pandaman,
i have never trained anywhere outside Australia, so i wouldn't know about the quality of flight training elsewhere; but when you see the many ranks of quality pilots produced here, you can be assured that this is a great place to learn to fly!
whether or not CX will regard this as progress depends on why you failed Stage 1b.
one piece of advice: NEVER pay bulk for private flight training. always exercise the "pay-as-you-go" option, no matter what.
good luck with your flying!
