>>> Part of the works visa includes having to do a stint at fruit picking.
That's not quite true, though the works visa is designed for those that want to move round the country a year doing "part time" jobs such as fruit picking.
My daughter and boyfriend went to Australia a year ago on a 1 year works visa, and spent all the time in Perth working, and did not do any fruit picking.
Her boyfriend is a bricklayer and he worked bricklaying all year and my daughter worked on various admin jobs for 3 months till she found a job she liked and stayed there for 9 months (not sure she was supposed to stay that long).
It is hard to get into Australia without some sort of skill. My daughter and boyfriend want to go back but even with his bricklaying skills it is not going to be easy.
As has been said, it is also now a very expensive country as the world recession has not hit them, plus they have found lots of natural resources in the ground they are exporting to China and other places.