thank you all very much for taking your time to reply.
my long time girl friend, soon to be wife, has Aussie nationality. so i guess getting the legal right to work won't be that hard.
As to the license conversion, i checked the info from CASA website and also some threads here on PPRuNe. it seems doable tho it might take quite some time.
my only worry is the jobs situation in Australia. i earn a very decent wage where i am right now. i believe it would be so foolish to throw this away for the sake of just living together.
thanks again.