Vfr and Whirly,
Next time you are with your friendly instructor, ask to go under the hood and do an approach to hover all under the hood. It will give you good practice and as you get close to the hover your scan will be right up to speed!!!!!!
It is possible with practice and gives you an even better appreciation of the demands of instrument flying in a heli, and the pitfalls of decaying airspeed.
You are quite right, stay out of the grey stuff, but it is nice to know what comes next!
Regards
HoverBover