Coodlie Park Pty Ltd and Nullarbor Traveller

Placement organization

Name of organization: Coodlie Park Pty Ltd and Nullarbor Traveller
Town/city: Port Kenny
Country: Australië

Student

Name of student: Nicky de Graaf
Website: http://www.thetraveller.net.au / www.coodliepark.com.au
Name of student: Nicky de Graaf
Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator and accommodation
Organization’s activities: Wildlife/adventure Tours between Adelaide and Perth, Farm stay accommodation.
Target group of the organization: Backpacker. Other target groups for the other companies they own.
Company culture: It is a small owned company and as a student you help the owner to run the business. You are a member of the family and part of the company. Everyone is very friendly and open.
Number of employees: 6 incl. 4 guides
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? There are no separate departments
Brief description of your daily activities: Everything that has to do with running the business. Answering the phone, Taking bookings, updating information on websites, Social media and marketing, developing a training for travel agents, showing guests around, contact with suppliers and clients, collecting vouchers, helping with preparing the food for the tours etc.

Furthermore you will go to a tourism expo in either Sydney or Melbourne

Brief description of your company assignment: Improve the social media strategy
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Hassie is very helpful you can ask him everything. He has to be somewhere else sometimes though.
Connection with study program: Relevant

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, stress-proof, able to take initiative and responsibility.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, basic Excel and PowerPoint could be handy. Knowledge about Facebook.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I lived in Hassie and Jo’s house where I had my own room next to the office.
How did you go to work every day? n/a

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes
Do you need a work permit? No I have a sponsorship
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Through the internet. It took a lot of time and I was delayed by a month. If you haven’t had a working holiday visa yet I strongly advise you to apply for this. It will only take a few days.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? months
Did you need certain vaccinations? No

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? n/a

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1.400,00 (included Stopover in Thailand on the way back)
Accommodation (monthly): €
Local transport (monthly): € n/a
General costs of living (monthly): € 50,00
Costs of visa: 350,00
Costs of work permit: € n/a
What did the company pay for/to you? €

– Meals
– Accommodation
– Tours from the company
– Swimming with the sea lions and dolphins
– Shark cage dive

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture? Not really.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not really, everyone is very nice and easygoing.

Future students on placement

My telephone number: 0624364498
My e-mail address: nicky.a.degraaf@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Ask lots of questions they will happily answer all of them. Take initiative and bring ideas forward. The owner is always open to suggestions. If you want to do something outside the business you can always discuss this with the owner.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Go to the private beach, explore the surroundings which are amazing. Go surfing, sand boarding or fishing. It is very remote and the next town is 85 km away. There will be people around every Thursday when the tours are at the farm. You have to be able to be on your own for a long time.

Media

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