Abby’s Trip Abroad, Working in New Zealand
What city and country did you work in?
Dunedin, NZ
Where did you work? What was your position title?
Frasers Underground, Macreas Flat. Student Mining Engineer
What duties and responsibilities did it include?
Drill and blast planning, software design, blast crew, service crew, truck driving.
How long were you there for?
3 months
What type of work was it? (Paid/unpaid, internship, cadetship, trainee)
Paid, work experience.
What field was it in?
Mining Engineering
How did you find out about the job and what was the application process?
Needed to do work experience for university and I had connections with my uncle in the engineering industry that helped me to get the job (no interview process or anything).
What type of Visa did you need?
Did not need a special visa for Australians have working and living rights in NZ.
Where did you stay/type of accommodation and how did you find it (what website, travel book etc.)?
The employer I was working for found me a share house to stay in during my time in NZ.
Rough idea of the cost of living expenses?
Around $100 a week for food and $180 a week for rent.
Where did you find your flights (what website or travel agent) and rough idea of cost?
Flights from Sydney to Queenstown were roughly $500 each way and we booked the flights via Webjet.
Where did you travel when overseas and rough idea of expenses?
Did day trips to places like Macreas flat, Invercargill, Wanaka, Waikouaiti and Queenstown.
Best Bars/Restaurants?
Mostly take away shops were visited, best shop found was a pie shop in Waikouaiti a friends brother owned and we stopped every day to get food.
Best Attractions, Museums, Tours?
Shot over Adventure (Speed boat), Arrow town museum and gold panning
The best free activities?
The sight-seeing in NZ is amazing, just driving around the country is an experience.
Cost saving measures?
I was earning a lot of money so there were no measures in place.
Interesting people you meet?
Darren, Neil, Dan, Wop and so many more. Met so many great people got the pleasure of working with and hopefully I will get to go back and work with them all again.
Favourite part of the trip?
Oddly enough work was my favourite part of it all. I learnt so much and became good friends with so many people. Gave me an insight into the world I will be working in in the future and it will be an unforgettable experience.
Tips for people wanting to work at the same place you did?
If you cannot take jokes very well or do not have a good sense of humour you will be eaten alive. You have to know how to joke around but be professional at the same time. Don’t go in there thinking you know things because you don’t and it can be deadly if you make a mistake.
Students Going Abroad 