Tens of thousands of Kiwis spellbound by the promise of oversized wages and lower living costs have left Aotearoa in hopes of making bank in Australia’s mining industry. This year Katie Harris travelled to Perth to speak to mine workers who’ve moved across the ditch.
Jordan Gorrie has a life many young Kiwis could only dream of.
At just 29, he makes more than double the median New Zealand salary, has two beautiful children and owns a brand new three-bedroom home in a nice neighbourhood.
Gorrie is one of the thousands of New Zealanders employed in Australia as a Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) mine worker.
“I came to Australia with a one-year plan to get rich and make my money and come back home. And over 10 years later I’m still here.
“You get used to the lifestyle and you get used to the good money and you kind of don’t want to leave.”
Gorrie, who left Aotearoa at 18, works a “two and two” roster, which means he does a week of day shifts and a week of nights, then has two weeks off.
“It’s a good lifestyle to live. You work hard, but you earn your money too.”
At the end of it he’s “pretty buggered”, and spends his time back home relaxing with his children, who he shares with a former partner.
Throughout his decade in mining Gorrie said he’s worked too many roles to count, but he’s currently a process operator at a lithium site.
The mine where the Rotorua-expat works has “probably” the best reputation for food, and he said they’re allowed to relax with four mid-strength alcoholic drinks a night.
“It’s more just a social thing to be honest, you get to sit down at the end of the day with a good bunch of people and just enjoy each other’s company. It’s almost as if you’ve got a second family out there.”
After dinner, he said people can play ping pong, use a PlayStation, golf simulator or cricket pitch, as well as the site’s gym.
“I don’t see myself going anywhere any time soon, so it’s definitely an interesting business to learn and (I’m) pretty keen on furthering that career.”
As a person not trained in a trade, Gorrie doesn’t believe he would be able to live the same lifestyle back in New Zealand.
He said those starting out in FIFO without a trade would be looking at a salary of $80,000 to $100,000, and those with experience like himself earn over $150,000.
“I think I left New Zealand and I was on $12.50 an hour.”
While it can be difficult to manage relationships back home as a FIFO worker, Gorrie’s partner also works FIFO, and their schedules are only a few days off.
Christchurch sparky and influencer Pauline Varlet left high school thinking she’d be spending the next several years training to be a paediatrician.
After hating her first year of medical school in Otago she gave her mother a call that changed the course of her life.
“I said to my mum, ‘help, what do I do - I don’t like being here’, and she suggested that I do a trade because she was like, ‘you’ll study for like a year and then you’ll start working and you’re earning while you’re learning’.”
So she left university, started a pre-trade course, and hasn’t looked back.
Varlet worked on large commercial projects in her first few years on the job, including libraries, swimming pools and retirement villages.
Then she got a message asking if she would be keen to move to Perth.
Over text, a mutual friend explained to Varlet the lifestyle and pay she could reach if she made the move.
“I just quit my job, bit the bullet, got a one-way ticket to Perth.”
Like Gorrie, she works a two-and-two roster, working 12-hour shifts 14 days in a row.
“The only kind of break you have is when you shift change from day shift to night shift you have 24 hours off, because you finish at 5.30pm and then you have 24 hours and then you start work at 5.30pm the next day. So that day I just stay horizontal all day in bed.”
After doing her night shift round, Varlet said she generally unpacks her bags, then repacks them and heads back to the airport for her next adventure.
She’s spent almost all of her breaks this year overseas and she describes the travel opportunities as the best part of being a FIFO worker.
Varlet said she has over doubled her salary by moving to Australia and works less than she did back home.
“I’ve always loved travelling, but haven’t really had the time or money when I was working in New Zealand to travel as much as I do now.”
She is contracted at a surface mine, meaning she is not underground, and she works on autonomous Komatsu trucks.
“We drive them into the workshop and then when we send them back to work, we flick them back over to autonomous mode and we’ve got people in Perth who assign them tasks.
“They’ll go to different piles and they’ll dump themselves, it’s really cute to watch actually.”
The team she works with onsite is “hilarious” and they banter “all the time” in the workshop which helps keep morale high.
“After two weeks [off] I actually kind of miss being there.
“I’ve just been away for six weeks so I’m especially excited to catch up with everyone and see what the goss was.”
During her downtime onsite, Varlet goes to the gym, does ice baths, swims and goes to yoga classes.
Varlet still misses her sister and friends back home, but the extended time she gets off means it’s not too hard to visit them.
“I don’t think I could move back to New Zealand.
“If you can find me a job in New Zealand that pays me the same and gives me the same amount of days off then yeah I’d probably move home, I probably prefer New Zealand a bit more than Perth.”
This story was made possible through University of Canterbury’s Robert Bell Travelling Scholarship in Journalism.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers social issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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