Re your query about cheap airfares from Australia. I have been on the lookout for them for a while and have not really found any cheap Internet sites that do flights to Europe. What I have found is that places like Flight Centre seem to offer small numbers of cheap seats on flights that are leaving soon - if you are a bit flexible about when you go, you could give them your name and ask them to contact you when they become aware of any cheap flights.

Also, I subscribe to the Getaway e-mail service (run by the TV show of the same name). You can subscribe at http://ninemsn.com.au/getaway. They nearly always have some cheap flights to Europe (eg $1800 to $1900) but some of these are only from Sydney and Melbourne (and they tend to go up at the start of June as it is the start of the peak season). I have never seen prices of the kinds mentioned by our US friends :-(

Have a great time in Paris. I look forward to your report as we are intending to go next year.

Peter

ps I can't believe that you can live in Adelaide and think that 20 degrees Celsius is hot - I remember periods of a week where it was around 35!