Thanks for all the replies guys – an awesome amount of great advice!!
I did month long mountaineering course in the Himalays last year and spent at least four days on ice technique, although that was more focused on old school glacier crossing skills and tackling long multi-pitch sections of easy gradient ice (45 degree-ish).... Hence the desire to move onto steeper more technical stuff.
I know it won't come in handy here in Melbourne but if I can find a climbing partner who's up for it I'd like to tackle some of the bigger NZ climbs next year. I'm from the UK, and it's likely I'll eventually move back there so I want to make the most of what's available in NZ while I'm over this side of the world.
I'll look into North America/China/Japan etc but really don't think I'll have the budget. If the Aussie ice is fairly unpredictable and small-scale then it probably wouldn't be a big enough step up for me....
So it looks like NZ/Wellington is going to be the favourite, unless I can bag a cheap flight to North America!!
Thanks again for all the replies. If any of you are up for some winter skills and Katoomba ice climbing weekends when the winter kicks in I'll be up for all the practice I can get!