Perth: Heather and Michael : Productive Members of the Perth Community

Heather's corner office suite where she worked her little heart out
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With us living in Perth for 4 months (December, 2005 to April, 2006), we managed to land a number of different jobs.  It's funny.  Before we moved to Perth we were told by everyone who has ever been there that there's a major shortage of workers so we should have no trouble finding work.  That may be true (that there's a shortage), but most employers are mainly looking for long term permanent hires.  And since our working holiday visas only allowed us to work with any given employer for a maximum of three months, we found ourselves being turned down by lots of workplaces.  That being said, we also found ourselves a number of employers who were willing to take the risk and hire us on.  This journal entry is dedicated to all those mates that we had the priviledge of working with, whether it be on a full time or a casual basis.  We thank you all for your friendship and hospitality!

Marty - Heather's Carrier co-worker extraodinaire
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Here, for posterity sake is a list of all the jobs that we performed in our time in Perth:

That being said, we also found ourselves a number of employers who were willing to take the risk and hire us on.

• Michael worked part time with Kidsafe Western Australia, an amazing agency with amazing people.  He handled the morning appointments consisting of installing and inspecting child seats in vehicles.  It was very rewarding work and provided an excellent opportunity to meet lots of great people...mostly expectant parents.  Babies always seem to bring out the best in people. 
• Heather worked at a firm called Carrier which specializes in the manufacturing of air conditioner units.  She was responsible for working on a backlog of accounts receivables.  She did such an amazing job that her bosses even said that they would sponsor her visa to keep her working there!
• Both Heather and Michael worked Friday nights at a horse racing park called Glouster Park performing drink service and bartending duties with a catering company called Spices Catering.  We worked with lots of fun people and had lots of free soft drinks.  What's not to like?
• Heather also performed reception and administration at two firms, both going by initials:  FCL and RCR.  Both provided her with great experience in areas that she wasn't completely used to.  Naturally, she did a great job with each.
• We both reduced ourselves to taking a paper route.  Actually a few.  Twice a week we had to collate and deliver 400 junk mail fliers, and once a week we delivered varying amounts of newspapers, anywhere from 245 to 900 (one to three routes).  
• Michael worked one night (from 6:00PM to 4:00 AM) loading and unloading train cars.  Tiring, dirty work.
• Michael also spent one week working at a steel galvanizing plant.  Equally dirty and tiring work.
• To celebrate Australia Day (January 26) both of us became salespeople selling glow in the dark kiddie products.  At first we were really embarrassed (well, the embarrassment never totally went away) because of the ugly shirts we had to wear, but we did make good money, so it worked out well in the end.
• The first job we landed was a one nighter doing bartending for New Years Eve at a major outdoor concert party.  It was from this that we became more regular staffers at Glouster Park.

More of Heather's Carrier workmates: (l to r) Bronwyn, Christine, Heather (duh), and Joe
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Again, thanks to all that we were able to work with.  It has been a pleasure!

Michael and Heather