Ventia Supports Cath's work-life balance
“I grew up and met my husband in Adelaide and was living in the Adelaide Hills when I started my career,” Cath explains. “When I took the role in Woomera after finishing my Diploma of Project Management in 2012, I knew it was likely I’d have to work remotely as I was starting from scratch after having worked mostly in administrative roles previously.”
Cath describes Woomera as “proper desert” and, with a population of around 150 people at the time she and her husband moved there, a great tight-knit community.
“My husband Andy secured a role at Woomera as a general tradesperson, and he loved the variety of the work,” she says.
For us living and working together in a small town, there was a sense of family there.
A sense of family in working for Ventia
Cath says this sense of family is what has kept her working for Ventia ever since, including a couple of years on an offshore facility management contract, a stint on the Goodstart Early Learning facility management contract and most recently looking after the Australian Tax Office portfolio within Ventia’s Whole of Australian Government contract.
Cath’s time in the offshore FM role was fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) work, three weeks on and three weeks off. Within a year of her starting the contract, Cath and Andy discovered to their joy that their IVF round had been successful, and they were expecting a baby girl.
“When we were preparing for Layla’s arrival, we decided that Andy would be the primary carer,” Cath explains. “To live in Woomera though, you need to be working there. As I no longer did, and Andy would be resigning to take up full-time parenting, that meant we needed to consider where to live next!”
Moving to North Queensland
The family moved from the heat of the South Australian desert to the tropical warmth of Cairns in North Queensland, and Cath says she couldn’t be happier.
“The commute from South Australia to Port Moresby was a bit of a killer, so being in Cairns made sense as it was closer and easier for my FIFO role,” Cath says. “I’ve really grown to love the climate here, the fact my kids can play outside year-round, and I have a really supportive mum-community as well as sporting teams I belong to.”
Cath says that the work-life balance she’s built over the years is extremely important as it enables her to spend time with Andy and her daughters, enjoy playing on several sporting teams and most recently, to flex her writing muscles in the creation of a children’s book.
“I want my daughters Layla and Hazel – who is affectionately known as ‘Grubby’ – to know they can do and be whatever they want when they grow up,” Cath enthuses. “My two girls are very different, Layla is the creative, thoughtful one, and Hazel is out in the dirt, hands-on solving problems.”
Cath says she’d put money on Hazel becoming a tradie of some sort one day, but whatever her daughters choose to do, she hopes they find a career as satisfying as their mum has.