Paraburdoo/Pilabara

[Guest car31]

Hi,

 

New to this site so not sure where to put these questions. I have been offered (and accepted) a job (visa 457) in Pilbara region and I am trying to find out as much info as possible so all would be welcome

 

Thanks

[jackboots]

hello and welcome to PP , it looks really stunning up there though Hot !! good luck with it all

[Scot01]

is this a fly in fly out (fifo) job? Are you on your own or with family? If you have kids of primary school age and they don't have any problems, then they'd survive OK up there - except with the heat! The primary school looks OK though what happens in country areas is that new Grads are given the jobs there - they stay two years and then are allowed back to teaching jobs in the city - so the staff turn over is high and you get inexperienced teachers - not such a bad thing as they know about latest research and resources/IT etc. I know of one family who were in Tom Price but returned to Perth as there were zero services in terms of speech therapy/pediatrician and their son had difficulties. I have also heard that accommodation is scarce and expensive.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi,

 

New to this site so not sure where to put these questions. I have been offered (and accepted) a job (visa 457) in Pilbara region and I am trying to find out as much info as possible so all would be welcome

 

Thanks

 

Hi

 

Are you a Teacher? If yes, have WA DET offered to sponsor you for a visa?

 

If yes, personally I would reject their offer of a sc 457 and insist on an RSMS visa instead.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/rsms/

 

WA DET know perfectly well that their chances of persuading an Aussie to go and put up with Paraburdoo are virtually zero. Therefore there has to be a credible "carrot" in the deal for the prospective immigrant. Paraburdoo itself sounds more like purgatory than carrots to me, though I have never been there myself.

 

Look on YouTube, I suggest. The intrepid have been everywhere with webcams, which saves me the bother! The only noteworthy thing anywhere near Paraburdoo is the Mt Whaleback iron ore mine, about 200 kms away. Mt Whaleback is more or less bang on the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 22.5 degrees south of the Equator. The place is also in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert, so the climate is typical of that of a desert region in the Tropic of Capricorn.

 

A friend of mine is a British, secondary school Maths Teacher. WA DET sent him to Newman a couple of years ago. Newman is not a place for the fainthearted so his wife promptly had a nervous breakdown that made him ill as well.

 

I understand that when the Military are despatched to places like Newman or Paraburdoo, huge efforts are made to brief the troops about what sort of environment to expect. "My" Teacher and his family had not been provided with anything like that, though the Teacher had had the brains to insist on an RSMS visa, which gave him & his family immediate and almost irrevocable PR in Australia, which was something.

 

I understand, too, that apparently a lot of the FIFO workers from Mt Whaleback prefer to drive to Paraburdoo for the FIFO bit rather than simply flying to and from Newman. Newman is much closer for them but apparently the pits caused by the open cast iron ore mines in the area cause a lot of turbulence for aeroplanes (even quite big ones) which can induce airsickness. (A miserable state of affairs in my personal experience.) Seemingly, if the workers fly to and from Paraburdoo instead of Newman, the turbulence is avoided.

 

After a HECK of a lot of kerfuffle and aggro, WA DET moved the British Teacher and his family to Kalgoorlie instead. They said that Kalgoorlie was not brilliant (my Aussie brother in law agrees with that) but apparently Kalgoorlie was vastly better than Newman.

 

Personally, I would tell the prospective employer, "I'll provide the bang but how big is the buck?"

 

Cheers

 

Gill