beater, I agree it is no big deal to replace skid shoes and in fact it is a normal recurrent expenditure for all FAA helicopter schools in the course of auto training.
I think the Aussie mentality is that if you are unlucky enough to have an engine failure over any surface which is not a concrete runway, you can have a fair crack at it if you've been trained to auto onto grass. And there's a lot of grass out here.