Barossa Backpackers

Do NOT go to this hostel!!! Worst hostel I have been in so far. The rooms are VERY dirty, the staff is friendly but there are several rules that are very weird like that you have to sign a conract that you will be staying in the hostel when they found work for you otherwise you have to 300 dollar and you're not allowed to drive one their vans under the age of 21. The kitchen has no pots and pans and oftentimes is very dirty. They have cleaners but I did not recognize that they were there. I paid 186$ to stay in a 4 bed room for 1 week and left after 2 days. Also many people said that the work is VERY bad and also not well paid. In my opinion this hostel does'nt even worth 30$ a week. As I said DO NOT GO THERE!

I have been there to pick up a friend so I know more or less their experience for me it's an overprice accomodation too far from the city, with a well crafted farm system that leaves you with very little money after your hard work. Good place to meet other people though.

I arrived at the hostel in July and they found me work straight away! The staff were accommodating and lovely! I met some amazing people and will have these memories for life! The work is great! Very very hard but the money is good for farm work and you make 7 days per week usually! Recommend this hostel to all! :)

Pretty nice for a Backpacker Hostel. The staff is friendly and helpful. Great location in the heart of the Barossa wine region. Various work available throughout the year.Enjoyed my stay and would definitely come back to stay again if I was to come back to the area.

Stayed here from November 2017 to March 2018.Basically all people staying in this hostel are working holiday people under 30 trying to get their second year visas. The hostel hires people to mainly potato/onion factories where the salary is usually around 20$/h. New people arriving to the hostel go at the bottom of a work waiting list and usually get work from the factories in two weeks. I got hired in two days, but some people had to wait for THREE WEEKS to start work (the hostel staff doesn't always know if there's work available, yet promise to find you a job very soon"). The work in the factories is simple (usually packing and stacking potato creates/sacks for boys and grading for girls) and you don't have to do your 2nd year visa work under a burning sun. The many vineyards around Barossa also hire backpackers but you usually need to find grape picking jobs on your own.The amount of work different people get in the factories isn't balanced. Some people work five days a week

Modern slave labourIf you're looking for honest farm work, you shouldn't stay here. You could even say that its moden slavery. The staff is very nice as long as you pay, don't ask a lot of questions and don't open your mouth. But as soon as you question the whole system there is no trace of friendliness and you notice how hardened these people are. The condition of the hostel is such a nightmare. There are no fans in the rooms, that means it was over 30 degrees in the room. You can't sleep like that. Most of the bunk beds were without a safety grid on top and I actually experienced a girl falling out of bed at night. There are two toilets and showers for 40 women. These showers don't even work, only light drops came out. There is nothing in the kitchen, you have to equip yourself with pans, pots and dishes. And this is supposed to be a place where you want to live after a hard farm day? No thank you.Besides, of course, one only gets the information about farm work if one lives in this hostel. Besides, we would have had to wait more than a week until our farm job would have started at all, but of course you have to pay for the hostel during this time. Other backpackers even had to wait up to three weeks. Furthermore, we would have had to drive more than an hour to our farm job. That means with fuel money and costs for the hostel one does not have much left in the end.Beware of this hostel!!! Nobody has to sink to this level.

The hostel got me work straight away. The hostel was good with nice views and the receptionist Emma was very helpful and really lovely . Would recommend going here to do your farm days .

Barossa backpackers was a lovely place to stay, the management was particularly understanding and caring and was always aloud to help people especially when you have young travellers mess things up for themselves with employment. The facility’s were nice as well.. would deffo recommend to anyone

There is something of the scam going on here.I showed up at noon but there were no staff on hand. There was a sign saying that there were be available. While there were no staff, there were lots of residents who seemed to know the workers' schedule intimately. When someone finally showed up near five, I asked for a bed to be immediately told (without any examination of the situation) that there were no beds. I pointed out the sign saying that there were beds available, only to be told that they were 'only for transfer,' whatever that means.There were also lots of signs about job assignments and bus schedules to work sites, as well as list of people waiting for work. Seems like what's really going on is some exploitation of folks looking for work/work visas.

I really enjoyed my stay here!Yes, the work can be hard but it’s well paid and you get your weekends free.It’s in a beautiful location, where you can go to wineries on the weekend or go on a walk up to the viewpoint and sculpture park, maybe seeing some kangaroos on the way. Tanunda is also a lovely little town - I would highly recommend visiting the Red Door cafe.Emma and Jackie are lovely - I even cried when I said goodbye - so you’ve always got a little safety net if you’re worried about anything while you’re travelling Australia.All in all I can say with 100% certainty that this was a life-changing experience.