TerryDXB

http://www.dragoman.com/?gclid=CNj-j6CHxNICFcuZGwod2_cIjA Take a look at this outfit - I crossed paths with one of their tour groups whilst 4WDing in Namibia last year - not that expensive and looks like it could be fun

With the distances involved, 14/14 would be a really tough gig - 21/21 might just be 'doable'. You don't need me to tell you that its at least 24 hours flying each way, so 21on/21off would really be 21on/19off - and that's not including any recovery/jet lag time: you'll need that even if you're travelling business class. It can be a stressy lifestyle if you've never done it before, with a likelihood of missing key family dates/holidays- but..needs must. Good luck to you if you can make it work. On a possibly positive note, if you can make it work, and you can somehow separate yourself (tax wise) from your family in Australia and tie yourself to the UK for tax purposes, then you won't pay any tax if you can arrange to be in the UK for less than 90 days each year. That's the simple version - it can be more complicated, but its worth looking into. I'm not sure what the Australian tax authorities might make of that though, especially if you turn up every 3 weeks to visit your family

Your toes?

Can we go back as far as the children having to use 25 cm (10") blackboards and crayons? There was a war on and paper was scarce. Things got a lot better after you finished sorting out those annoying Boers though......for a little while at least

As mentioned, just change the plug and it will work fine. But do remember, if you're bringing it in from the UK (or anywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere), then it will rotate in the opposite direction once you get it to Oz.

Do i have a leg to stand on? - but you're a doctor, if you can't tell.... On a more serious note, I would suggest that you carefully check your contract/terms of employment letter: my contract stated that if I left within 2 years of starting my job, I would have to payback a percentage of ALL the costs incurred by the company in getting me to Oz. Your employer only has to pay for flights back to your point of origin, but they decide the routing/cost to suit themselves; they do not have to take your wants/needs into consideration, so you need to understand that as well before you end up even more 'out pf pocket' I want to secure a good reference and worry that pursuing this could jeopardise that. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that - you're not the first, and you won't be the last. Your last UK employer should vouch for you - all you have to do for your next job it explain the circumstances surrounding your decision to leave Oz.

As such, I have prepared a written request and will arrange my own flights (the most commercially viable of course) and submit this with my letter of resignation. I need to depart on a certain day immediately after I cease employment and I cannot guarantee that my employer would arrange flights to suit. I will assume that they will honour this, as it is stipulated by Immigration's legislation. Let's see how I go. I would suggest that you need to be very careful in making assumptions as to what will and won't be honoured. The only obligation that your employer has is to provide tickets - there is no requirement for them to take account of any your needs, as long as they meet their obligations. It would be nice if they simply told you to get on with it and book your own, but again, this is not something they are obligated to do. Your definition of commercially viable might not be the same as your employers and they can just as easily meet their obligations by turning round and giving you tickets that don't meet your needs. You need to understand who the term 'commercially viable' applies to - you or your company? You wording "I need to depart on a certain day immediately after I cease employment and I cannot guarantee that my employer would arrange flights to suit" sounds like a demand, and you are in no position to make such a demand - you can make a request, but again, your company are not obligated to meet that request. Hopefully you and your employer will part on reasonable terms and they will agree to your request, but have you considered what will happen if, as you say you will do, you book and pay for air tickets (in what is in your opinion, the most commercially viable manner) and your company then decides to provide tickets from its own source? - you will be well out of pocket. Good luck

"get a grip" typical response from someone who does not understand those people with mental issues, borders on being ignorant. How do you know that the OP has mental issues? Is it not possible that he's just a complete prat who refuses to accept that he just might have made some spectacularly bad (and incredibly selfish) decisions that have cost him dearly?

Still banging on about that???? You're giving whinging poms a bad name. Get a grip and do something about it instead of boring the pants off of a forum.

Could've been me writing all that..with the exception of going to Melbourne...I was there from June 2010 to August 2012. In June 2012 I was in two minds as to whether to stay or leave, it would have been easy to stay - great money, but the entire Aussie work culture was grinding me down. I could have changed jobs..plenty of opportunities in Oz at that time (many fewer now) and stayed, but I was a little concerned that it might have been 'out of the fire..' so to speak. My decision was made when I got a phone call out of the blue, asking if I'd be interested in a job back in the UK..so back I went and its been great. Fabulous job (28 days on/28 days off - so lots of time to travel) much more job satisfaction (can actually get things done) with more money and just a better way of doing things. I've now been back in the UK for longer than I was in OZ and have no regrets at all - I'm not bothered if I never go there again - in fact, if I have enough money for a holiday in Oz, I'd use it to go somewhere else. I don't hate or dislike Oz, its just that I don't find it that interesting. I had a great time there but its just not for me. I guess its OK if the height of your life's ambition is a better house than the one you had in the UK (but that's open to debate, considering to poor build quality of Oz houses), better access to sea fishing and beaches with sandflies, over priced and rubbish beers but, for variety of experience, travel and culture, Oz is far behind the UK. As I said, I had a great time, and left the UK for what I thought were all the right reasons, but now I'm back I really really appreciate all the points that I took for granted and am making the most of them.

Perth is likely to be the centre of WA Oil and Gas (mainly gas) for a while to come, so there will likely be lots of fab shops around - the problem is that for the last 5 or 6 years they will have been supporting the construction boom and as this peters out then the quantity of work going to them will greatly diminish, so they will need fewer staff. As a commissioning engineer, I worked with tradies during the construction phase of an LNG Plant. As the plant approached 'production' the tradies were laid off (sometimes with just a day or two of notice) - they easily found other work on other projects that were a little way behind, and then brought their mates across as well - little 'bands of brothers' travelling from project to project. Most (not all) realized that this was a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity to get cashed up - mortgage paid off and money in the bank to set them up for life, so they worked as hard and for as long as they could, knowing it was all going to end soon. For the same reason, many hated FIFO, but it was a means to an end. So....if you go to Oz without a job lined up, you'll be competing with tradies that 'rode the boom', are financially sound and don't want/need to do FIFO - just looking for a regular Monday-Friday job to spend quality time with their families/golf course and just keep ticking over with day to day bills. There are no big projects on the horizon. Typically, you're looking at 5000 people needed on-site during the construction phase - with less than 500 needed to keep a place going during production phase...you are going to be competing with the other welders in that 4500 who are also looking for a job. Multiply this by 6 or 7 to cover all the big projects that have gone on over the last 5 or 6 years to get a sense of perspective. Without Oz experience and being outside 'the little bands of brothers' networking system you are at a big disadvantage.....not impossible, but unlikely. Sorry if this is not what you (and 'others' with rose tinted specs) want to hear...but's that's how it is.

The company said gas from the discovery could potentially feed into either its Wheatstone or Gorgon projects, but more tests still had to be conducted Possibly good for Chevron as a business, but it won't generate many, if any, new jobs. IF the potential is realised, the most that can be hoped for is a tie-in to existing pipelines, possibly a small platform, neither of which would create anything remotely like the number of short term (4/5 years) jobs that a new LNG park would generate.

Hi Ross, I'm based in Norfolk, although don't actually work there anymore. I also work in Oil and Gas and, not so long back, I spent a couple of years working in WA Oil and Gas Some of the confusion that is being mentioned results from a a failure to recognize that low oil prices are a global phenomenon affecting every country - like you say, it is likely to be a dip in jobs/employment everywhere, maybe for a year or so, possibly longer. An additional complication in Oz is that there have been several major LNG construction projects running since 2010, requiring huge numbers of skilled tradesmen - mechies, welders etc, a lot of which had to be brought in from outside Oz, simply because there weren't enough home grown ones. This isn't a reflection on the quality of workers in Oz, they're as good as any, just that there weren't enough of them to meet demand during a construction boom. That construction period is now coming to an end as the LNG projects are completed and go into production. Over the next 18-24 months, the construction phase all over Oz will be just about finished and there will be huge numbers of tradies looking for jobs - there are no new large projects on the horizon and the jobs just won't be there. A very small proportion of the tradies involved in construction 'might' be taken on to maintenance roles, but to be honest, the number of welders needed during the operating phase of a plant, compared to its construction phase is tiny, so there's going to be lots of competition for any jobs that are going AND market forces will take over forcing rates down. Just about all the large LNG project have, or will overrun on budget and time and towards the end of the construction phase of each one, you might see heavy recruitment just to get a project 'across the line' but this will be a short term event lasting until the site has gone operational. If you were thinking of going to Oz 4/5/6 years ago, I'd have been more optimistic, but right now, if you have a job in the UK, I'd be tempted to stay there. As mentioned, Oz experience is very, very important and without that, I think you might well struggle to get work. I wouldn't consider going unless there was a guaranteed job waiting for me. Nothing to stop you trying though and I wish you luck in your endeavours....

You are innocent until proved guilty. Was somebody hurt/damaged/put in hospital because of your actions? In short, did you cause ABH? Yes or No? If the answer is Yes, then you are guilty? If the answer is No, then plead not guilty - just don't lie about it I don't know what the outcome will be, but if you are thinking about extending to another 457 (if you haven't already) or moving to PR, then a guilty verdict won't help.

If the price of oil, gas and iron ore goes up though, the way they make more profit is to start up more oil wells, start exploration again, open pits that have been put on the back burner, start projects that have been shelved for now. If this happens there will be a massive push for well qualified and trained personnel again. Got to admire your optimism P1P, but....those activities you mentioned, even if they happen, aren't really going to create too many new jobs, and certainly not on the scale of those produced by the huge LNG construction projects. There will be no massive push for well qualified and trained personnel..what has happened in WA/Perth over the last 5 years is a 'once in a lifetime' event - if you 'rode it' and did well out of it, then congratulations to you. In recent times, and with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, 5-6 years ago was the perfect time to move to Oz from the UK - lots of job opportunities both directly related to mineral resources and indirectly (as government coffers fill with additional taxes and duties). reasonable house prices (although already on the 'up' at that time). There won't be any new large LNG construction projects any time soon, because the local market is saturated and has all the LNG plants that Oz needs. Exploration doesn't create many jobs. All the big offshore gas fields have just about been discovered - there are probably smaller ones waiting to be found, but the economics of their recovery aren't sound, and even if a large field is discovered, chances are it will be fed into an existing LNG plant. There will be small (compared to LNG construction anyway) projects...capacity upgrades, rehabilitation and suchlike, but these will be relatively short-term, requiring no more than a couple of hundred workers at most to see them through. The really good times have been and are on their way out...not to say things will be dire, but they certainly will be different, especially if you are a new or pending arrival basing your expectations on what happened between 2 and 6 years back.