anyone heard of any jobs for crane ops <the mobile type>, in canada or new zealand??, we are too far off points for oz??, the work has really dried up here in the uk??

Go for New Zealand Waggy. Canada's bloody freezin mate . I spent 15 months up there driving trucks and it's not a lot of fun.
Having said that, I haven't been to NZ since '97, so I don't really know what it's like down there now.
There's a company here in Florida called Beyel who do a lot of the lifting for Nasa, but I don't know whether you could get a work permit/visa for that.
I used to drive tower cranes for HTC back in England, that's why I picked up on your thread.
Anyway, good luck bud. I hope you manage to get where you wanna go.
Koog, PSL, Florida.