...well actually have been there and done that in your situation.....but I took a different course of action when faced with the same decision.
But I think you don't get my drift - I am not having a go at you in this regard - simply saying that there are options you may simply have not seen or considered.
With that regard:
How does working in a coffee shop, or at Sydney trains as a gaurd even compare to the experience gained in a B777??
.....so the 777 gig is just work experience? Sounds like it as effectively you are subsidising their operation. A bit like the dude who got the doctorite at university but gets paid less than a checkout chick at coles when looking after the universities nuclear physics lab? Hmmmm - but cruise FO hours in a logbook must look so attractive (....by the way when applying O/S some airlines do not even acknowledge cruise FO/SO what you want to dress it up with" hours...)." But I imagine you have researched that in case it all goes tits up or does not expand for the next 15 years etc etc.
Are you saying you'd rather make coffee for a little more money than be a pilot on a B777?
...yep. How much have you invested in monetary terms? How much have you invested in terms of your years? Pain and suffering? If you can get paid more for an "unskilled" job or semi - trained job (couple of weeks on the job training for a train guard) - what is wrong with the picture of being paid less to fly the 777?
That money may not be enough for you and me to get by, but it's obviously enough for others with family help, investments etc..
... so let me get this right - working for an airline as a heavy jet pilot - and having to rely on others generosity or previous investments to simply make it from day to day and pay the bills? And this is acceptable for an airline environment? How healthy is it to have a financially stressed crew member on a flight deck?
People at the bottom cannot do much about the current situation....people at the top of the tree can....if they want!
.....really? So you are not into self help? The governments fault? Others fault have to fix it?
By the way - just in case you do not know - there are plenty of people at "the top of the tree" (your words not mine as I believe that everyone is in it together...) trying to change what you and others are going through for the better.
Summing up: If you gotta absolutey have that shiney jet seat in Australia right now, today - pull out that VISA card and melt away - as you will be the one paying - today, tomorrow, the next day, the day after that........ But is there another way....