Hi Dwight, saw your post regarding your trip elsewhere in the forum.
Warning! This post has turned out to be somewhat long...
I'd be interested in a POTN meet somewhere in Sydney depending on my work commitments (I expect I'll be back and forth between Sydney and Perth around the times you mention you'll be travelling).
To your last question, presumably you will be getting paid for the wedding? If you weren't getting paid (e.g. you were just a friend of the wedding party taking photos that the paid photographer might use later 
) you wouldn't need a temporary visitor's visa as a USA citizen - just a completed ETA (www.eta.immi.gov.au
). Similar to travelling to Canada really.
From what I can see if you were being completely above board as a paid photographer at the wedding you may need an employer sponsored workers visa (http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/). This would require Jason and/or the wedding party to provide justification that you are providing services that are not readily available already in Australia (highly unlikely that they could justify it for wedding photography in Wollongong IMO) and from recollection needs a 5 week lead time. Talking with your immigration/customs department first and the Australian consulate if necessary will be your best avenue to get advice for completely legal travel arrangements.
Regarding the train trips. I love train travel and those trips you mention are something I have always wanted to do including the trips across to Perth and north to Darwin. BUT are you aware that Brisbane to Sydney is a full day trip, likewise Sydney to Melbourne and Melbourne to Adelaide. Personally if I had the time for a train trip from Melbourne to Adelaide, I'd do it by car. The Great Ocean Road along the way has some fantastic scenery to see and photograph.
As for Cricket, yes, there is plenty of that on around the country. November will see test matches between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane from the 9th to 13th and Adelaide from the 22nd to 26th.
There will also be interstate competitions running such as the one-day/50 over series (http://www.cricket.com.au/series/ryobi-one-day-201213 for a run down on fixtures) and the 4-day series (fixtures during your stay include NSW vs Vic in Sydney on the 13th-16th and Vic vs SA in Melbourne on the 23rd-26th - both of those matches involve some fierce interstate rivalries so could be good to watch)
Safari wise, the Werribee zoo outside Melbourne may well give you some of the better opportunities close to a capital city in Australia. I wouldn't exactly call it a safari though. The Western Plains zoo in Dubbo (400km NW of Sydney) is the biggest in NSW outside the Taronga Zoo in metropolitan Sydney. Your travel time is nicely outside school holiday times so you shouldn't have to deal with too much of that sort of traffic.
Lastly, don't believe all the hype about the country being full of poisonous creatures. Yes, there are poisonous spiders and snakes. There are also some rather annoying stinging insects (particularly between now and April) but none of those insects are poisonous. Snakes you will not need to worry about in major cities as a rule. Poisonous spiders you also generally don't need to worry about - in suburban areas the nasties for whatever reason hide/hunt in places where humans generally have no need to go. Outside suburbia you need to exercise the same sort of caution around animals or in bushland/forests that you would in Mexico for example. I can't think of any animal bigger than a snake that might be poisonous in Australia.
If you are driving after dusk outside any city or town be aware - Kangaroos/wallabies are amazingly stupid creatures and really good at damaging cars. Slow down if there are any number about to give yourself the best chance of avoiding them when they do the unthinkable and suddenly decide to cross the road right in front of you. Unless you are getting well away from the coast you most likely won't see things like emus, camels, cattle or wild horses. Nothing mentioned in this paragraph are poisonous. Other than cattle (and then only if you are bothering young ones) none, aside from running front of a car, are aggressive towards humans.
In fact I'd suggest that animals like bears, wolves and such make North America a more dangerous place for a hiker (in the wrong area of course)
Good luck with your travels and if you have any more questions I'll see what I can do for you.
