Well congratulations but with , I gather you could mean Sydney and Melbourne and/or the rest of Australia! which though rather flat in places you will not be able to see too much of from Sydney Tower.

But back in Sydney, Bondi does not do it for me as much as Manly and for either you could be up against it getting somewhere seeing as you'll be coming on the cusp of summery weather, and any landlords having a vacancy could well jack the rent up or even look to cash in on more expensive rates for holiday bookings but all you can do is hope! and check sites like gumtree, craigslist and www.domain.com.au

Sydney gets packed to the rafters from around Xmas to NY when you can think Times Square and hostels at that time have minimum booking periods, some of seven days Xmas-NY week and there will not be too much available even now I suspect.

Maybe something like Backpacker accommodation Sydney, Sydney Terraces, budget, cheap, hostel could offer hope (but nowhere near the beach) or Sleeping With The Enemy and if you want to register with agents, a google ought to find you plenty and you ought to make early contact so as you can send over references and any rental history you have, but seeing as people allegedly queue in Sydney for viewing rentals and then get into a bidding war I'd not hold out too much hope on what they may be able to do.

All that hastle eh!, enough to drive some to sandier places with fresher sea breezes for a bit and see a bit more of the country you are coming halfway around the globe, melting more artic sea ice to see before we go further downunder.

Have fun and there are plenty of temp agencies in Sydney - pick up a copy of free mags The Word and TNT and they have heaps of ads for temps and advice on work and travelling generally.

Summer is a good time to spend in south east of Australia as going inland will be miserably hottter than hell and heading too far north and you run into wet season and tropical less than goodies in the water.