Cellblock Backpackers

If you've any sense stay somewhere else -- the gutter would be better
Took over an hour to check in by understaffed and imcompetent staff. Then in the most disgusting smelling room ever with aircon which didn't work and the staff made no attempt to fix. Bathrooms filthy and not cleaned on time. I quote "I overslept" by cleaner, vomit over the corridor floor not cleaned up, and the kitchen was a health hazard -- and no staff available to try and fix the problem. Worst place I've ever stayed!

Go in with an open mind and a smile and you'll do fine!
Well my first impression wasn't the best and i was very unsure about how i was going to get though my three months. In the end i couldn't leave and ended up staying for an extra month. not everything is perfect but bus driver Ray really kept me going. The job i was given was awesome, i worked monday to friday around eleven to twelve hours a day and the money was good. The farm we worked for (simpsons) had some of the nicest people i've ever met. They would walk around and hand out candy during the day and when i left i received presents, cake, and tones of hugs. overall no matter where you stay in bundaberg there's not much to do, but at cellblock John would give us free beer on sundays and start up the pool parties. i met tones of awesome people and i know that i would always have somewhere to go if i needed a hand. thanks for all the good times.

Forget
if you like rubbishes come and stay at Cellblock! without apologies of the staff, you could find used condoms and a lot of things which could be more older than you. If you want that under your bed it's clean do yourself (like said the cleaner, she never did that before!). cellblock has been smart enough to make a bar, which makes people too drunk to see how disgusting it is. you spend your time to wait! waiting for a job, waiting for pans and pots which are locked, waiting in front of your door with the key which doesn't work (even if you make it fix twice in two minutes), and the best -- waiting ninety minutes after the end of your job, under a big sunshine that the bus come. it's just a fuc**** backpacker, dirty. if you want go please ask a copy of your contract. without that, jhonn will try to keep you $50 deposit. he did for some of us (and more if you're french -- they don't really like us).

Clean but not very nice
Before checking in at the cellblock, just have a look at the guest book, then you will have the ex-residents opinion. This hostel is the cleanest of bundaberg but this hostel is a real mafia organisation -- everything is made in order to make you spend money! And more! Cleaners kept the pans and pots of the kitchen as hostages because they thought we were making their job harder than it was! So dirty kitchens and nothing to cook and nothing to wash our dishes! The work management sucks too -- the jobs are not good money compared to others backpackers of bundaberg. But i have to admit that i met very nice people in this hostel and backpacker form a very strong team against the f***ing staff of this hostel, because we are in the same sh** and we try to help each others. But Warning! Some backpackers appears to be nice but the are very diligent with management and they will not hesitate to denounce you to the staff if you do something wrong. Be careful. Advice -- there is a night bar where everybody go on saturday night named "Central" and thanks to the Cellblock stamp you have free entrance, but in order to have this stamp you have to drink a lot at the backpackers bar. Also you will have to do if you want a good job.

Good hostel (you pay through the nose for it though) but run by idiots
My advice to anyone looking for work in Bundy is do not come to Cellblock! If however you're only looking to get pissed by the pool then this is the place for you. The people I've met here are fantastic but you get screwed over from day one. If you are stupid enough to actually pay the $50 deposit to the John the "work manager" and I do use the word "work" very loosely because unless you're a girl flaunting yourself at him or a bloke getting pissed with him you don't really have much chance of getting any work! He claims you'll get your $50 back at the end of your time here, together with all your other deposits, but it is doubtful even if you do manage to get a receipt from him. Don't trust him, right now the standby list for work is at least five times bigger than the actual work list, and I don't know anyone on the standby list who's actually getting any work. He treats you like you're stupid and that he's doing you some big favour -- trust me the only person he's doing the favour is himself. I'm sure you can guess where all those deposits are going -- that's right, his pocket! Save yourself the time and trouble and go somewhere else, there are always lots of great people to meet everywhere.

Hmmm
Well, it's not the only hostel in Bundy to have a pool but it is the only one to have a bar. So if you want to get wasted after picking tomatoes or packing caps for days on end then go wild. But there's lots of bars in Bundy -- and yes they are generally ugly, but that's Bundy. There are too many reviews about owners who drink too much to ignore on this site. Be careful, pull your head in, and take care if you're a decent looking girl! There is so much work in Bundy then visit CellBlock on Friday nights to party but for goodness sake don't stay there!

It sucks
it is a sh*thole. Don't go there.

Wherever you do your fruit picking, whether it is for that extra cash or that extra year down under, the work and the hours aint gonna be great but if you do it at cellblock the drinking, gambling, partying, and makeing good mates will get you through it with some great laughs on the way. The hostel has good facilities, bar, pool and TV room, and very much a work hard play hard attitude! Was a good home for three months and made the struggle of getting up at 5 a.m. for work harder due to hangovers but more bearable in the long run. Get to cellblock, it's a great crack.

Nice hostel, run by money-grabbing idiots
John, the owner is a absolute ass. You pay $50 deposit for work, then they don't give it back to you even though they have a record you've paid it. It's shocking that he is basically stealing money from backpackers for his own greedy needs. Ray the work manager is ok, but to be honest, you are fed a pack of lies from the moment you get there. Yeah, it's a nice hostel with a bar and pool, but i'd stay somewhere else if i were you. cellblock are more interested about you getting pissed and spending money in the bar than work. richard the co-owner, who comes to visit occasionally, is such a lovely guy and it's a shame for him that his hostel is being run by an alcoholic pig.

i spent three and a half months in cellblock and had a fantastic time. the work is pretty rubbish and can be boring but what else can be expected from fruit picking? there are loads of working hostels in bundaberg but cellblock is by far the best, newer, cleaner with better amenities and the only one to have a pool and a bar so obviously more fun. if you want to earn some cash or that second visa this is the place to do it. i made great friends and had a wicked time especially afternoon drinking in the pool and trips to bundy's premiere nightclub, "Central." work is organised for you and transport is provided, sometimes you do have to wait around for ages but just go to sleep in the sun -- it's no biggy. loads of parties, fancy dress, pole fighting over the pool, syrup wrestling. happy days.

During 2006, i stayed here three times for various reasons, usually because of events happening in bundy i wanted to go to. Every time i went it was nothing short of excellent. The staff are friendly and helpful, and the bar is great. If you're looking to stay at Bundy for whatever reason, go here! I'd have no problems staying here again, and would be more than happy to recommend it to anyone. Definitely looking forward to my next time here.

this place is nice but dirty. One time when i was making supper stu came in there and snapped at the mess that was left by someone else. He said that I would be kicked out if i didnt clean it up. Stu and jon think they are your bosses. They are both d*cks and i wouldn't stay there again if they paid me. They are both old and think that because they run a hostel that all the young girls will screw them. Stu got drunk and tried picking up my girlfriend several times and treated us both like sh*t when he didnt succeed. Also most days after work was at least an hour before I got picked up. Drunk Stewie also tried picking a fight with a guy because he wouldn't go to work. The guy was just passing through, he wasn't there to work! He has threatened to "knock ya out" to several people because he is always sitting there drunk with all his buddies. I would sleep in a dumpster before i ever stayed there.

Its a bloody shame that this backpackers is getting bad reviews after all the hard work that's been done here. I worked here and i know for a fact that this was not what it was suppose to turn out like. You are an asshole Jon, The biggest d*&^khead i ever met and i knew from the start, that the power of being an owner would be the demise of that place's reputation. I hope like crazy that Rich and Mick and Jason bought you out and got the hell out cause you will be the end of their investment.

Wow. cellblock. ok so if you are on your last $10 or are just trying to get your second visa, go to cellblock, they will find you a job the next day. this they are very good for because hey they want you to work, so you can pay em! I had an amazing time here due to a few things, I am a nice person and I got up every single day to go to work. if you miss one of things even once, welcome to hell. the owners, john and stu are complete drunks. and yeah sometimes you will wait like three hours to get picked up after work. but i lived there for three months, and by far cell block is the best hostel in bundaberg. this place is basically a hole and those farmers will work you to the bone! The hostel is very very nice, two big kitchens, huge bar, a million flat screen TVs, dvd player, computers, xbox, nice big bathrooms, ac in some of the rooms if you pay for it, the beds are huge single beds, and are very very nice for hostels. this was my home, and i was sad to leave it. if you are a little lazy, have a bit of a mouth, or like confrontation -- damn dont go here. they have this cattle prod that they will hit you with if you dont get outta bed. they will just kick you out, it doesnt matter what time it is or what is going on. like dont throw up or then they will take your deposit and kick you out. just stick to the rules and all will be well. i am so sorry you have come to this point in your life where you must resort to bundaberg farms. chills down my arms -- just think of the money..

The owners are assholes! Both Stu and John just worry about when to have the next drink! I stayed there for about two months and they always let us wait at least an hour after work before they picked us up. One time all of them were drunk when we wanted to be picked up so we had to wait for three hours for one of them to sober up a little bit! They have their favourite backpackers that can do whatever they want but as soon as someone that they don't like that much does something, they kick them out! The only reason I stayed there for that long was because of the work I got. I had to bite my tongue a lot of times! If you do something or say something they don't like they don't give you any work because they hope that if you don't get work you'll leave! They are so pathetic it's not even funny. But if John and Stu like you you'll probably have a great time there.