Thread: fly in, fly out- negative report, true, or not?

Originally Posted by disco_thrasher

i do FIFO in central Qld in the oil and gas industry as a safety coordinator my accomadation and 3 cooked meals aday are provided by the company .As for family life i have a 4yrs old and a 10mnth old and see them more and have better quality time with them now ,than when i worked close by then i use to leave for work at 5am and get back around 6pm mon-fri and sat was 5am -4pm so during the week i would see them for max a hour and on a sat for about 4 hrs then sun i was tired so did not want to do much ,now i work for 13 days and spend 8 solid/quality days at home or camping with my family and see them more and get paid 3 times more than i would working in Brisbane .I thought it was never going to be for me as i always put my family first ,but it is way better ,and yes i do miss them everyday but i get back after work and call them on skype every night.
The mining towns are racking in the cash i needed a new pair of boots same pair i would pay 150 in Brisbane cost me 380 ,a tooth brush at home 8 bucks out here 20 bucks a schooner of beer 8bucks back home 4bucks so all this crying out that they getting done over is bollocks we getting shafted because they no we are making good coin ,i know guys how are living in a crapy 4 bed house paying 2600 a week when usually you would not pay more than 350 a week for it

SO YOU TELL ME WHO'S ON THE WINNING EDGE

You are 100% correct. I found similar when I was BIBO from Ravey. The quality of time with the family on an even time Roster was great and would go back to it in a minute. Even school days, simple things like being able to attend school carnivals, presentations etc was nice.
Working 12hr plus days anyway you may see the kids for a very short period anyway and most nights you were tired.
Newman we are fotunate to have a wollies so prices are not that bad. However things like shoes are dear and you just can not buy kids cheap shoes here. People sort of just dont get we have to drive 500kms minimum for basic shopping in South Hedland or 1100kms to Perth for shopping.
Housing here private is $1800 up per week for a ****box house.
People who own businesses in mining towns like Newman become wealthy very quickly.
A good example is a carton of Heineken here is $50. In Perth, Geraldton etc $40 normal and sometimes less. Freight is not $10 per carton on top of normal freight. So you work that out on every carton of beer or bottle of spirits and the are making a killing.
Even Chicken Treat or Subway charge more for their meals. Yet in Broome and Hedland it is the same price as Perth. Go figure.
Generally it is not the mining companies that are killing the towns, but the greed of the locals that want top dollar for their real estate or price gouge retail products and the govt departments that just expect the mining companies to pay for infrastructure.
You only have to look at Esperance when Ravey opened up. People suddenly thought their $300,000 houses were worth $600,000 because a mine opened up 150kms away. It was a joke, some were lucky and sold to ignorant Sydneysiders that moved over and thought that was a reasonable price, but a lot were left on the market. I know when we were looking down there prices were just stupid. They have sort of levelled now. I had to ask a few why would I spend $600k on your house when I can build with all the trimmings etc for $300-350k?
Like I have said FIFO, DIDO, BIBO is not for everyone, but can work if you have a good relationship.

Originally Posted by disco_thrasher

SO YOU TELL ME WHO'S ON THE WINNING EDGE

certainly not the locals..... all the places getting rented out for big $$ are all "investment" properties bought by people who can afford to buy them..... locals cant afford "investment" properties.....

same for the business too bud, and guess what, locals pay the same overinflated prices as the miners do, but the locals dont get the big $$ jobs to help ease the financial pain

Originally Posted by Sprint

certainly not the locals..... all the places getting rented out for big $$ are all "investment" properties bought by people who can afford to buy them..... locals cant afford "investment" properties.....

same for the business too bud, and guess what, locals pay the same overinflated prices as the miners do, but the locals dont get the big $$ jobs to help ease the financial pain

Yes, but it is a catch 22 as it is often the locals (or ex locals) that own these rental properties and are only too happy to charge high rents. As with everything you end up with winners and losers. I think your statement about locals not affording investment properties is not entirely correct. Usually at one point owners have been locals and often buy multiple properties.

A FIFO workers Lament

Awake well before dawn

I don my steelcaps and tread the path well worn

To the mess hall

Bleary eyed and with a yawn

For an unfriendly breakfast

With an unfriendly crew

What the hell is this sloppy gruel

12 hours at the pit

Sloshing around in the muddy ****

Keep those machines working

Gotta keep that dirt moving

A call on the two way

Here we go again

Flat out

All day

Time for a feed and a tub

**** that

I’m off to the pub

No woman

No song

Just the wine and an occasional bong

For a grand a week

****

for a thousand bucks a day

it still would be

hard to stay

Originally Posted by kentkal

for a thousand bucks a day
it still would be
hard to stay

[/CENTER]

as I keep telling the ones who whinge about being "forced" to live out here....

"Dont like it? **** off then, I'm sure theres someone else around ehre who loves living here and wants your job"

FIFO = fit in, or **** off

Originally Posted by kentkal

FIFO = fit in, or **** off

Obviously yo have seen the Newman shirts

We used to have a saying in the Navy, when things got a bit tough, " if you don't have a sense of humour, you shouldn't be here". I suppose that applies to a lot of circumstances, doesn't mean you have to like it , though. Bob