Kieran was one of the first ‘blokes’ to start commenting on the FIFO wifes face book page and so along the way he has become part of the team that makes up not only the page but Support Sunday..His comments always thoughtful, insightful and full of character that they never fail to make us smile. Recently I personally have got to meet him {and his very spunky wife Nic and family} and they are justs as lovely in person and so it seemed only fitting and fair that you got to know a little more about them too.
Was there a reason you started FIFO? I.e. deposit for a house, lifestyle. Or where you single what was your reaction when telling women about your roster? Did you talk about it before starting fifo (as a couple) or the relationship? How long has FIFO been part of your relationship, was there a time limit? Has this happened?
Well, I was in my first real job out of school (im a high school dropout), not having any guidance about a career from my parents and no real passions to speak of, I spent 5 years there starting at the bottom working my way up to a point where I was being blocked from progressing due to an “old boys club” attitude, these guys had been there 25 + years so the thought of a young bloke with a bit of nous knocking on the door wanting to progress scared them I suppose, so I started searching the net for new opportunities with what I could do, found a 2/2 roster in WA, applied and was successful, they moved my wife and I and all our worldly possessions to Perth for a FIFO role. Of course we had a dream of having our own house, but it wasn’t the motivating factor in the new role, it was for career progression, my first FIFO role on the other side of the country from where we lived actually paid less than I was earning at my local job in Qld. The 2/2 lifestyle was just a bonus, I actually found myself getting bored in a new city by the time the 2 weeks rnr was up, sounds strange but it was true, lack of friends in new city, wife working, it was lonely.
My wife and I are high school sweethearts (together 16 years this June) she being a local to our town being born and bred, Me, my first 12 years of life I was moved everywhere including overseas, so it was a massive decision for us to move to the other side of the country and to a new city where we knew absolutely no one, not one person, but it was an opportunity and risk we were willing to take, I will be forever grateful to her for uprooting and moving away with me considering she had never lived anywhere else. Newly married and wanting kids and here we go, making such a big decision that was to and has changed our lives forever.
We have now been FIFO for coming up on ten years (how time flies when your having fun), ive had a career change in that time and am now a FIFO construction fella working for global EPCM companies the last 5 years building some of Australia’s largest projects (LNG). We never had a time limit on FIFO, it was more a see what happens approach, I honestly was still not sure if this is what I wanted to do when we started.
What do I like best about FIFO
My list is so long but here goes –
I love the fact that I can separate work from home and family time, I literally switch off from work mode the moment I swipe out and head to my donga for a shower before catching the 2 busses and 3 flights I have to get home. I love the fact that when I land at the airport and disembark, I see my beautiful daughter squealing in delight “Daddy, Daddy you’re home, I love you Daddy” and running over to me at the speed of sound for a big cuddle, of course I love seeing the look of confusion on my 13 month old sons face and him thinking, hey that’s my dad…THAT’S MY DAD and a big smile and seeing those 5 teeth that he’s managed to get down and his waving at me. Im the only dad who’s in the pool at swimming lessons 2 hours after I land guiding my children through this life skill, if I was a mon – fri working dad, I would not be able to do this, yes I only do it 1 in 4 weeks, but I cherish it. The week off, who doesn’t love that, yep I get one whole week off, that’s 3.5 weekend in a row, I get soo much done in this time and we get our groove on.
What do you find so-so/tricky/hilariously bad about FIFO, what would change if you had a magic wand.
Not much really, except it’s hard to plan social event’s bbq’s with friends, trying to get everyone to line up with when your home. Social events that cannot be controlled by us, like a community fundraiser, fun run etc etc, I want to be involved with these but most of the time it falls when im away, mostly two days after I fly out. Kids milestones, like dancing eisteddfod’s, these are so important to me but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Birthdays / xmas, we have them when we can, we still celebrate like everyone else. We’ve had our two kids so falling pregnant wasn’t an issue for us – like Nike says “just do it” or wave the magic wand!…lots and pregnancy will occur.
How do you and your wife fit marriage into the balance? Do you think FIFO makes you be more romantic? Do you put more effort into your marriage, what do you do to maintain your marriage to keep It healthy (i.e. communication, date nights)
Being married to my best mate is the best thing that ever happened to me, we make time for each other, you have to, its non-negotiable in our marriage. I think of it as stopping and smelling the roses, life gets away from us sometimes and you just have to put your arms up and stop, appreciate each other. Im not the most romantic bloke in the world but I think I go ok, im not really a flowers guy, they die to quickly for my liking, id rather cook her a lovely dinner, run her a nice relaxing bath, light some candles with a nice smell, give her some time out from the kids, so yes I do think it makes you more romantic, well it does to me anyway, it all comes back to the fact that this lady is my rock, soul mate, best mate, lover, confidant, shes just my everything, and she deserves some romance when im home, it could be as simple as a foot rub or could be extravagant, I mix it up a bit. Putting more effort into my marriage is a strange choice of words for me, I just put in the effort, my marriage is not tough, how could it be when we just hit it off, yes we have our spats, who doesn’t but we move on quickly, being open and honest makes it so easy. We have at least one date night when im home, that could be, put the kids in bed, and just have dinner at home, just the two of us enjoying each other’s company, or it could be a date night in town, we do generally do this every time im home, we also try and have a family date night, just the 4 of us going out for dinner and an ice-cream on our way home.
Do you find you have trouble balancing your time off i.e. You< partner, kids?
Having only a week off I don’t have time to balance much, I just throw myself into everything, our daughter needs to be kept busy and active, our son will be the same we think, so we are generally very very busy every week regardless on if im home or not, Im a husband and dad before anything else, I like it that way, so ill always find time to balance their requirements before mine, like at 5pm when im outside and my daughter asks, dad can we go for a bike ride or got to the park, ill always find time, these are memories I won’t get back, they mowing can wait! My wife is very understanding of the fact that we all need al little time to ourselves though, I might scoot out for an hour while the kids are sleeping and take my motorcycle for a ride, I don’t need much time, after all I have 3 weeks to myself out here.
How do I handle fitting back into routine? Dealing with Discipline?
As for fitting back into routine, that’s easy for me, 2 hours after getting home form the red eye and connecting flight im in the pool for swimming lessons, I literally throw myself into the routine, im very familiar to it, I stay in touch with the activities the kids are doing, I find im not affected with not adapting. I respect my wife’s method of discipline, it’s basically the same as mine, I put myself in the naughty corner before she has the chance to send me there…..but in all seriousness, my wife is very very fair with our kids, I can hop onto Skype or the phone if she needs me (yes we have done it), sometimes my daughter needs to be told by dad to reinforce what Mum has already said. When im home if I need to do it then I do, we are familiar with how we discipline so it’s easy for us.
How do you stay in connected to your family while im away?
Skype calls every morning before the bus ride to work, I don’t get mobile reception in my office but im hooked up with IT and have access to the private company wifi, so we use the APP called viber, we can video call on that also. Contact with them is critical for me, keeps me happy and gets you through those tough days, I generally have a handful of voicemail messages on my mobile after work, mostly from my daughter and son, they don’t make much sense, but I love them.
Do I get lonely on the construction site?
Quite simply, I don’t have time to get lonely, im busy enough at work, I have gotten myself a small group of friends here (I tend not to socialize too much), im very busy outside of work hours. I have my down days, everyone does, we are away from our loved ones, so on days where I know it’s an important day back home, like my daughters first day of pre prep last month, that gets you down as I’d love to be there for that, but hey, when she called me at the end of her day, it was just like being there, I knew everything. My wife sent me pics etc.
How do you manage life away? Do you have a routine sleep, eating, exercise and personal space issues at the construction camp?
My life here at camp/site is busy, im at work form 7pm until roughly 6pm, im used to longer hours than that but that’s what this job is, im at the gym by 630 pm for a spin class 4 nights a week on the other 3 nights im pounding away on the treadmill, dinner around 815pm, back to my room and study as im doing university, study will most nights take me to around 1130pm, (my wife thinks I turn the lights off at 930pm) but Uni is quite consuming and im a little daunted by it but im getting there. Then im up by 315am and off to the gym for weights, I alternate between upper and lower body. There are a lot of temptations here to get lazy and un healthy, but to counteract that we have the best recreation / healthy life activities I’ve ever seen on a site – nothing else compares, we have two state of the art gymnasiums better than what’s available in my home town, group classes every night for all different pursuits, plus another 3 smaller gyms. Personal space is not an issue here as we all have our own ensuited rooms, though we have to change rooms every time we return, we have a 5000 man camp, so as you can imagine it’s very large but its world class.
What’s the most surprising thing your partner has managed whilst your away?
She managed to get half the washing machine pulled apart when it was staining our white sheets before our neighbour came over and helped with the rest, when she sent me some pics of where she was up to I was surprised but proud too. Oh and she managed to read the solar panel inverter and tell me how many Kilowatts we had made on a certain day, another proud moment. I try and have most things under control for her while im away so hopefully no surprises for her. Though we have retired neighbours, so he comes over on his ride on and mows and whipper snips, does the gardening, snake removal, mice catching, irrigation repairs.
What advice would I give to newbies to FIFO?
If it’s something you want to try, then just embrace it for all it has to offer, there will be good and bad with everything in life, FIFO is the same, don’t try it if you’re not in a stable relationship, I’ve seen so many mates relationships go down the gurgler, it breaks my heart, I’ve seen some guys that are just broken men / likewise for some women. Have a good strong base at home.
It has offered our family so much, we won’t ever forget what FIFO has done for us and what it has enabled us to do firstly as a younger couple who were just newly married to now having two children as well. It has given me (remember im a high school dropout) such a bright future, one that im now studying Uni so I can again better myself within this industry. I, as a husband and dad miss them so terribly much while im away, but it’s what we do and we love it.
We’re a FIFO family after all.
