Nobody wants to think about what can go wrong whilst travelling around Australia and picture the worst case scenarios. A car crash, snake bites or surf accidents… But you could also just get a bad cold and need to see a doctor. So even if it’s not the most entertaining part of preparing your travels, it is important to read about travel insurances in Australia.
Do I need a travel insurance?
When travelling abroad, you’re generally more active and venturesome. Even though in most cases, you’re as fit as a fiddle when coming out of the surf or back from a hike, there is always a chance that something goes wrong. Also, conditions in foreign countries are different, so the likelihood of falling sick is higher.
To make it short, if you don’t want to pay for potential medical expenses in full yourself, take out travel insurance!
You should think about getting a travel insurance for Australia to cover the services not included in the Medicare insurance, which are important for you and in case something goes wrong. It is also important for the time you are travelling overseas before or after your Work & Travel adventure.
If you are not a member of the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Slovenia, Malta or Italy, you should check if your national insurance plans cover international travel – sometimes it also depends on the length of your stay. If not, it is highly recommended to get a travel insurance.
As a member of the United Kingdom, you are eligible for Medicare. However, you aren’t covered at work for example, or when you need repatriation back to the UK if necessary. That’s why you need to consider getting a travel insurance.
For more information: Why should I get Working Holiday Travel Insurance?
How to choose the best Working Holiday travel insurance?
There are quite a few health insurance providers, all of which have special features. To make the right decision, you need to thoroughly inform yourself and choose insurance that best suits your needs. This means, don’t skip reading the details. Let’s say your teeth have caused a bit of pain lately, so make sure that emergency dental costs are covered. If you plan to go scuba diving, which I strongly recommend, have a look if scuba diving is included. If you’re keen to travel for more than a year, choose a health insurance policy that will cover you for up to 24 or even 36 months. Most importantly, tick off the main criteria that are reimbursement of medical expenses and hospitalization, repatriation, and civil liability.
For more information: How to choose the best Working Holiday Travel Insurance
Working Holiday travel insurance: Comparison
There are a few insurances that offer special insurance policies for travellers on a Working Holiday visa (in Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Argentina, etc). This is why we have drawn up a comparison of Working Holiday travel insurances for Australia & New Zealand that will make it easier for you to choose one that best meets your needs.
There are a plethora of comparison websites with search engines that spit out an overwhelming number of travel insurances. It’s difficult to make a general comparison though, as individual interests and plans differ. We have been working successfully with the partners listed below. If their policies don’t meet your needs, you will surely find a travel insurance provider that offers what you want, when doing your own research.
CHOOSE
Your Plan
Disk Space
Databases
Email Accounts
Bandwidth
Support
Price
World Nomads
standard plan
australia & new zealand
buy cover while travelling
24/7 emergency assistance
pause your insurance cover
wide range of adventure activities
covers every country in the world
world first backpacker
australia , New Zealand & Oceania
COVERED WHEN YOU ARE BACK IN UK
24/7 emergency assistance
be covered while at work
personal belongings covered
trip cancellation cover
go walkabout longstay
australia & new zealand
*uk residents only
£10 MILLION WORTH OF MEDICAL EXPENSES
uk customer service & claims team
personal possesions, cancelations, delays
option to add on a gadget extension
different water sport activities
truetraveller true value
australia & new zealand
*eea residents only
5 STAR RATING ON TRUSTPILOT
available if already abroad
single & multi-trip cover
road and gadget cover
baggage cover optional
To view the details of these policies, please refer to the general conditions of each insurance company.
World Nomads
One of the most popular travel insurances for backpackers coming to Australia on their Working Holiday Visa is World Nomads. World Nomads provides travel insurance for travellers from over 150 countries. We like their travel insurance because it really aims to cater to travelers’ specific needs. Here you find 5 reasons why the travel insurance from World Nomads is a good choice:
- In a backpacker’s life plans change quite often. It’s great if you want to extend your stay in Australia or you want to go somewhere else for a couple of weeks. You can buy the travel insurance from World Nomads online, even if you are already overseas, and you can extend it when your plans change. If you pause your trip, you can pause your insurance cover
- Don’t worry about the time difference. You can call them whenever you like because they have a 24/7 emergency phone assistance.
- The travel insurance from World Nomads covers a wide range of adventure activities like Scuba Diving or Mountain Biking. The good thing is: You only pay for the adventure activities that you really do. So you don’t pay too much.
- Destinations: The travel insurance of World Nomads covers all countries in the world. So before or after your Working Holiday Adventure in Australia, you can easily have a stop over for a few days or even for a few months in other countries like Indonesia or New Zealand while being covered.
- Prices depend on different factors like country of residence, age, duration of your travel, and countries you are going to visit. To get a quote, click on the button below.
Go Walkabout – UK citizens only
Go Walkabout offers a very competitive Travel Insurance to UK citizens traveling with a Working Holiday Visa. Here are the main benefits of their insurance:
- Flexibility: Go Walkabout travel insurance is very flexible, so if you need to extend the duration of your cover or add on an Activity or Work Pack, just send an email to their customer service and someone will reply with a quote and a link to pay the additional amount – quick and easy!
- Availability: The Emergency Assistance line is manned by medical professionals 24/7, who can offer advice about the best places to receive medical care, as well as liaise directly with medical facilities to pay your medical costs, if this is appropriate.
- Activities: 99 sports, activities, and leisure pursuits are covered as standard (without extra cost) , but you can also have a multitude of other activities covered with the addition of further activity packs.
- Covered at work: Go Walkabout Working Holiday policy has been specifically designed to cover a large range of jobs you might be doing whilst away from the UK.
- Covered when you are back in UK: You are allowed up to 2 return visits back to the UK (of up to 21 days duration each time) during the policy duration.
- Personal Belongings: Go Walkabout covers baggage loss, personal belongings, travel documents, etc. It offers a large range of policies allowing you to travel safely.
- Trip cancellation: The cost of flights, accommodation and pre-booked excursions can be reimbursed under certain conditions.
Prices depend on different factors, such as your age, the time of your trip, visited countries, etc. But you can get a quick quote by clicking on the button below. Make sure to use our promo code ABG10 to get a 10% discount!
World First Travel Insurance
World First Travel Insurance offer insurances to UK citizens that have spent 6 months prior to departure in the UK. However, they work together with Voyager Insurance and IMG Europe to be able to include insurances for non-UK citizens and UK citizens that have already left the country in their product range.
- Fully accredited
- Up to £10 million worth of emergency medical expenses
- UK customer services and claims team
- Cover for personal possessions, cancellation, and delay
- Option to add on a gadget extension
- Covers water activities like banana boating, canoeing, and scuba diving to 30 m
Truetraveller
Truetraveller got a 5-star rating on Trustpilot (1087 reviews). For their policies, they cooperate with AWP P&C S.A, which is part of the Allianz Group (the largest insurance company in the world).