Murwillumbah cargo pilot Petr Pelikan landed his dream job delivering goods around the world, but it comes at a cost: a 22-hour commute to clock on for work.

“It’s about a 15,000-kilometre commute from Brisbane to Alaska,” he said.

The 48-year-old said there was “never a dull day” working as an Atlas Air pilot on a Boeing 747, carrying about 100 tonnes of cargo.

“We move anything from lithium batteries to live pigs,” he said.

Researchers estimate there are up to 400,000 “super commuters” in Australia who travel extreme distances, including overseas, for dream jobs or high-paying work.

Mr Pelikan’s work cycle means he returns home to northern New South Wales to his wife and two teenage children every 16 days.

“The biggest challenge is being away from my family for two weeks,” he said.

“Missing soccer training with my kids, missing my wife.”

Perth tradie opts for FIFO to Antarctica

Connor Gordon moved out of his share house, shut down his small carpentry business and swapped a commute over the Swan River for Casey Station, Antarctica, some 4,000km from home.

“I can go travelling, really enjoy my life and then come back to Casey for another year.”

The 31-year-old works as a carpenter for the Australian Antarctic Division, where his day-to-day work involves station maintenance — keeping the lights on and water flowing.

Doing so means he has to brace Antarctic wind chills and -30 degrees Celsius weather. 

“Jobs can take a lot longer to complete than usual, we’ve got to clear snow and there are so many little things that slow you down,” he said.

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Despite the climatic challenges, beautiful sunsets and living near a colony of Adelie penguins make work much more enjoyable.

“They are quite curious and not scared of us at all,” he said.

“They see a big person walking around and come up to inspect what we’re doing.” 

But it is not all penguins and sunset photography. 

There are only 31 staff stationed at Casey for eight months of the year, with little opportunity to escape. 

“We are living and working with the same people, so if there are any relationships that turn sour, it can affect the whole community,” he said.

“Maybe you don’t get along with someone at work, then you go to dinner and you are sitting next to them, you go to watch a movie at the cinema room and you are sitting next to them. 

‘Blackhole’ for data of Australia’s mega-commuting workers

David Bissell, a professor of human geography from Melbourne University, has led research into the social impact of mobile workers who commute long distances.

“What we found in our study is a whole lot of quite negative impacts that come from these super commutes too, especially when one household member is working away for weeks or months at a time,” he said.

“Quite a few of the people we talked to said this work was emotionally unstable because of the strain it puts on people’s relationships.”

Professor Bissell said census data captured in 2016 and 2021 showed there were between 240,000 and 320,000 mega commuters who travelled more than 250km to get to work.

But he said it overlooked a lot of workers who did not travel on census day and he said a conservative estimate would be closer to 400,000. 

“There would be a large number of ultra commuters doing very long journeys that fall under the radar of the official census figures because they only commute once a fortnight or once a month,” he said. 

“The numbers we are getting are a very conservative estimate.

“If we think about the number of people who are impacted by mobile workers, so households and children, those affected by super commuters and ultra commuters is a very sizeable population.”

KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said data showed about 20 per cent of long commuters were in the resources sector, predominantly fly-in fly-out or drive-in drive-out workers.

But the remainder were employed across a range of industries.

“We know it’s male-dominated.”

Since 2016, data is no longer collected on whether overseas travel was for work-related purposes.

“There’s not a real sense of whether it is a one-off work trip or you are living in Bali and commuting to the Pilbara,” he said.

“Or living in North Queensland and commuting to Papua New Guinea for work in the mining industry.

“We don’t have a real strong sense about that, but obviously lots of personal stories about people making these mega commutes across the country.”

What the data does show is the financial incentive.

“At that top end, those travelling long distances in the mining sector might be pulling in $150,000 to more than $200,000 in income,” he said.