Fat Dog, Hope this is what you are looking for.
I cant speak on behalf of EU or NZ...but here is kind of how it goes in North America. I started flying, wanting to go skiing, put in the time to get skiing and now as an operator...want to try to avoid skiing.
The NA industry is firstly about insurance. Most contracts want at least 3000 hours. This is usually only a requirement for the paper work...as typically the operator will only put a guy in who can actually fly "skiing". Like flying your 757, R22 or AS350, the good guys make it look really easy. To get this good, you would "typically" have endured a mountain course earlier in your career ($20K) and then found a utility job in the mountains to gain the time...and scarring the **** out of yourself more than a couple times. This includes heavy machines at altitudes 3000 to 9000 feet on a very daily routine. Now adding snow (swirling induces virtigo) and mountian winds.
Now that you have a skiing gig...it is absolutley awsome. It is my favorite flying (over corporate, fire fighting, sling, filming, Ect.,) The reason, (i'm a skier) eveyone is on vacation and having a good time and it is extremely challenging flying. The down side is the crappy weather, around icing conditions, landing in insane virtigo swirling snow...flying to your stakes, at 8000 feet, in a fully loaded helicopter. What could possibly go wrong? Usually what goes wrong is not a major, but even the small incidents... is a major deal to you as the pilot, and the heli company. To make it worse, heli rates are at a major cut rate right now to stay working through winter...so the company can't afford ANY hic-ups. 9 days out of 10 it is straight forward flying but there is always a 10th day.
I have left out a lot of the fantastic parts of the job...what I am hoping to enlighten you on is how the dynamics of getting the job will effect you.
Hope this helps, and I am sure a few guys will add a couple more comments.
Fly Safe