[Hooligan Harry]

(04-15-2013 11:18 PM)scotian Wrote:  

Thanks for the heads up man but I'm prepared for it and fairly confident that I'll land something. I've heard that Perth is a boring city but at least it has a beach, I've spent the last six years living in industrial shit holes where instead of +40, its -40 and I'll take the heat over that cold any day.

Dont be put off by the negativity. I know young guys who land jobs on mine sites all the time that local Aussies wont roll out of bed for because the rate is not high enough for them to get their hands dirty.

3 years later the guy is skilled up, has all his tickets and has made local contacts, and the fucking local idiots are complaining that all the jobs are going to foreigners.

Industry is slowing a bit and they are pulling back on a few projects, but there is a ton of work.

Just look to get onto a site, even if the pay is iffy. Once you are on a site, it gets much easier and you will be head hunted or have doors open quickly. Dont make the mistake of waiting for them.

Another thing. Recruitment agents in this country are retards. Absolute retards. I dont know what it is with my countrymen, but they are some of the laziest wankers on the planet.

Keep on them, dont wait for them to do their thing.

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Accommodation: I have a place to stay, for free, I made friends with a guy I met in Thailand and he offered me a room in his house, only downside is that its way up in Yanchep and I won't have a car to get to the interviews and pound the pavement in Perth, hopefully the loser cruiser runs up there.

Yanchep is a long way out of Perth and there is fuck all there. Park up at Clarkson, catch the train in and spend the day in the city. Its not a great place to be based out of, but its not bad to chill if you like the outdoors and shit.

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FIFO work: That's what I'm going there for, I don't want to work in Perth, I want to get into a camp or offshore ASAP. I've done that type of work for years and can do a month in camp on my head, no sweat, I once worked 24/4 for 8 months straight at 84-100+ hours/week, I'm mentally prepared for the cabin fever and the inevitable dry spells.

With that work ethic you are already ahead of 95% of the fuckwits here. Guys here wont pitch for jobs because there is rain about. Trust me, your foreign status is not half as much of a problem as people have made out. Its a pain in the ass with recruitment consultants because recruitment consultants in Australia are retards (honestly, like count to potato retarded) but the guys in decision making positions are often foreigners themselves.

Just get onto site, then get picky after that. Doors will open quick, there is a massive shortage of people in this country and we cant get enough.

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Skill Set: I'm ticketed up in my trade and my certifications are ISO 9000 series and recognized in Australia and around the world, judging by the amount of job offers I see on seek.com.au , its in demand down there. Also, I have about 5 years of heavy industrial experience in a variety of settings: fabrication shops, pipelines, oil refineries, chemical plants, mining, etc. I've worked in new construction, maintenance on live sites and when I did that 8 month stint, it was after a refinery blew up so I have shutdown/turnaround experience as well.

Finally, I'm following in the foot steps of a good friend of mine who I went to trade school with and has been working down there for a year and a half although he made the move from Perth to Melbourne a few months ago. He says its still busy, so I hope he's right.

In the end, there's only one way to find out, get my ass down there and see for myself. If I don't find work within a couple of weeks, I guess I'll just have to spend a couple of more weeks in SE Asia then land a gig back home, lots of work in Canada right now.

Anyway, thanks again for the honest insights, if you're ever back in Perth while I'm there, hit me up on here and I'll buy you a few of those $12/pints, you too T and a Man and any other Perth locals on the forum.

The criticisms regarding Perth are not really justified as far as I am concerned. This city needs to be put into perspective because its one of the best in the world for what it offers.

1) Its a city of 1.5 million people, but its predominantly people who are blue collar or from blue collar homes that came good. Which means that this place is big on family, the outdoors, easy living and low stress. If you are looking for exotic coffee and corner cafe lifestyles, it has fuck all to offer. Nightlife is also crap because people would rather have a BBQ or spend their day getting pissed at the beach than hit up clubs and bars all day long. So for Perth locals and people like that kind of lifestyle, there are few cities in the world that will top it. No city in Australia beats Perth if thats what you want.

2) The women are drunk whores who fuck easy. But they are westernized, feminist whores none the less. They are getting fatter, louder, getting more tats, etc. By Australian standards, they are above average looks wise. Being a foreigner here is no real advantage, half the state comes from another country. Being a FIFO worker, there is nothing out there except hookers and ugly women with a ton of suitors.

3) Shit might be expensive here, but you earn a ton. While east coasters complain that a cup of coffee costs 50cents more, you throw 50cents coins away because they fuck your wallet up. Making 120k a year here is nothing for guys who have their shit together, while for a lot of the guys over east, they think they are balling in that bracket.

4) There is a ton of opportunity in Perth. This place is humming.

5) The people here are backward rednecks. I love them for it. I would take my backward redneck cousins over the pretentious homosexuals from Melbourne any day of the week. West Australians are simpletons and we are quite happy being simpletons.

6) Perth is a distraction, but its close proximity to Asia and strong dollar means that you basically opened Asia up for yourself from here. 4-5 hour flights to most SE Asian countries from Perth. If you are looking to party, better to spend your time there than an excessive amount of time in Perth. This place is a big Smallville.

7) Booze, smokes, entertainment are very expensive. Ridiculously so for most people, hence why they spend all day on the beach or at BBQ's. Nightlife on the east coast is vastly superior, albeit it equally expensive. Its also a big drug culture, aussies like to get fucked up. If you are FIFO in west Australia, I would spend more time in Asia than Aus these days.

[Aliblahba]

One of my best friends made it to Perth. It took him 8+ months, and more red tape than getting a TS clearance from Uncle Sam. He's making around $50 hr while in the outback, and $30ish when in Perth on standby. Between taxes and his rent in the city, it's not a money maker.

I won't entertain the idea of going down there. Unfortunately I come from a country that doesn't have the crown on the currency.

[garygroundwork]

would love to get into the mines on good money... fifo work would be awesome

2 weeks on 2 weeks in bali

2 wees on 2 weeks in phillipines

2 weeks on 2 weeks in phuket

2 weeks on 2 weeks on the gold coast

etc etc

[Cyclone]

^ that's not how it works, retard.
It's fly you to WORK, then fly you HOME.
Good luck convincing your boss that your home is in Bali.. and now it's in Phuket.. and now it's in Saigon..

Unless the FO is to a ghetto SEAsian country (I met a guy in northern Vietnam like this) then instead of sending you all the way back down to Perth "home" you can tell them to send you to another SEAsian country. It's all about $$$.
.

[scotian]

Harry, thanks a lot for the words of encouragement and advice about Perth, it actually sounds like my kind of place, although as I mentioned, I don't want to be in it too long, I want to get working right away. The recruiters sounds like a true pain in the ass and I've never dealt with them back home, I'm going to try to contact the contractor companies directly. Nothing worse than then dealing with some dickhead in a suit who asks questions about my thoughts on abstract ideas and opinions when I should be talking shop with a foreman who has dirt on his hands.

My plan is to work for about 6 months straight and bank some money, I'll worry about any trips abroad after that, although as you say, SE Asia is quite close so I may have to hope over there for a week after a couple months of cabin fever.

One issue that is concerning me is the fact that I"m going there on a working holiday visa, although I'll have full rights to work for any company, I expect employers to be a bit hesitant. My friend landed his first gig on a WH visa, so I know that its not impossible. Worst case scenario is that I make some solid contacts and get some leads on work, then fuck off back to SE Asia or even to Canada and wait for a proper 457 visa, we'll see.

Sounds like the Australians are like the Albertans in Canada, afraid of a little hard work, oh well, more work for us guys who want to do it. I actually had a similar discussion with my buddy from Yanchep who is actually a transplant from NZ, he said all the Aussies are like that, "that's why there's so many Kiwis in Oz mate".

Thanks again, cold pint for you!

[scotian]

(04-17-2013 01:01 AM)Cyclone Wrote:  

^ that's not how it works, retard.
It's fly you to WORK, then fly you HOME.
Good luck convincing your boss that your home is in Bali.. and now it's in Phuket.. and now it's in Saigon..

Unless the FO is to a ghetto SEAsian country (I met a guy in northern Vietnam like this) then instead of sending you all the way back down to Perth "home" you can tell them to send you to another SEAsian country. It's all about $$$.
.

Well even if they don't pay for flights, if you're paying $800-1200/month for a room in a house to crash at on your week off, you may as well just buy a return ticket on a discount airline (Tiger, etc) and go directly somewhere cheap like Phuket or Bali for your time off and get drunk and chase women there. Considering the high costs of booze and everything else in Perth, you'd probably be better off doing that anyway.

I had a gig in Canada where it was month on/month off and the company would reimburse the cost of my ticket, up to $1000 and didn't give a shit
where I went so long as I was back to work on time. I think Gary's examples are very realistic, aren't tons of the Aussie tradesmen already doing that anyway (?), so there you go, retard.

[T and A Man]

A kiwi saying Aussies are workshy ... .... bless

(K) een
(I) nterest
(W) ithout
(I) ntelligence

[Cyclone]

(04-17-2013 02:24 AM)scotian Wrote:  

Well even if they don't pay for flights, if you're paying $800-1200/month for a room in a house to crash at on your week off, you may as well just buy a return ticket on a discount airline (Tiger, etc) and go directly somewhere cheap like Phuket or Bali for your time off and get drunk and chase women there. Considering the high costs of booze and everything else in Perth, you'd probably be better off doing that anyway.

You make a good point, especially considering rooms in AUS are typically @ weekly rates, not monthly rates (so your unused rent wouldnt go to waste!). But still, the employer itself would never send you to SEAsia
.

[garygroundwork]

(04-17-2013 01:01 AM)Cyclone Wrote:  

^ that's not how it works, retard.
It's fly you to WORK, then fly you HOME.
Good luck convincing your boss that your home is in Bali.. and now it's in Phuket.. and now it's in Saigon..

Are you stupid or just generally known as a fuckwit?

Where did I ever mention company flying you to those countries?? You fly back to Perth and then fly straight out on the cheap flights.... retard

[garygroundwork]

yeah Scotian loads of guys do it. You can fly from Perth to to anywhere in Thailand/Phillipines for 170 dollars one way..often cheaper...
so if ur on 100/150k plus Australian dollars it sounds like an awesome lifestyle.

even cheaper to Bali

see tiger airways, airasia and jetstar

[scotian]

Man reading these posts by the RVF Aussies has me cracking up, with the fuckwits, the Boguns and the honest self criticism of one's one country, I know I'll fit right it. I've been doing some research into it, just to see how hard these Bogun bastards really are and I found some good videos, including this one:

After spending the past few months in SE Asia surrounded by a bunch of back packing pussies, I realized that I have to "Harden The Fuck Up" before I get to Bogun country. So guys, do you have any tips for the inevitable Bogun Ball Busting I will receive?

I can see it now:, I'm on site and some tough Bogun dickhead hears the accent and starts busting my balls, "Oi mate, why don't you fuck off back to the States you hairy fucking hobitt?" to which I will likely reply, "Why don't you go fuck a dingo you stunned cunt, I'm not from the States!"

So guys, if you could, what are some good ways to insult a Bogun on site without getting my teeth kicked in?

[scotian]

I made it to Perth, but decided I'm only going to check it out for a few days and not work here, not now anyway. I'm staying near Daglish on the Fremantle line, if any of you local Perth guys want to meet up for a drink, let me know.

[Ubietza]

I keep on hearing about these lucrative truck driving jobs over there in Perth, but for a total newbie interested in getting into the field in the U.S., what type of training do I need? Will a CDL from the U.S. carry-over to Oz?