Looking to move from Perth to North Queensland

[geordiekev]

Hi everyone , myself and my wife are wanting to move from Perth to North Queensland around this time next year once we have broken free of the shackles of our 457 visa.

 

I have lived in Home Hill , and Bowen and think the pace of life would suit us perfectly. Just wondering how people think we would fare looking for work and which area would be more promising .. I plastered back home for over 6 years (not sand cement too much) but will have been scaffolding up north in the mines almost 2 years by time we move and my wife is a mental health community coordinator. I know the mining industry has slowed oz wide and therefor Im prepared to look at doing whatever suits work wise but my wife will specifically looking for work in her field.

 

Does construction etc really slow down when the wet season hits ? We plan to do a weeks holiday in october from cairns down to mackay just tp get a feel for where we will officially try and lay roots .. man the house prices are amazing in comparison to here in Perth .. really excited at the prospect of living back in the gorgeous north queensland

[jac2011]

Hi Geordiekev, I am a mh nurse and there are lots of services in Townsville. They were very excited to take me on 6 months before I started and they were willing to pay accomodation on arrival etc too. Worth sending a speculative CV ahead of time to the HR dept! :-)

[geordiekev]

Yer the mrs will definitely plan ahead .. what is the wet season like out there >?

[Bobj]

Yer the mrs will definitely plan ahead .. what is the wet season like out there >?

 

G'day mate, Mackay might be another option, especially for your lady, as there are 2 new hospitals.

 

There are several very nice areas in close proximity to the city for commuting within 50 km and 40 minutes' drive.

 

Ayr/Homehill are more rural and the sugar industry is on a seasonal basis.

 

The Wet...not much this "Wet", more like 40% of the average on the Central/North Coast of Qld this year. The wet season has been declining over the last 10 years. From a 75 inch rainfall to 30 inches last Wet in Mackay.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[jac2011]

Yer the mrs will definitely plan ahead .. what is the wet season like out there >?

 

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[TD]The Townsville area has a tropical climate but, due to its geographical location, rainfall is not as high as elsewhere in the tropics.

The winter months are dominated by SE trade winds and mostly fine weather. Further north the coastline runs north/south and the trade winds are lifted to produce rainfall right through the year. However, Townsville lies on a section of coastline that turns east/west, so the lifting effect is not present. As a result, our winter months are dominated by blue skies, warm days and cool nights - although every now and then we can experience a few days of showery weather.

 

The summer months are hot and humid with "build-up" thunderstorms starting in late October or November. Bursts of monsoon rains from late December through until early April deliver our highest rainfalls, and this is also the season that Tropical Cyclones can threaten the region. The monsoon winds coming down from the northern hemisphere pick up abundant heat and moisture to feed into the monsoon trough, often producing widespread flooding rains over the region.

Tropical Lows can develop within the monsoon trough, and when they form over warm seas, they can develop further into Tropical Cyclones, which can whip up destructive winds and phenomenal seas. A feature of Severe Tropical Cyclones (category three or greater) making landfall is the storm surge that occurs with them - a rising of the sea level which can be devastating if it occurs near high tide. Thankfully, Severe Tropical Cyclones are rare, effecting Townsville on average once every twenty years. Storm surge is even more unlikely - it is estimated that a surge one metre above the high water mark would occur, on average, once in a hundred years.

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[geordiekev]

Cheers guys .. yer mackay is somewhere else were looking at as i think thered be good work opportunities for myself ..

 

I actually worked the sugar cane season back in 2010 and 11 , think we were some of the last people to be planting manually pumping it into the ol chop box .. good fun but hard work !!!

 

Already pricing flights into cairns and the rental of a campervan so i can sell the place to the mrs

 

Her credentials and experience in her field are pretty sought after and I am always confident of snagging a decent number .. Perth is good for what we are paid but the price of everything makes up for that and tbh bar the beaches theres not much to do here and if were lucky enough to expect a lil one in the nearer future Id love for them to grow up the north queensland way !!!

[Eera]

We haven't had a "proper" wet season for a while; all the rain seems to be going south and avoiding the tropics. Don't worry about the cyclones; we have to build to cyclone code which anything south of Bundaberg doesn't; houses in Brisbane lose their roofs in storms way more than we do.

 

In terms of does construction turn down in the Wet? any local company will aim to slow down then; we certainly schedule machinery maintenance for March / April, however, most of the larger jobs are administered by "down south" companies who seem to have little idea of what can potentially happen up here; I did a job a couple of years ago for a recycled water facility, where the construction went along the lines of "assess bearing capacity is OK for blinding concrete. It rains and fills up excavation with water. Excavate out until bearing capacity is OK for blinding. It rains and fills up with water. Excavate out...etc" The tank ended up being 2m deeper than it had to be because idiots from Sydney wouldn't wait a couple of months.

 

Bowen is suffering right now. There are huge hopes hanging on Carmichael Mine and Abbot Point port expansion and with all the uncertainty around it the local economy is going to pot.

 

There's a huge amount of talk about how the boom is over and mining won't come back; it's rubbish. We do the rock testing for the longwall mines - they basically need to know the strength of the rock to design the undergrounds and we know what's going to happen about two years in advance as the level of testing reflects the amount of excavation they are going to do. Three and a bit years ago the rock testing dried up completely, right now we cannot keep up with demand. Go figure.

 

Have you worked in QLD mining? if so apologies for sucking eggs and all that. If you are looking at going back into the mines (and the jobs are available), be aware that you need a HEAP more qualifications in QLD than you do in WA; I know shotfirers who have come over, then returned to WA as QLD simply doesn't recognise their tickets.

 

You will at the very least (for coal, not too sure about metalliferous), require coal board medical, Standard 11 induction, possible BMA induction as well, and for any position where you are actually required to give supervision (which a lot of them define as pretty much talking to anyone), then S1 S2 S3 supervisor training and senior first aid. For coal port work an MSIC card and ports induction. You'll be looking at a couple of thou to get that lot done.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Eera

[geordiekev]

thanks Eera .. I have not had experience in the qld mines just the good ol iron ore over this way. Yer ive been reading about the uncertainty of the mines over there and its pretty much same this way , projects being cancelled or put on hold and rio and bhp cutting jobs but our company is actually getting stronger and eating up the competition so i have flat out work guaranteed until we are set to leave. Couple of G sounds reasonable but Im not 100% that i want to continue in the industry when we head over as its a move based on wanting to change our lifestyle not all about the $$$ or we could just stay here you know. I think my scaff tickets , working at heights , confined , gas test etc would transfer over and i have my ports as well as my employer pushing me to get the MSIC you mentioned for a new contract weve been awarded .. wed be coming over in no mad rush to fins work so in my mind i see myself doing whatever is available to pay the rent while the mrs finds her ideal job and I can scope what i could do long term

[Zack]

There's not A lot of work in Queensland at all As you will know it's more of a Holiday Place.Mines are closing down.Jeanna Rhinhart Is making workers redundant, and even cutting the wages of those that are left.Even the Gas Coal Seam Industry is laying off thousands.It was on TV the other night.It's come at a great surprise to all that it's ended so quickly. Your Wife May Be the One to get a job in her field of work,But it could be tough for you.You Might be Better looking for work nearer Brisbane,as the further North you go the worse employment gets. Sticky horrible heat up north is a worry to some.If the heat doesn't get you the mossies will.It's like back home (not the heat and mossies though).Geordie Zack.

[geordiekev]

Cheers Zack for your honesty , where are you in qld ? I've never struggled to find work personally and like I say the Mrs has the quals and experience across the board in what she does so I'm confident that Wed make a good go of it anywhere as we have back home , Auckland and here in Perth. Just reconnected with a mate from back home who flys in from brizzy to mackay so hopefully can get some inside information from the horses mouth .. where back yem were you from mate ?