed to find a job where i don’t specifically work on a bike but as I’m moving around the cbd and inner suburbs constantly through the day I go from site to site by bike. which equates to getting paid for an hour or two of riding in an eight hour day.
100 on a good day sounds pretty damn decent.
I’ll be there on a working holiday visa and I’ll just be working so that I have enough money to not need to go back home.
I wont be there till october so I’m just sniffing around what the opportunities are. I just found a pedicab driver wanted ad on gumtree too, so I think things are looking good.
it’s usually easy to get a job around november as there’s a bit of a rush with christmas