Apprentice sees Aussie as his future

Shannon Keane is now job hunting in Perth, just a few weeks after achieving the rare double of completing two apprenticeships concurrently.

He has told family and friends he has applied for 60 jobs since arriving last month and is still waiting to hear back from prospective employers.

The former Whangarei Engineering Company employee/trainee is just 26 and the eldest of a Whangarei family of four children.

His family gave him a big send-off at a barbecue in Auckland and his mother told him she was worried he might never come back.

"She's right, I mightn't," he said cheerfully.

Shannon joined Whangarei Engineering Company at 18 after six months in the New Zealand Army.

"I joined up with a mate and I loved every minute but I decided I wanted to make it my own way, not where the army would take me," he said.

Fast forward several years to 2012: Shannon is still showing he is someone who wants to call the shots in his life but for "army" read "New Zealand".

He said he saw his country as "more of a place to retire to than work in" and he is certain he will find it much easier to build the future he wants outside New Zealand.

He said he had had all the support and guidance he could have wished for from NorthTec tutors and company staff.

Whangarei Engineering had a family atmosphere with "the older guys mentoring the young ones" and despite being an apprentice he had been generously paid - by New Zealand standards.

None of that tempted him to stay, even with the prospect of an improving economy and the big refinery expansion due to begin next year.

Shannon said he went mainly because of the high wages he could earn across the Tasman, but he also wanted to test and develop his skills in Australia's big industries.

"Everything there is bigger, wider, deeper. I love what I do and I just want to get that experience that will take me anywhere," he said.

"I want to have fun with my trade and I want to earn money to travel."

He said friends with a variety of skills, including farming, who were already in Western Australia were having a great time and had earned enough money to travel in just a few months.

Glenn Heape, manager and a director of Whangarei Engineering Company, said: "All we could do was to wish him luck and tell him we would welcome him back if he returns to Whangarei."