Fergal McNamara, an architecture student at UCD, spent eight months on Bondi beach, Sydney. It was so good, travellers should reserve the Sydney experience until the end or else they won't get to see the rest of the continent, he says.

On a gap year between third and fourth years in architecture, Fergal and a friend decided on Australia because it afforded a chance to work as well as travel. He got a job as a junior office member in a small architectural practice.

Accommodation was in a small apartment block. After eight months there, he spent a month and a half travelling in Australia (never making it to the west coast, to his regret) and two-and-a-half months in south-east Asia.

Australia, he says, is "very welcoming. There is a whole culture of people going for extended work holidays."

Unfortunately, he says, a lot of young people adopt a spend-as-you-go attitude and have to go straight home once they have finished their work stint.

Brendan Breen (24) from Wexford town works in Usit as a travel consultant. He was in Australia from September 1998 to September 1999 on a one-year working holiday. Why Australia? "The climate, the people, the space, a small population and a huge country, amazing scenery and a booming economy," he says. He was working in a bar in Dublin before he left and he worked as a bar manager in a restaurant in Sydney. "It was more for the experience. It was part of a round-the-world trip," he says.

"I spent long periods travelling and doing nothing else. I loved it. It's probably not the most interesting place culturally, but day-to-day relaxing and just for the buzz of doing things it's the best."

Siobhan Fitzgerald (23) took time out from her course in architecture at UCD.

She choose Australia because "all my friends were going to Australia", she says. "And it was on my travel route of places I wanted to go to."

What was it like? "I was really surprised. I didn't really realise it was such a beautiful country. I thought it would be like the conventional inmage of barren desert. Queensland is absolutely gorgeous. It's like a rich version of the west of Ireland. I learned to scuba dive too."

Carol O'Sullivan (25) from Glencar, Co Kerry, is a graduate of UL with a degree in business studies. She now works as a travel consultant in Usit NOW, Usit's student-travel advice service. She came back last September after a year working and travelling around Australia.

"I sold emu-oil products, polished shoes, waitressed, everything. It's hard to get office work. I did all the usual things. I loved it. I wouldn't live there long term - it's too far away from home. The weather is definitely the best thing: on a Sunday you always have something to do. Why Australia? I`d done America."

Des Twomey: (23), another Dubliner in final-year in architecture at UCD, chose Australia because of the ease of getting a visa, the weather and "it's first world. People tend to think it's fairly adventurous, but it's quite within my parameters."

He enjoyed his year but, he explains: "It wasn't a huge culture shock or an astonishing time. Australians are quite similar to us. It's very similar to here, only the people live life in the sun."