A buddy of mine is there now, based out of CHC. He's come from an NG training captain position and is an FO at Jetstar; unsure of upgrade time but figures it won't be too long, but it also depends on your base of choice to some extent.

As far as being from this side of the planet, you'd just need the right to work in OZ. I'll double check with him as far as CHC base as perhaps it's just NZ right to work one requires.

Anyway, I'll be talking with him in a couple of day's and I'll try to get the full poop.