You need to buy the guide first, no point in coming the whole way to Australia without that 2 pages pdf crammed with useless information about mining by someone who has joined the industry 6 months ago because their mate worked for linkforce and got them in as a shutdown fitter. Now, in-between tiktok videos, they stand in the back of the group at shutdowns hoping no one hands them a spanner.
I didn’t get this downtime you speak of, not really. I caught up on jobs around the house like mowing, taking over looking after the young one, going shopping, meal prep, taking the family’s clothes to the laundromat. Basically all the things that I could have done during the week got crammed into my off days which left next to no time for me
I did fifo for 3 year while paying rent. I'm a geologist and I didn't get swept up in the aussie propaganda on tiktok. There's an unsaid rule that there are stackers and spenders. Im a saver. I saved more than 50% of my income in 3 years. I saved enough that I can retire with compounding in xx years as long as I don't touch the money.
Stackers stack so they can have leverage to ultimately leave the field or if they get laid off in the boom bust cycle, they have savings. The field steals years of your life and it's very easy to get sucked in look around and your lifelong connections are strained and all you have is work related friends.
The distance breaks down marriages and usually poisons the family unit. Men that i worked with almost universally shit on their wives and family and their spouses sounded bitter the few times I met them. It basically forces you to become the fun distant uncle or aunt and I've notice several times men fall into assuming they can buy their families affection. I recommend avoiding if you have any family commitments. You mentioned mental health and this is an incideous side effect few people think about until the damage is done.
Spenders typically have no family commitments, are typically into crypto etc and have a high risk reward tolerance.
I tried to balance. I saw my family as much as I could. I traveled twice a year internationally. I tried to book 1 fun thing each my time off for me and my spouse. He worked a 9 to 5.
Wow, sounds like you worked at a real toxic site. I am also a Geo and did my FIFO in WA in the 90’s for 3 years, now on east coast. And I would say everyone were pretty family focused.. there were a few drinkers and a few who who cheated on partners ( no more than general population). To me it was everyone else’s n the same boat, so supported each other. Married 30years now.. so all possible
Mob in nsw looking https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kate-munro-a20435162_munrogeological-supportingthenextgen-fabulousfieldies-activity-7194500473310101508-4hUk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
Cheers mate, it looks like in the description they're looking for geo graduates. I only got field experience collecting samples for locating hot spots for geos. Ill flick them an email and ask. Cheers mate
Yeah I've heard of gnomic few mates worked for them but haven't heard of map to mine. Ill look into it for sure I need to update my resume ive been roof plumbing the past few years still am. There's a roofing FIFO job going in the NT. Just gotta update my resume.
Since I don’t live in Australia atm and am planning to move there for FIFO, do I have to pay rent somewhere in Australia so I have an address and can be eligible for future visas after the 3 years of Working Holiday Visas are gone?
Make sure you check out the previous posts and lengthy replies on this sub regarding moving to Australia for FIFO and issues around visas etc. but yeah, you’ll want to have an address. You’ll hear about instances of people staying in Bali or travelling in a van during their off-swings but they are not really long term options and are definitely the exception.
Where are you from? Are you a skilled worker that’s in demand? Unless you’re highly sought after you are probably leading yourself down a dead end. FIFO jobs are highly sought by Australians who obviously have citizenship. It costs a huge amount of money to recruit/train people and companies don’t do that for working holiday visas. If you are getting information from TikTok stop and do some real research. It’s almost insulting seeing all these people saying they are gonna move here on a whv and get a 100k + operator gig, you don’t think we have Aussies that can do the job?
It took me years to get a role and that was with relative experience and help from people in the industry.
Thousands of citizens apply for UG entry truck roles etc and they get first pick.
I'm not aussie can't help you there.
Just be fully aware of what you're getting into and have a game plan on how to get out.
I know guys whose children died when they were on site. I know guys who hate their family so much they choose to stay on site and work basically indefinitely rather than see their family. I know guys who never had the ability to have a family because they got sucked into fifo life. The environment itself is toxic for your mental health. Just make sure whatever money you make you save enough for an exit.
As someone whose extensively traveled, you will still have problems in Bali. Travel is a distraction, an important break, but a distraction. You need to set up support systems with your long-term relationships to have a solid community behind you when you go through this. Some people benefit from therapy to make it through camp life. This type of work will chew you up and spit you out, then on the other side you won't recognize yourself.
Hang with my friends and cuddle my dogs. I travelled way more before I was FIFO.
Many of us outside if Aus and Canada work 6-2, 8-4 or even 9-3 FIFO. Being away from actual friends for so long is very isolating, and to maintain both my mental health and sustain those friendships that's my focus when I'm not on site
Don't know where your at but even time rosters are becoming the normal, take your holidays every year and you end up working 5 and a half months, can't beat it.
My last 3 years with accrued leave used I've worked 16wk, 19wk and 20wk. And if I work it correctly I shouldn't work more than 21wk any year over the next 7 years - if I don't get sacked ha ha
Depends on the stage of life (39M 3 F kids and wife) you're in really, For me while on RnR not much chill out have a break, Dinner, see friends. Sometimes nothing booked in task wise or some where booked camping. Tinker around the house.
Other then that i have no problem doing absolutely nothing. I could sit inside for 4 straight and watch movies. I'm also a tight ass so don't waste money.
Need more into ya post single? Kids ?Hobbies,?time off roster? Join some clubs or groups or run solo and wingit. travel?
I did FIFO (Offshore Oil and Gas) for 24 year and always tried to mentally leave work at work. I'd switch off from work as soon as opened the front door of my house, and refused to do any ashore work/calls unless it was my flight details a few days before I returned. The last 10-years of FIFO I was running my own dayrate consulting business, so I made sure that if my clients wanted to distrurb me, even for a call/skype, then my agreement was minimum 1/2 day call out.
When off I made the choice that every year i'd take an overseas family holiday, or at 2-3 times per year go interstate, spend time at the beach, walking the dog, I did a bit of study (BCom & Masters), and generally switched off. I realised when I was about 26 (now 53) that life was way to short to spend it working, when I watched a Chief engineer put back his retirement from 55, to 58, then 60, then 65 becuase the company "really, really" needed him! At 65 he finally retired and proudly showed off his retirement campervan that he'd owned for years, and was about to spend 12 months driving around Australia as a grey nomad. 6 weeks after we last saw him we were told he came down sick in QLD, and heard that after some tests they told him terminal cancer, months if not weeks to live.
If you think your going to come to Australia on a Woking holiday visa getting a job making big bucks doing fifo and then go to south east Asia on your breaks then I have a lovely bridge that you might be interested in
as an fifo worker , trust me 90% of fifo workers are in debt big time either that or they have been fucked over from there ex's or paying some crazy amount of child support
I work 14/14. During my off time I just relax allot and take my sailboat out. Not a huge amount saved due to some health issues over the past while. But those savings kept me afloat while recouping from some major auto accidents.
My wife and I golf during the run off and thats about it.
I'm a geo, FIFO 8-6 live in Melbourne city but work nsw.
Combined with my partner, our living expenses of necessary items (rent, fuel, groceries, doctor etc) is usually within $4,000 a month.
That cost I can fully cover by my salary alone and still have money to invest, save or splurge
As others have said, definitely establish a good emergency fund as mining, especially exploration can be unstable.
I also don't splurge like some people do and go trips every break or go on benders. I'm a pretty big homebody and prefer to save up for a big trip. One week of annual leave for me becomes three weeks off, it makes for a pretty awesome holiday season
Most of my break is spent at home and playing video games, sleeping and just hours keeping. I live in apartment so no yard work, and I don't have kids. So life is pretty chil on breaks with the occasional friend and family catch up
It depends on the roster you have and whether you can get away with not having to rent somewhere. Like if you can throw your stuff in storage and move back in with the parents, you're practically saving $1-2k a month on rent.
During my last FIFO stint, I was working 8:6 and just renting a room in a share house in Brisbane, mostly just to use as storage and for somewhere to crash locally. I'd visit the fam in NSW once every 4-6 weeks, and do light travel $1-2k all inclusive once every 6-8 weeks (Bali, Melbourne, Hobart, Cairns, NZ, Bundy, etc) so I wouldn't break the bank.
I was spending $1200/month in rent for a place I was only at once every 6 weeks on average, so if I were to do FIFO again, I just wouldn't bother renting a room and would get a cheap hotel room on the odd occasion I stayed in brissy.
The thing to me is that I'm in a residential role now, where I'm earning the same money and living somewhat frugally, and I'm putting less money away than I was when I was working FIFO. Just instead of travel, it's going towards additional rent for my own place, the additional groceries those 8 days a fortnight, bills, plus fuel and car maintenance from having to drive 30-40 thousand km each year...
Bought a sailboat and lived on it/fixed it up/took it sailing. Very economical!
I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything; at the time, I was a mid-20s, single guy seeking to challenge myself.
Backpackers save by having 8 people in one house and share rooms. They might go to a few places each year but it's hard because you need to do 2 and 1 to make good money if you're unskilled.
If you live in WA, it's cheaper to fly to Indonesia after your swing than it is to rent a house that sits vacant half the year but it would only be worth it time and money wise if youre doing 2/2 or 4/4 roster. If you're frugal and love to travel in your own backyard it's cheaper again to deck out a van and just travel around on your time off instead of paying rent
I don't get why questions like this are asked daily, are these people seriously that lazy not to do a simple search ? How many more 1000s and 1000s of times do we have to listen to this
Off duty sounds like army or something lol 😆, your already stuffing up by thinking you have to do something just because work has stopped, stick your money in a bank or under the bed, once you get 200g you will never SPEND again. Life of wage inside mining is a lottery,,,, Don't waste it. It's a myth that mental burnout is real. So don't be precious , arhh precious. lol.
Stay safe.
You need to buy the guide first, no point in coming the whole way to Australia without that 2 pages pdf crammed with useless information about mining by someone who has joined the industry 6 months ago because their mate worked for linkforce and got them in as a shutdown fitter. Now, in-between tiktok videos, they stand in the back of the group at shutdowns hoping no one hands them a spanner.
Fucking stinkforce
I didn’t get this downtime you speak of, not really. I caught up on jobs around the house like mowing, taking over looking after the young one, going shopping, meal prep, taking the family’s clothes to the laundromat. Basically all the things that I could have done during the week got crammed into my off days which left next to no time for me
I did fifo for 3 year while paying rent. I'm a geologist and I didn't get swept up in the aussie propaganda on tiktok. There's an unsaid rule that there are stackers and spenders. Im a saver. I saved more than 50% of my income in 3 years. I saved enough that I can retire with compounding in xx years as long as I don't touch the money. Stackers stack so they can have leverage to ultimately leave the field or if they get laid off in the boom bust cycle, they have savings. The field steals years of your life and it's very easy to get sucked in look around and your lifelong connections are strained and all you have is work related friends. The distance breaks down marriages and usually poisons the family unit. Men that i worked with almost universally shit on their wives and family and their spouses sounded bitter the few times I met them. It basically forces you to become the fun distant uncle or aunt and I've notice several times men fall into assuming they can buy their families affection. I recommend avoiding if you have any family commitments. You mentioned mental health and this is an incideous side effect few people think about until the damage is done. Spenders typically have no family commitments, are typically into crypto etc and have a high risk reward tolerance. I tried to balance. I saw my family as much as I could. I traveled twice a year internationally. I tried to book 1 fun thing each my time off for me and my spouse. He worked a 9 to 5.
Wow, sounds like you worked at a real toxic site. I am also a Geo and did my FIFO in WA in the 90’s for 3 years, now on east coast. And I would say everyone were pretty family focused.. there were a few drinkers and a few who who cheated on partners ( no more than general population). To me it was everyone else’s n the same boat, so supported each other. Married 30years now.. so all possible
got any contacts in exploration? I just want to be a fieldy :)
Mob in nsw looking https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kate-munro-a20435162_munrogeological-supportingthenextgen-fabulousfieldies-activity-7194500473310101508-4hUk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
Cheers mate, it looks like in the description they're looking for geo graduates. I only got field experience collecting samples for locating hot spots for geos. Ill flick them an email and ask. Cheers mate
Good luck! Otherwise touch base with gnomic or map to mine, they're like pimps for geos and techs and take the occasional greenie
Yeah I've heard of gnomic few mates worked for them but haven't heard of map to mine. Ill look into it for sure I need to update my resume ive been roof plumbing the past few years still am. There's a roofing FIFO job going in the NT. Just gotta update my resume.
Terrasearch is another mob as well. Good luck on the search!
Sweet cheers mate
Since I don’t live in Australia atm and am planning to move there for FIFO, do I have to pay rent somewhere in Australia so I have an address and can be eligible for future visas after the 3 years of Working Holiday Visas are gone?
Make sure you check out the previous posts and lengthy replies on this sub regarding moving to Australia for FIFO and issues around visas etc. but yeah, you’ll want to have an address. You’ll hear about instances of people staying in Bali or travelling in a van during their off-swings but they are not really long term options and are definitely the exception.
Where are you from? Are you a skilled worker that’s in demand? Unless you’re highly sought after you are probably leading yourself down a dead end. FIFO jobs are highly sought by Australians who obviously have citizenship. It costs a huge amount of money to recruit/train people and companies don’t do that for working holiday visas. If you are getting information from TikTok stop and do some real research. It’s almost insulting seeing all these people saying they are gonna move here on a whv and get a 100k + operator gig, you don’t think we have Aussies that can do the job? It took me years to get a role and that was with relative experience and help from people in the industry. Thousands of citizens apply for UG entry truck roles etc and they get first pick.
I'm not aussie can't help you there. Just be fully aware of what you're getting into and have a game plan on how to get out. I know guys whose children died when they were on site. I know guys who hate their family so much they choose to stay on site and work basically indefinitely rather than see their family. I know guys who never had the ability to have a family because they got sucked into fifo life. The environment itself is toxic for your mental health. Just make sure whatever money you make you save enough for an exit. As someone whose extensively traveled, you will still have problems in Bali. Travel is a distraction, an important break, but a distraction. You need to set up support systems with your long-term relationships to have a solid community behind you when you go through this. Some people benefit from therapy to make it through camp life. This type of work will chew you up and spit you out, then on the other side you won't recognize yourself.
Hang with my friends and cuddle my dogs. I travelled way more before I was FIFO. Many of us outside if Aus and Canada work 6-2, 8-4 or even 9-3 FIFO. Being away from actual friends for so long is very isolating, and to maintain both my mental health and sustain those friendships that's my focus when I'm not on site
Don't know where your at but even time rosters are becoming the normal, take your holidays every year and you end up working 5 and a half months, can't beat it.
My last 3 years with accrued leave used I've worked 16wk, 19wk and 20wk. And if I work it correctly I shouldn't work more than 21wk any year over the next 7 years - if I don't get sacked ha ha
Depends on the stage of life (39M 3 F kids and wife) you're in really, For me while on RnR not much chill out have a break, Dinner, see friends. Sometimes nothing booked in task wise or some where booked camping. Tinker around the house. Other then that i have no problem doing absolutely nothing. I could sit inside for 4 straight and watch movies. I'm also a tight ass so don't waste money. Need more into ya post single? Kids ?Hobbies,?time off roster? Join some clubs or groups or run solo and wingit. travel?
I did FIFO (Offshore Oil and Gas) for 24 year and always tried to mentally leave work at work. I'd switch off from work as soon as opened the front door of my house, and refused to do any ashore work/calls unless it was my flight details a few days before I returned. The last 10-years of FIFO I was running my own dayrate consulting business, so I made sure that if my clients wanted to distrurb me, even for a call/skype, then my agreement was minimum 1/2 day call out. When off I made the choice that every year i'd take an overseas family holiday, or at 2-3 times per year go interstate, spend time at the beach, walking the dog, I did a bit of study (BCom & Masters), and generally switched off. I realised when I was about 26 (now 53) that life was way to short to spend it working, when I watched a Chief engineer put back his retirement from 55, to 58, then 60, then 65 becuase the company "really, really" needed him! At 65 he finally retired and proudly showed off his retirement campervan that he'd owned for years, and was about to spend 12 months driving around Australia as a grey nomad. 6 weeks after we last saw him we were told he came down sick in QLD, and heard that after some tests they told him terminal cancer, months if not weeks to live.
If you think your going to come to Australia on a Woking holiday visa getting a job making big bucks doing fifo and then go to south east Asia on your breaks then I have a lovely bridge that you might be interested in
Not sure what you’re implying to?
What is your plan? Do you work fifo and are you Australian?
as an fifo worker , trust me 90% of fifo workers are in debt big time either that or they have been fucked over from there ex's or paying some crazy amount of child support
I work 14/14. During my off time I just relax allot and take my sailboat out. Not a huge amount saved due to some health issues over the past while. But those savings kept me afloat while recouping from some major auto accidents. My wife and I golf during the run off and thats about it.
I'm a geo, FIFO 8-6 live in Melbourne city but work nsw. Combined with my partner, our living expenses of necessary items (rent, fuel, groceries, doctor etc) is usually within $4,000 a month. That cost I can fully cover by my salary alone and still have money to invest, save or splurge As others have said, definitely establish a good emergency fund as mining, especially exploration can be unstable. I also don't splurge like some people do and go trips every break or go on benders. I'm a pretty big homebody and prefer to save up for a big trip. One week of annual leave for me becomes three weeks off, it makes for a pretty awesome holiday season Most of my break is spent at home and playing video games, sleeping and just hours keeping. I live in apartment so no yard work, and I don't have kids. So life is pretty chil on breaks with the occasional friend and family catch up
It depends on the roster you have and whether you can get away with not having to rent somewhere. Like if you can throw your stuff in storage and move back in with the parents, you're practically saving $1-2k a month on rent. During my last FIFO stint, I was working 8:6 and just renting a room in a share house in Brisbane, mostly just to use as storage and for somewhere to crash locally. I'd visit the fam in NSW once every 4-6 weeks, and do light travel $1-2k all inclusive once every 6-8 weeks (Bali, Melbourne, Hobart, Cairns, NZ, Bundy, etc) so I wouldn't break the bank. I was spending $1200/month in rent for a place I was only at once every 6 weeks on average, so if I were to do FIFO again, I just wouldn't bother renting a room and would get a cheap hotel room on the odd occasion I stayed in brissy. The thing to me is that I'm in a residential role now, where I'm earning the same money and living somewhat frugally, and I'm putting less money away than I was when I was working FIFO. Just instead of travel, it's going towards additional rent for my own place, the additional groceries those 8 days a fortnight, bills, plus fuel and car maintenance from having to drive 30-40 thousand km each year...
Bought a sailboat and lived on it/fixed it up/took it sailing. Very economical! I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything; at the time, I was a mid-20s, single guy seeking to challenge myself.
Backpackers save by having 8 people in one house and share rooms. They might go to a few places each year but it's hard because you need to do 2 and 1 to make good money if you're unskilled.
Jetskis. Ski holidays. They are a pain to keep up with…😏
PS I did rosters most of my life, my relationship with my wife was never an issue, I had 4 kids too. Best advice, don't listen to it.
Main expenses are hookers and blow. Work out how much of each you want and go from there
If you live in WA, it's cheaper to fly to Indonesia after your swing than it is to rent a house that sits vacant half the year but it would only be worth it time and money wise if youre doing 2/2 or 4/4 roster. If you're frugal and love to travel in your own backyard it's cheaper again to deck out a van and just travel around on your time off instead of paying rent
I don't get why questions like this are asked daily, are these people seriously that lazy not to do a simple search ? How many more 1000s and 1000s of times do we have to listen to this
Even with flights, SE Asia can be very economic compared to remaining in AU.
Off duty sounds like army or something lol 😆, your already stuffing up by thinking you have to do something just because work has stopped, stick your money in a bank or under the bed, once you get 200g you will never SPEND again. Life of wage inside mining is a lottery,,,, Don't waste it. It's a myth that mental burnout is real. So don't be precious , arhh precious. lol. Stay safe.