This hostel's main purpose is to set backpackers up with fruit picking work as no one in their right mind would voluntarily visit Maroopna unless desperate for money. For a fruit picking place, the hostel is very expensive. When I was there it was around $120/week and that didn't even include any breakfast. There's a small pool in the yard... perhaps the only thing it has going for it. The kitchen is big, but very ill equipped, and the rooms pretty basic. The system set up for getting people work is pretty random and I'm not sure how fair it is. In a week I was only given one day's work on a very disorganised apricot farm, and it turns out that the job was rustled up by a fellow backpacker who'd gone around from farm to farm on his bike! If you head out this way to look for work, this might be your only option to begin with, but do your best to get a job on a farm that has cheap on-site accommodation (there are lots in this area) and get out of the hostel as soon as you can!

Reviewed By: Kirsty
January 2002