Sandman,
Here are a couple more home truths.
You can't just rock up to an operator log book under arm with your CPLH,Low level and mustering endorsements,and expect to be put to immediate work.
A basic license with appropriate endorsements is basically a license to learn.
You will need to wedge your foot in the door by proving that you are hard working,safe and level headed, willing to learn, capable of doing the job,and that you are a team player. Above all else you must be keen. On top of all this you must also be a skilled diplomat.
Most sucessful green pilots do this by being there to help out.
If an operator believes that you have potential you may be employed as a "slave".
In this time you get to do all the menial tasks that nobody else wants to
do. It is important that you make as much use of this oppertunity as possible to learn about your machine.Be in the hangar, help the engineers,learn do a daily properly, learn the correct names for all parts and what goes wrong with them.
Your employer will recognise the knowledge you have gained and with the right attitude may then be given the chance to progress.
The ten hours of training that you did for your mustering endorsement does not adequately prepare you for the real thing.Safe flying practises are of paramount importance as is knowing how to tackle the job at hand.Many people describe a muster as a giant game of chess. The paddock being the board and the thousand or so animals represent the moving pieces.
The average person will fly with a senior pilot (Dual controls) for anywhere up to Two Hundred hours on mustering operations. He must demonstrate sound knowledge, safe practises and a little bit of cattle sense before being assigned a machine and a place in a muster. Once solo a training pilot will compliment one or two others on a job so that further guidance can be given. (sometimes at the expense of the operator). When deemed competent, then and only then will you be given the chance to turn up at a property by your self and practise your diplomatic skills.
If an operator senses that your primary objective is to get a few hours together then move on, he will not waste his time with you.
I am not writing this to discourage you, merely to better arm you with the knowledge you will need if you wish to proceed down this line.
Be prepared to work hard and it could be very rewarding.