Hi,
It had been very interesting to visit Australia, not only for astronomy. Some day I maybe come over.
About ticket price, from Sweden to Spain we pay less than 100 Euro with return ticket.
I have just come home from a travel to Madeira, a Portugueze island out in the Atlantic ocean. 220 Euro with one week at hotel with breakefast. And what I saw, very promising for astronomy observations.
My travel report here with the two first days completed:
http://www.astrofriend.eu/travel/eur...chal-walk.html
It was not much about astronomy, but I found a Sun recorder in a park.
/Lars