Hi Gordy,
Thanks for your reply. I was researching this a year back, and I thought I'd read somewhere about a visa for one year (allowing a license conversion & then to work for the remainder of the time). But silly me has no link or recollection of what visa that might be... Based on research done now, perhaps I was dreaming...? Haha
And Savoia, yes, I agree. There was a great book I read about the operation, "Bush Pilots" or something of the like. Pretty good read.
Cheers!