ROCKYROCKS

Thanks for he info, I will contact these clubs directly.

My eldest son plays as a goalkeeper at the highest level in our region, how big a difference there is between levels at his age group I'm not sure?

He is keen to play in anyway shape or form just so long as he is involved in football as soon as he is in Perth. However he does have designs on playing for the best team he can in time for the 2017 season. My younger son isn't bothered about the standard he just enjoys the kickabout and the team aspect of it all.

Overall it would seem there is much to be positive about regarding junior football in the area.

I am looking to track down a decent football club for my two boys aged 11 & 12 for our arrival in early June.

We are looking around the Rockingham area as we will be living in Baldivis.

Any suggestions welcome.

Tell you what Rocky this forum is dead.... you are the only one really I am seeing who is heading back... I am still thinking of it, though. Sometime in life I take chances and this could be one of those times....

Yeah I think you are right thl4kel, its a different scenario to when we first moved out to Victoria in 2009, there were loads of people making the move then.

We are taking a chance going back, but then again I'm in the O&G industry so if stay in the mature N Sea basin or go and get involved in the LNG sector again, there will be cyclic periods of uncertainty in either location. What I will say is if I was a betting man I'd put my money on the LNG game in Australia for the long term as opposed to the N Sea O&G industry!

I hope you get a clear way ahead, we have been weighing up our situation for the best part of a year now, its very unsettling.

We are moving back to Perth after 2 years back in Scotland, we see Perth as our long term home.

There does seem to be way more people going in the opposite direction to us though.

Hi Frank, the following refineries are still operational to the best of my knowledge. Viva Geelong (Vic), Exxon Altona (Vic), BP Kwinana (WA) & Caltex Brisbane (QLD).

As others have mentioned the market is slow, but it does seem to be moving along better than the N Sea.

I'd imagine with your background it's worth applying to various projects that are at commissioning/construction stage being run by Inpex LNG, Chevron LNG & various others including Shell.

Don't worry there is always an abundance of to$$ers around on these sites to pass judgement without knowing the full story, don't take it personally.

In terms of the 457 situation it does sound like you will have apply for dispensation , sorry I can't give any specific advice.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

I lived up in Baldivis for a while and I'd say Mandurah was our favourite weekend family hangout. The foreshore has a great play area and there is a good choice of restaurants etc. In terms of living there I'm not sure, although I could see myself living in a canal side home once I make my first million!

I agree with the sentiment that depending where you are in the UK will affect your chances of securing a job. Up here in Aberdeen you'd be lucky to get anything at present and I mean anything, however it's cyclical and will bounce back when oil increases in price for a prolonged period. I would also suggest though, that a great many working people earn s%$t money in the UK, with virtually non existent benefits packages.

What are most going to do with their stakeholder pension that has contributed 3% of their 22k salary when retirement comes around?

The UK simply isn't booming in my view, far from it, wages outwith a couple of plumb sectors are shockingly low.

WA certainly doesn't have it's problems to seek that's for sure, I've had to accept a lower level role on slightly lower money than before in the same location (I still see myself as extremely fortunate). Many people that were employed in Iron-Ore mining are now struggling and that has increased completion in other sectors of the labour market.

Moved out in 2009 on a 457 with the offer attached to said visa.

Returning in June with an offer form the same employer albeit we are now PR. I will commute on 14 day on 14 day off roster from April (jetlag anyone). Even though I'm well connected with my old employer it took a bit of back and forth before they would commit to an in writing offer.

We are moving back circa June 2016, I'm about to review my old 2014 bank statements and build a rough budget. We are now a family of six as opposed to the mere five we were when we left, once I pull the figures together I'll be happy to share them. I agree with some of the comments above, people are fleeing hellish situations worldwide and most build new lives in the Western world.

Pulling a budget together will give a general indication of fixed costs etc. but there are the incidentals that catch you out. Cups of coffee, extra takeaways and bread/milk runs!

Also I stand corrected on Adelaide housing costs.

100K equates to a take home pay of $6084 per month, If you assume a weekly rent or mortgage payment of circa $500 per week, then that level income is doable. What I would say is, you won't live like a king or anything of the sort but you will do more than OK. $500 a week rent will preclude you from living in the most desirable areas of any Aussie city but it gets you some very nice rental property further out in the burbs.

Our income in 2009 was circa 90-100K, that was with 2 then laterally 3 kids, we lived fine and didn't feel cash strapped. We did have to be careful though.

I'm happy to share that when we doubled our income and our outgoings went up slightly we still saved circa $50K per year, but like some posters have mentioned above I did have many colleagues that struggled to survive on $200k. We felt we were living the dream and went on 3 holidays a year. Two of which were Bali & Thailand, with one at home in Oz.

Some people on expat forums insist you need 180K minimum to live as a family of four, it's simply not true.

My view is 100k is doable however 120k is probably the sweet spot, this is accounting for having the average rent or mortgage payment.

I'm no expert on Perth and haven't read all the comments but I've just come back from a week there. Everywhere I went there were talks of job losses in mines and oil. I had a taxi and an uber both worked in the mines and lost their jobs. I was in a pub the other day and two guys were stood behind me saying that there was no work in oil and gas and all the Aussies had gone over to the Middle East. The other night as I was heading up to my room at the hotel a man held the lift for me he had lots of cases he told me he had just been laid off from the mines and he had no home and no where to go. The uber driver who took me to the airport this morning was a geophysicist and had been laid off 3 months ago, he said he can't get work anywhere as he is 50, he said most of the uber drivers were professionals who had been laid off from the mines.

Wow that's a really bad summary of your interactions in Perth but not unexpected, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the update I appreciate that, interestingly I also worked for the LNG (americano) organisation for only one year, and it was fine up to a point, I am no Engineer (unfortunately) but at least it gave me some useful experience in the area of work that I am in, Essentially, I don't usually work in the Oil and Gas world, I actually work in the financial world (London) and it does appear to be more prosperous there currently, and to be honest I really do miss working in that area, as I just find the people are totally professional (in most cases) ahem! having said that I do know the americano organisation is also based in London (Bech..L ) or Chevvy ronny I'm sure you know who they are...I also hope you land this role to which you have applied for, you are having a lot more success than I my friend, as with the roles I am currently applying for there are at least 175-200 other applicants, I used to work in Government here too, until December 2015 they put all jobs on Freeze (six month duration) so all the applications that I had put out which included 5 page essays just like you do at University which I still find a really strange procedure, why did we go to Uni, surely that in it's entirety, so lost all my applications in a moment, and I have to be honest that was pretty much my hope gone right out of the window so to speak, don't get me wrong I am still able to gain Interviews at various Universities ect but to no avail, I even found out Dept of Fisheries (one I did actually pass the selection criteria and Interview for re advertised and after making some inquiries to the agency they explained the were looking for another candidate with more experience, you can see how this can start to frustrate you in the processes involved here...perhaps I need to call it quits, sometimes in life it's good to know when it's time.. My last point as I do talk a lot, In London, the most important part of your application is YOU, they want to speak to you directly, and introduce YOU to their colleagues to gauge an idea of your personality and how you will fit in a team, there not interested too much in your resume, they take that as a given, but it's all about the person and how they interact with others which is fundamental, here is not quite the same from my own experiences..

Yeah I think I can workout the organisation you previously worked for from your encryption lol!

The application process can be painful down under of that there is no doubt.

The picture being painted of Perth is far from positive, however being a resident of NE Scotland hanging around here is very uncertain in the short term. We want to be back in WA to settle down however there is no avoiding the obvious downsides to the economy.

The boom was big but it appears the bust is even bigger!

It get the feeling that most of the jobs being lost are construction driven as opposed to operational in O&G. Where as they are both construction oriented and operational in Iron Ore?

I can't decide if my home town of Aberdeen is suffering more or my adopted home Perth is, I guess it's rather bleak for both.

Wow, I am totally jealous that you are back in the UK, really I am, The Job market in Perth, I have worked for some major organisations in my career, HOwever, here in Perth getting a job / role depending on your area of expertise is Totally difficult and the reason there are soo many properties available is because everyone is leaving, Interestingly there are more people from Australia migrating to New Zealand highest ever in 30 odd years, that has to be indicative of something, I have been unemployed for five months and I have totally had enough of living here in Perth, Western Australia, and I am in the process of getting things in order for me to leave as soon as possible, my recommendations would be for you to apply for a job from the UK before even considering coming back here, unless you are pretty wealthy then problem solved.

 

The nightmare is finding work, have over 200 plus applications and no one gets back to you (even a reply) that's me done n dusted and i'll be returning anytime soon..

Thanks for the insight although I’m sorry to hear you are going through such a difficult time.

The job market in the UK for Oil & Gas people is extremely tight with huge payoff’s having occurred, I get the feeling Perth has suffered the same fate from reading forums and discussing the situation with ex colleagues. I am well into to negotiations for my previous role in the LNG industry in WA I have also applied for a couple of manufacturing roles that are related to my skill set. What I will say is that with my type of work, there was always a huge shortage of people and if I applied for a role the response was almost instant.

Since I began applying for jobs again I’ve noticed a great deal of simply no response from potential employers and had a few knockbacks.

If you are coming back to the UK and you don’t have to work in an Oil & Gas based role then the job market would appear to be quite good.

For the likes of myself with O&G backgrounds things are extremely grim and set to get even worse, if I do land the WA role I’m negotiating at present I’ll be a great deal more grateful for it this time around!

Think your mate must have wanted a boat, jet ski, couple of 4 wheel drives, kids in private school and a 5 bed detached in a beachside suburb. Me and wife think Perth is the bees knees and we've never had that much income in 24 years here. Neither of us has worked in mining or oil and gas, don't feel like we've missed out on much though. Maybe we are too easily pleased?

I think the 120k figure is a realistic figure for a family to live well but not in shear luxury, that's if you base that on someone having the average WA mortgage of $332K and perhaps one decent car and one older car, then a 120k should see you live quite well. Most Aussies get by on quite a lot less than 120k.

In saying that, a lot of new arrivals will have to borrow a great deal more than 332k to buy a property, the average figure will include a lot of people that have been in the market for a long time, hence lower mortgage average.

When we first arrived in Oz back in 2009 I earned circa 100k, that provided an OK life for a family of 5, we had rent of about $430 per week and the car was bought and paid for. Our outgoings were fairly minimal, we managed quite a few holidays including the Gold Coast etc. and a mum & dad weekend in Sydney so it was doable. Again though if we had to buy a property for say 500k, things would have tightened up a fair bit even with a 20% deposit. We also saved a couple of hundred bucks a fortnight for a rainy day.

Everyone lives differently but I do think some prospective migrants do get quite scared by the figures banded around on here and other sites.

Well done mate hope it works out ok. The conditions seem pretty good.

Cheers hopefully all goes well, still waiting for the written offer.

A bit of trepidation setting in now as the return move is becoming very real!

Are you going to wait until Perth picks up or just stay put?

Bit of an update, I've got myself close to striking a deal for my previous role in Karratha. The package is worth about the same as it was in 2014 but I'm expected to travel to site in my own time and we now have to work an extra 1/2 hour per day. The general feel from my former employer is that there is still a lot of opportunity in the LNG industry but clients are driving a far harder bargain. Hopefully it comes off as securing employment aids any move and as mentioned by many being skint in Perth is not appealing!

The info in this thread has really thrown a new perspective onto my thoughts about moving back. I was just have a look at share prices on companies like Monadelphous, their shares have dropped from $30 to $6 and there not the only ones, not really a great sign.. On a plus note I had a look on Seek and it looks like theres more work in Brisbane than WA.

 

Does it happen a lot just in the oil/gas/iron ore industries? Not that often but a lot of it is to do with Saudi and China for various reasons and it will have a knock effect..

 

I remember six years ago I had just arrived in Perth and a guy i met on a FLT training course said to me (he was a Brit) to have a happy live in Perth you need $120k household income. The best I managed to achieve was $200k, working FIFO on Gorgon. Gorgon always paid a bit more because its a Class A nature reserve. I never managed to get the 120k in Perth came close but it was a one year contract.

Yeah seek is busier than expected it to be, I think various service companies will be doing it tough regarding their share value.

The 120k figure seems about right to achieve a reasonable level of comfort for a family.

What rota were you doing on Gorgon?

If the price of oil drops much more they will be giving it away.

 

Does this sort of thing happen often in your industry?

I think the answer to that is yes it has happened in the past but the slide this time has been quite spectacular and looks set to continue,

Worrying times in resource cities as the recovery could be 3-5 years away

Yeah I noticed 600 BP staff got made redundant the other day in the North Sea, if you were at Karatha gas plant were you working for Monadelphous, I think they carry out maintenance work on there? If I go back I think I will try and get into something else anyway.. Having seen a lot of the comments on this thread its kinda made me think a lot. OZ a great place when your making ok cash, but not so great without a big income. Maintenance roles didn't pay that great prior to this down turn. WA Oil Barrow Island were paying around 100k for 2/2 roster. Great if you love fishing surfing on Barrow but if you have a big mortgage.. Karatha Gas Plant I thought they wanted you to live there.

Yeah a decent income is vitally important in WA no doubt however there is a lot of talk about silly amounts being required to live an average life in OZ on these and other forums like it. I'm not sure I see Australia as massively more expensive overall, especially compared with places like the SE of England and Aberdeen.

The Karratha gas plant is mostly FIFO on a 2/2 rota with some projects work being done on a 21/10 rota, although some people do the residential thing. The cash was pretty good for inspection people and from what I remember the Mono guys were on approx. 140K for the 2/2 as tradesmen & around 170K for supervisors. Of course there were other contractors like Fluor & TW paying Engineers 200k+ for equal time rotas, decent cash in my book.

I have a few irons in the fire now with my old employer and a few others, but competition is more fierce than before.

Cheers

Well its all sounding a bit grim..... Yes I have friends in WA and family but they don't work in HR/Recruitment. I would never rent my house to anyone whether in the UK or OZ.

I'm in the same boat, planning to return Perth after 2 years back in the NE of Scotland, we still have our house in Baldivis to return to.

I work in O&G as a contractor and the N Sea is on it's knees at present, I'm in asset integrity and suspect that we will be cut back to the bare bones but kept in some shape or form.

I can only echo what others in the thread have suggested, you should use old work contacts to try and open doors as applying for HSE stuff as an unknown quantity will leave you in a sea of similar hopefuls. My approach for landing a gig in WA for my return is to contact various ex colleagues and let them know I'm looking for a role in WA or elsewhere in Oz. My ex workmates on Karratha Gas Plant have taken a 10% pay cut and lost travel time etc. however they are still doing pretty well in comparison to the average Aussie.

I am reasonably optimistic that I'll land a job in my field but far from convinced it will be as well paid as the job I left in early 2014 however you have to take the rough with the smooth.

LNG operations will require maintenance and operation from the minute they are switched on with the demand for labour in those sectors increasing as the plants age. Therefore its far from doom and gloom in the medium to long term, the problem at the moment is heaps of construction guys will be trying to phase themselves into said maint roles when construction ends competition will be fierce.

Good luck