So… Looks like im going to work in Western Australia – Perth or Broome?

So further to seriously considering heading down under mount isa

I’ve been offered a job, which I think I should be able to do, don’t think theres much of it outside of my current skill set and I think there will be a lot to learn and I think it’ll put me on good stead for further / future work. The money isnt bad either, over double my current wage (before 4 day week 20% cut too) and a 10k superannuation if / when I leave the country.

It’ll be a fly in fly out (1.5hr heli ride to work) on a 14 on 7 off flying out of Broome. Be living in camp in the out back for the 14 on, the 7 off will be where ever I like. The work ‘commute’ to site will be from Broome, however the company have said that they like me alot and if it influences my decision then they are willing to fly me to Perth or wherever afterwards if I want.

So I have the option of Broome, which is small, pretty, north west coastal touristy or Perth, big, city etc etc. It’ll be another 2hrs odd from Broome to Perth, so effectively 3.5-4 hours from site to home, but only doing it once every two weeks. Or somewhere else.

Any one lived, visited, or know much about either?

Most importantly any riding about either? Im a downhiller for preference but I’m prob going to take the Heckler out with me to get some miles in. I think Sam Hill was Perth based so there figures there should be some riding!

Im fairly convinced I should do it, ok it’s not where I was initially looking but that was pretty much so I’d have the safety net of a friend out there and this job seems pretty good.

I would definatley do it, i too took a pay cut with no sign with it returning to what it was, and my company too is still struggling. If I ws offered a way out like you I would have snapped there hand off.

Treat it like an extended break, do it for the 2 years you mention and you’ll have a bit of money in your sky rocket and it looks good on the cv re: experiance.

Do it

Perth is in the middle of nowhere and Broome is classed as the middle of nowhere from Perth-ites. Take from that what you will. Been to both, would probably opt for Perth personally.

That was quick! Well done on the offer. Perth sounds like a good base but no idea what Broome is like.

Where I’ll be working will REALLY be the Middle of Nowhere…

Mate of mine emigrated out to Perth about 8 years ago. He still lives in Perth but now does mining work out in the middle of nowhere.
I can’t remember his shift patterns off-hand, but they sound similar to what you mention above.
I think he finds the work enjoyable (and he is absolutely raking it in), but finds being away from home for extended periods a bit of a drag.

I’d go for it. I’ve been to Perth to visit him & although it’s a ‘big city’ it’s still a pretty small place. Seems like a nice place to live though.
I’ve just looked at Broome on Google – it looks like a very small place, in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure it would be a beautiful place, but it’s very remote.

I worked near Meekathara for a while at a camp, great fun.
We used to fly to Perth in a twin engine prop and that took about 2 hours.

Perth is a cool place with loads to do.

What I remember of Broome was that it is tiny this was 20years ago.

Im thinking Perth as it’s going to have more services etc, as well as better conections to other parts of Auz and asia/pacific region.

Something I have already learnt is:-

I really shouldn’t have googled ‘Western Australia poisonous spiders’!!!

Perth is a reasonable city – gigs, pubs, shops and so on. Broome has a lovely beach and not a lot else. Thats what I remember from them (decades ago).

Distances and travelling times – your attitudes will change to tehm in the Aus Outback. Me – I’d tell them Perth but you will get the chance to look at Broome to see if you can live there.

Where I’ll be working will REALLY be the Middle of Nowhere…

Is the site not set up yet or something?

having visited both, Perth is a really nice city, quite small compared to UK cities but with enough there to keep you interested. Broome is a tourist town, very small, not much to do beyond the tourist trail.

All things being equal I would go for Perth. However, if you’re going over there on your own and all the people you will be working with are based in Broome then that may influence your decision.

The site…

So what is it? A mine or something? You’re planning a mine? Surveying?

Exploration of a prospect, going to be out there supervising a couple of rigs and logging about 15,000m of diamond drilled rotary core looking for gold and copper mineralisation over about 6 months.

So digging lots of holes then, why didn’t you say? 🙂

Out of interest – copper and gold deposits are often associated with volcanism, aren’t they? I’d have expected you to be looking in mountainous areas not this pancake flat stuff. What’s underneath all that sand?

I thought of something – when I was there all those years ago Broome was a bit of a hippy hangout. I wonder if it still is? Might suit on those grounds

I live in Perth and have briefly visited broome. Broome is a nice place but I think you will struggle to spend a full week there in every three without getting bored, unless you are big into fishing or something similar…

Don’t spend all your extra pay just yet, things are expensive here and you will probably find you aren’t much better off once you’ve rented a place to live etc.

Sounds like a good opportunity though, you’d be daft to miss it.

My final advice would be to sell all that stuff you’re storing in a mates/parents shed for ‘when you come back’

Broome rocks, if I could live there I would, awesome place! Beautiful scenery, fantastic coastline and brilliant fishing (if you’re into that sort of thing, and, if you’re not, you soon will be!). Bloody hot though and very very remote… Lucky bugger I say 😀

What’s underneath all that sand?

The oldest rocks on the planet guv…

Will there be sheep?

Out of interest – copper and gold deposits are often associated with volcanism, aren’t they? I’d have expected you to be looking in mountainous areas not this pancake flat stuff. What’s underneath all that sand

Mineralisation is often associated with volcanism, however its mostly driven (in the case of hydrothermal systems) by heat. In this case a series of magmatic intrustions in to the proterozoic sandstones. Or basically magma that hasn’t reached the surface to become an extrusive magmatic event or volcano.

Im hoping money wise I should be doing ok, ive been on a 4day week (20% pay cut) earning about 18.8k before tax, the job im going to is about 52k before tax.
Im currently renting a house in the UK but im going to share the rent with a friend and leave all my stuff in the spare room until im sure im happy out there. Its way cheaper than renting storage space for Safe Store etc.

i was in Oz back in 2002. spent a few months living and working in Perth and just a day in Broome.

Perth could be renamed Pleasentville. it’s just nice. used to walk around everywhere barefoot. nice beaches (nude beach in Cottesloe if that’s your thing) that stretch for miles. Freemantel is a separate town but belongs to Perth. it’s where you’ll find the old docks and it has a bit of a cafe culture/alternative streak to it.

i remember watching a video with sam hill riding his local spot. it was a “few hours north of Perth”.

further south of Perth is nice, too. Margaret River area ahs some fine beaches and fantastic woodland. maybe a bit too far from Perth, though.

Broome was quaint and i managed to pick up quite a lot of weed within about half an hour of arriving there. i think at the time you weren’t supposed to go swimming in the sea due to broken-up box jellyfish tentacles – there had been a storm and the tentacles get ripped from the jellyfish but are still active. i also remember there being seawater alligators up there. not sure if they’re prevalent around Broome, though.

oh…

what cana yoghurt pot do in two weeks that Australia can’t do in two centuries?

….. grow its own culture.

I used to live in Mt Isa in the 70s.

Great place, lots of action, just like old Wild West movies. Hard men and even harder women.

Most remote areas in Oz have similar “cultures” – they attract the sort of people who like a bit of space or anonymity. Work hard, play hard.

Once you get the hang of routinely covering large distances, it’s easy.

We used to ride our motorbikes to the coast for the weekend. Leave after work Friday, ride 600 odd miles, half of it dirt. Pissup and barbecue at mate’s places at dawn Saturday, down to the beach, party Sat Night, chill out a bit Sunday, leave at dusk to avoid riding into setting sun, and arrive back in the Isa wrecked for Monday morning. Some of the lads managed to catch a bit of sleep on the way home with disastrous results for the bikes 🙂

I’m sure it’s still done that way, so you’re going to have some fun. 😀

Good stuff. Congratulations.

OHH – I see, cheers… not very deep tho.. for some reason I’d imagined thousands of feet of sediments like in Arizona etc.

I’m officially jealous, sounds like a great thing to do for a while. Guy I sit opposite is from Perth apparently take the Heckler and stay in Perth (but he would say that). Lot’s of people work in mining up there he says and Broome is tiny and you’d get bored pretty quickly, it’s also not that cheap there.

Broome is tiny and you’d get bored pretty quickly

Depends if the biking is good or not. People have different priorities 🙂

Well done happy_hippy. Not been to Broome but Perth is nice but expensive (property, food etc). But it’s close to Margaret River, Fremantle and the Munda Biddi 900km trail (very XC):
http://mundabiddi.org.au/%5B/url%5D

You won’t be rushing back once you’ve bought your first rig and set up drilling for your own company! Best of luck!

Something I have already learnt is:-

I really shouldn’t have googled ‘Western Australia poisonous spiders’!!!

Well, don’t whatever the hell you do look at the snakes….. At least you can stand on spiders.

Just one point – Australia is expensive, Perth and other towns dominated by mining doubly so. If your 50K wage is £50k, then you should be comfortable on your own, but if it’s $50k, you may struggle. Beer is usually more than £5 a pint, and coffee not far off that per mug. Multiply your weekly shop by those figures and you should get some idea. Accom in Perth is extortionate, though not sure about Broome.

I moved out to Adelaide just over a year ago on a similar deal of more than doubling my income. Whilst better off than I was in the UK, I am certainly not doubly better off…

The wage is Au$80k plus 10k superannuation. Two out of three weeks will be in a tent in the out back fully catered. Flights to and from site and then from Broome to Perth covered by company.

Im thinking one bed flat somewhere cheap as poss (but not ghetto) in Perth, cheapest pickup I can buy and my 7 days off spent riding.

Im living on so little over here at the moment due to 20% paycut that I think i’ll prob be better off. Plus I doubt the geotech industry over here will rebound any time soon.

Don’t think you could get bored in Broome if you had any desire to get out and see some stuff. The coastline north of the town is massive and pretty much unexplored by tourists. If you’re willing to travel a few hours there are loads of national parks and nature reserves just begging for you to go and visit; Karijini, Purnululu etc would make great 3/4 day trips. Get a 4WD and get stuck into the Kimberley and over to places like Wolf Creek. Surfing is not up to much, but you can go in the sea without being stung or eaten to death like on the East coast or in the North. Some great little restaurants and a good vibe about the place – the locals are friendly enough as well.

I lived in a tent there for about 3 months or so whilst earning some cash. I’d love an opportunity like yours to really explore the place.

As for biking – I’m sure there would be plenty if you knew where to look and could handle the heat! Night riding would be ace though!!

Hi one_happy_hippy, I live in Perth.
I’d agree with others that Broome would get very boring after a while, and is also damn expensive. In Perth you could find a house share for anout $120 per week, but you’d also need to buy a car to get around as the place is well spread out.
MTB is well established in Perth and there’s a variety of tracks within an hour or so of the city, and a very friendly local community of riders.
The FIFO life isn’t that bad if you don’t have family to miss, and you get plenty of time to go cycling or explore the fantastic landscape of WA.
Come on over – let me know when you arrive so I can show you some of the local rides….

Hey Perthmtb!

Im pretty sure Im going to aim for Perth now to be honest – looking at the riding that is about including some DH as well im led to believe!

Everything is happening pretty quick but I think I’ll be in Oz by the first week on August.

Any suggestions for nice-ish areas of Perth for housing purposes? Or more importantly areas to avoid?

Would be nice to at least inter-know someone before I arrive alone in country with only a rucksac and bike bag for company!

Perth on the other hand is also a cool place to live. Lots more surfing and still plenty to see and do. Biking would probably be better down SW Oz as mentioned above. It’s a lot more temperate with seasonal weather (rather than hot, freakin’ hot or sweltering like in the north) so the whole place is far more lush and green.

I wouldn’t be too worried on the snakes and the spiders – far too much is made of all that. In the year I spent there I saw very few deadly’s about the place. Course it does happen, but just be a bit vigilant and you’ll be fine. Did see some cool lizards and stuff though!

Didn’t think loads of the city though – pretty chilled out, but a bit boring compared to Melbourne & Sydney.

One Happy hippy.

Mind me asking who that will be working with? I’ve got a couple of mates working for Coffey (Sp?) out there all based in perth. Nothing but good things coming from them!

Im in the geotech industry, albeit in the offshore environment (predominantly office based atm) based up in Newcastle Upon Tyne. I’ve often looked at the opportunities over in australia, NZ and canada and thought ‘maybe one day’. Not sure the girlfriend would cope with 2 weeks on, 1 off though.

Best of luck to you!

Hi one_happy-hippy, email me ‘Andy at cuttfamily dot com’ and I’ll try to answer any questions you have. Might not get back to you for a few hours tho’ – its 11pm here and I’m off to bed!

I currently work in Wolverhampton. I think the camp in the out back 1.5hrs heli flight from nearest civilisation is going to be an improvement!

Im thinking Perth to be honest, I think after 2 weeks in min 30-40C heat I might need a break to somewhere even a few degrees cooler!

As everyone I know says – ‘if anyone will get bitten its going to be you’!

Less worried about snakes its the spiders that you don’t see coming!

Very envious!

On our travels we spent a lot of time in Western Australia and decided it would be up there on list of places to live if moving permanently from the UK. I went back there a couple of years ago for the triathlon world champs and still loved it. I loved Broome as a place to visit (for a couple of weeks) but not sure I’d want to live there. But the west coast is fantastic for a trip out away from Perth. I worked on a boat out of Monkey Mia for a month or two and windsurfed in Geralton for a few weeks – I’m sure there is great mountain biking if you can handle the heat! And whilst Perth is a long way from other population areas in the country it is easy to hop around by air. We drove there from Adelaide which was an experience – 5 days from memory!

You will get used to a different approach to distance – When in Kununurra we met some locals who were off to Darwin for an overnight trip for a concert. 500miles each way to watch the Counting Crows!

dickydutch –

Hopefully (fingers crossed until contracts are signed)A company called Antipa Minerals.

I have heard Coffey have a lot of work out that way.

I was contacted by a recruiter pointed in my direction by a friend who is going out there in a couple of weeks (Mount Isa way).

They are crying out for geologists and geotechs.

Put it this way – I sent my CV on friday and had a call on sunday (about 11pm their time) with a lot of interest from several companies and have been made an offer today. So 5 days cv to job pretty much.

Im a Mgeol qualified geologist with 6 years geotech experience and ZERO mining experience and they snapped me right up – apparently I have more experience of rigs etc than a the majority of the engs that go out there.

Not all the jobs are FIFO some are residential and some are drive in – drive out etc.