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BACK-PACKERS from Bahrain should head Down Under this summer if they want to find a few weeks work which could pay for the rest of their holiday.
It's all thanks to the demand for Australian commodities, which is running white-hot. So too are costs in the country's remote mining towns, to the point where tiny huts or 'dongas' can cost as much as a five-star hotel room and backpackers can earn around BD800 (A$2,000) a week cleaning them.
Costs are becoming a big headache for Australian miners, including giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, which complain that labour shortages, a strong local currency and rising fuel prices threaten to slow the pace of expansion.
The problem is clearly visible in the remote mining town of Karratha, a gateway to mines in the barren northwest.
"Here the work is very good. You can work 80 hours a week if you want. It's good money," said Pic Segolene, a 25-year-old French backpacker who came to Karratha to earn enough cash to fund the rest of her trip around Australia.
Segolene works about 10 hours a day, earning BD10 (A$25) an hour to clean houses in this thin slice of suburbia that serves as an Indian Ocean port and a gateway to the endless and bountiful red deserts of Australia's interior.
Her boyfriend, Eric Gehin, 31, makes BD12.35 (A$31) an hour as a gardener. Their plan is to earn enough in two months to pay for the rest of their open-ended trip around the country.
"We want to stay two months. That's the plan, if it's not too exhausting," said Segolene, who likes to relax the way most people in Karratha do - barbecuing.
Voracious Asian demand for Australia's commodity riches have lifted the country's terms of trade to near historic heights and fuelled a boom in mining investment.
The central bank this week said it would be a major challenge to manage the mining boom while containing inflation.
Karratha has an official population of 18,000, but up to 10,000 more cram into the town, about 1,300 km from the nearest major city, to work for the mining or gas industries.
These workers often have to stay in 'dongas' - primitive pre-fabricated huts smaller than a shipping container, each with an overworked air-conditioner to keep out desert temperatures that can soar to 40 degrees Celsius.
A donga can cost up to nearly BD100 (A$250) a night, about the same price as a room in a five-star hotel in Sydney, overlooking that city's famous harbour, or in downtown Tokyo or London.
