G'day Dan! Welcome mate!
If you're interested in getting started as an aircraft mechanic, why don't you try doing some volunteer work at the RNZAF museum ?
I worked with them during my last month in the airforce, and it was the highlight of my life to be in a hangar with a Catalina, 2 Hudsons, a cessna O-2A, Spitfire XVI, F4U-1,and P-51D, aswell as a set of Mosquito mainplanes under restoration for MoTaT...
Evan