Wow, sounds like an incredible trip. I'm on a much shorter one now, but am including in it a month of so diving in Australia. As you already know, diving is incredibly expensive in Australia, and renting gear goes along with it..you could easily pay $50 or more for full gear for a two tank dive. I think if you priced out renting gear vs buying based on any estimation of how many days diving you'd do you're break even point on renting vs buying would come really early in your trip and you would save big time. The downside of course is lugging the stuff around, maybe being overweight on any flights you take, etc., but I've never found in the past personally on long trips to Aus or elsewhere that it even comes close to making sense to rent vs buy. Plus, personally I could never stand the idea of spending that much money for renting gear even if I could afford it! One poster made a great suggestion...with as long as you'll be gone, hop over to Indonesia via Bali...lots of cheap flights from Aus..and get in some fantastic diving at far cheaper prices..will be a way to get in some quality diving on your trip and balance out what you're going to have to pay for it in Aus. If you'd like any advice about Australia, Indonesia, or diving in other SE Asia destinations, feel free to pm.
