The tantalising sun and surf image of Australia, and tales of the good life there, are enticing more and more young Irish people to try a taste of life Down Under. By the end of June, 9,000 one-year holiday/working visas will have been issued in the previous 12 months to Irish people under 30 - an increase of 1,500 on last year.

The visas, issued by the Australian embassy in Dublin, are seen as a cultural exchange programme and aim to encourage backpackers to move around. Working at any one job is limited to three months and work is supposed to be incidental to travel.

But the vast majority of backpackers fly into Sydney and stay for six to eight months. Sydney is viewed as the best place to earn money, and you can get ensconced in a city life that is hard to extricate yourself from.

Backpackers must prove that they have £2,500 (including return air-fare) before the visas are issued - and also that they have a college place or job to return to. For some it's their first time living away from home; for others it's a getaway from a boring job - but, whatever the reason, they're all determined to enjoy themselves.

They tend to congregate in areas of Sydney where relatively cheap accommodation is available and where they can have a good time - traditionally Bondi in Sydney's eastern suburbs. More recently, neighbouring Coogee and Randwick provide shelter. But eventually the money runs out and that, plus the financial demands of living in a city of 4.5 million, means backpackers are faced with raising the equivalent of their spent savings - or more - to travel.

Colette O'Connor (23) from Dingle, Co Kerry has been in Sydney since October. For the first two months she went sightseeing and partying, but when it came to the practicalities of day-to-day living she hated it. She was met with job advertisements saying "travellers need not apply" and she had to not only pay top dollar for a flat but also furnish it. The average rent is between 90 and 120 Australian dollars a week (the current exchange rate is approximately A$2.39 to the Irish pound).

"The real estate agent said the Irish multiplied overnight," Colette explains, and they were forced to lie to get a place to live. But she loves it now. Her neighbours from Dingle live across the road.

"Everything is just like home," she says, and adds: "There are so many people here from Ireland." Financially, she exists from week to week. She earns A$9 an hour waitressing and is unable to save on that. Travelling doesn't look like an option at the moment, though she did make it to Palm Beach where the soap Home And Away is filmed.

"I expected more. All there is there from the show is the surfers' club, and all that's there are rundown toilets." And the famous Blue Mountains outside Sydney? "It's like the forestry at home." Connor Synnott (24), from Glenageary, Co Dublin, came here for the Oz experience. It took him three months to get a job working for Optus in IT support where he earns A$25 an hour.

"If you were here in the true spirit of the holiday/working visa you'd take any job. But I wanted a decent job with decent money," he says.

`I love it here. The people are genuinely easygoing. They're not pretentious. It's classless here and there's very little snobbery." His flatmate, Rian Kelly (24) from Killiney, agrees. "You can own a jetski here, and it's just something you do." And doing it by the sea is the Australian way. Rather than being surfers, however, the Irish seem to opt for body-boarding. "At least on a body board you can lie down," explains Connor. But because it took him longer than expected to get a job it will be at least another five months before he can travel.

Rian travelled to Australia on a holiday/working visa a year-and-a-half ago. "When I came here first I was deadset on the backpacking thing. I said to hell with the career. But then I got a good job. Then, when I was ready to leave, they gave me a better one. So I decided I'd better make hay while the sun shines." In software testing the sun shines nearly all the time and testers can earn A$330 a day. Rian is now being sponsored by his employment agency to stay on for two years. For those who want to stay on, sponsorship is becoming a more and more popular alternative than applying for residency, as residency requires a trip home.

"No way would I stay here," announces Blathnaid McCormack (24) from Castleknock. "It's too far from home. Australia is just coast and desert." Blathnaid, a qualified designer, arrived in Sydney last October, looking to travel and with an eye out for new career ideas.

She currently earns A$15.50 an hour working as an office clerk in a government department, issuing pest-control operating licences.

"I never would have gone looking for a job in the civil service in Ireland. Now I have administration experience and am more geared towards going home and getting something financial or business orientated," she says. Blathnaid has been living for six months in Sydney. "It's brilliant. You mightn't be much better off, but your money is going a lot further. Food is cheaper and cars are cheaper to run.

"Sydney is gorgeous to look at. There's fantastic architecture, lovely streets and green areas. It's really foreign and cosmopolitan. But that's all it is. It's not that interesting underneath it all. It doesn't have much character."

But opportunities to live the good life abound. Blathnaid has been out yachting around Sydney Harbour and travelled to Melbourne for the Australian Tennis Open. She is now working an extra job - five nights a week and at weekends - to earn the money to travel.

With winter coming in, many backpackers have already left Sydney for the sunnier climes of the Gold Coast in Queensland. Much of the construction work for the 2000 Olympics has been completed. A steady stream of construction work still exists, although the demand is for tradespeople, with wages in construction ranging from A$15 to A$22 an hour.

But, as veteran backpacker Rian muses: "You can get the travelling experience and save no money or you can get the professional experience and not do any travelling. But it's hard to balance the two."