Am I being stupid?

If you have an Engineering trade then go to Australia. Most can earn up to $150k a year on the mines or around $100k in the cities. Boilermakers, Fitters and Welders are always in demand and if you have the skills a visa should not be too difficult to arrange.

Good call. Mines are desperate for clued up bods. Plus, if you've run a business you can get into team leader, project management of technical teams. My cousin does this and it sounds like a great mix of responsibility with getting hands dirty technicality.