By the way, I lived in Newcastle and went to Uni of Newcastle. It is a large town/small city on the coast just north of Sydney. While in Australia, I was able to travel the entire east coast, and for some unknown reason, I met the hottest women in Brisbane. It was probably completely random, but I loved the night life there. Its a great city in a great country. Overall, it was definately a memorable experience.
EDIT: Also, I concur that the customs in Australia is tough... but my impression was that the customs officials were more interested in pest quarentine and making sure the person entering does not have any plants/dirt with them.