Is It True?
#1
Just Joined
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5
Is It True?
Hi all
My husband says he can earn over $100,000 a year working in the mining industry, he is a caterpillar mechanic and wants to emigrate to nsw with our two kids. Does anyone know anything about this??
My husband says he can earn over $100,000 a year working in the mining industry, he is a caterpillar mechanic and wants to emigrate to nsw with our two kids. Does anyone know anything about this??
#2
Re: Is It True?
and $100k isn't actually as much as it sounds.
#3
Re: Is It True?
$100k is about 40k GBP. Not terrible but not immense. Life here is expensive and mining is tough work.
#4
Re: Is It True?
check out seek.com.au.
As an experienced Caterpillar heavy diesel fitter there are plenty of jobs for $100-180k on there (fly in fly out) - but it's certainly possible that it would be difficult to go straight in to a job like that (it's hard to break into mining (anecdotally)) so he might be on considerably less while he picks up the necessary Aussie experience- and they ones I've seen are Perth (though some of them fly in cross-country - don't know about mining in NSW)
Best of luck
As an experienced Caterpillar heavy diesel fitter there are plenty of jobs for $100-180k on there (fly in fly out) - but it's certainly possible that it would be difficult to go straight in to a job like that (it's hard to break into mining (anecdotally)) so he might be on considerably less while he picks up the necessary Aussie experience- and they ones I've seen are Perth (though some of them fly in cross-country - don't know about mining in NSW)
Best of luck
Last edited by abi31; May 18th 2012 at 10:38 pm. Reason: oops £? If only!
#5
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Re: Is It True?
And while others go to the mines, there opens up opportunities in the more civilised areas to work on traditional boats/generators/trucksetc
#6
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Location: Perth, WA
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Re: Is It True?
To earn that kind of money he would need to be fly in/ fly out although I would think it would be a lot more than 100k. The othet alternative is for you all to live up North etc but the cost or accomodation up in the Pilbara can be shocking eg $1000+ a week for a house
#7
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Joined: May 2012
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Re: Is It True?
Forget NSW; The best states would be WA or QLD.
To earn that kind of money he would need to be fly in/ fly out although I would think it would be a lot more than 100k. The othet alternative is for you all to live up North etc but the cost or accomodation up in the Pilbara can be shocking eg $1000+ a week for a house
To earn that kind of money he would need to be fly in/ fly out although I would think it would be a lot more than 100k. The othet alternative is for you all to live up North etc but the cost or accomodation up in the Pilbara can be shocking eg $1000+ a week for a house
#8
Re: Is It True?
Singleton is a pretty small town, there wasn't much to do there in my opinion although it's definitely liveable. Maitland was a bigger centre and was closer to Newcastle, I think about 40 minutes away. So if you can live with a longer commute to work then it's a good option.
When we moved to Australia my husband did some job searching on arrival and ended up getting an job in a mine around Singleton and a job in Brisbane.
** have to go put the kids to bed will come back and finish soon!**
#9
Re: Is It True?
So, continuing on.....
My husband is a mining engineer so before moving to Australia I researched all the mining areas and the only open pit mines that weren't remote (ie. fly in fly out) were in the Singleton area (that I could find anyway). So that was our first choice simply because he wouldn't have to be away for weeks at a time.
Once we arrived he ended up with two job offers, one in Singleton area and one in Brisbane CBD. We had never imagined that we would be able to live that close to a major centre so it was a surprise. After much debate we ended up choosing the Brisbane job as the pay was quite a bit better and there was so much more to do. Looking back it was the right choice for us although I suspect we would have been happy in Singleton/Maitland as well. To us it just came down to the fact that we could do far more day trips in Brisbane area than in maitland.
Given that your husband is a mechanic he pretty much needs to be on site unless you're going for smaller operations or moving away from mining. Does he have any experience working in the mines or is he trying to get into it? I see you're already working on a visa so that's good.
It can be very difficult to get into mining so be prepared for that. I should also point out that the Hunter Valley area is a desirable spot for lots of people because of the fact that you can live in the area and not have to be away from home. So you'll find the competition is tougher there. The easier jobs are the ones where no one else wants to work, so don't be surprised if he needs to take a FIFO job in order to break into the industry and get some experience.
Also, finding a job while you're still overseas is very difficult for most people. My husband applied for a bunch of jobs while in the visa process and even after getting the visa but no one was interested until we were in the country. This was during a time when there was a shortage of mining engineers, so we were surprised.
Anyway, keep researching and make sure to check all the job boards to find out where all the jobs are. Hopefully you'll get your first pick of places!
My husband is a mining engineer so before moving to Australia I researched all the mining areas and the only open pit mines that weren't remote (ie. fly in fly out) were in the Singleton area (that I could find anyway). So that was our first choice simply because he wouldn't have to be away for weeks at a time.
Once we arrived he ended up with two job offers, one in Singleton area and one in Brisbane CBD. We had never imagined that we would be able to live that close to a major centre so it was a surprise. After much debate we ended up choosing the Brisbane job as the pay was quite a bit better and there was so much more to do. Looking back it was the right choice for us although I suspect we would have been happy in Singleton/Maitland as well. To us it just came down to the fact that we could do far more day trips in Brisbane area than in maitland.
Given that your husband is a mechanic he pretty much needs to be on site unless you're going for smaller operations or moving away from mining. Does he have any experience working in the mines or is he trying to get into it? I see you're already working on a visa so that's good.
It can be very difficult to get into mining so be prepared for that. I should also point out that the Hunter Valley area is a desirable spot for lots of people because of the fact that you can live in the area and not have to be away from home. So you'll find the competition is tougher there. The easier jobs are the ones where no one else wants to work, so don't be surprised if he needs to take a FIFO job in order to break into the industry and get some experience.
Also, finding a job while you're still overseas is very difficult for most people. My husband applied for a bunch of jobs while in the visa process and even after getting the visa but no one was interested until we were in the country. This was during a time when there was a shortage of mining engineers, so we were surprised.
Anyway, keep researching and make sure to check all the job boards to find out where all the jobs are. Hopefully you'll get your first pick of places!
#10
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Joined: Apr 2004
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Re: Is It True?
Every man dog and school leaver is going to the mines, very few get jobs.
I would really suggest he flies out to WA or QLD and gets into the reality of the areas and the job situation and competition.
BTW 100k is nothing much of an income here, very expensive so again come out and look around, before chucking in what you have.
#11
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Posts: 460
Re: Is It True?
I'd second comments re: salary - five years ago I was told you could 'live like a king' in Brisbane for 100K (by an interviewer!) - not true then and certainly not true now. it's a living wage, just if you cut corners and don't live too near to the city, but IMHO not enough to leave a good job in the UK for if you have a family to support
#12
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Re: Is It True?
I'd second comments re: salary - five years ago I was told you could 'live like a king' in Brisbane for 100K (by an interviewer!) - not true then and certainly not true now. it's a living wage, just if you cut corners and don't live too near to the city, but IMHO not enough to leave a good job in the UK for if you have a family to support
Queen rates are about $200 per half hour at the corner of .... and ....
#14
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Re: Is It True?
The poster meant in real terms not the current exchange rate.
#15
Re: Is It True?
I would pretty much agree but maybe even go less depending on where you live.