Sounds great. I would have had a blast to. But that was nearly 15 years ago. If you try that now chances are you will be hit both ways with tax. Australia and the USA cooperate fully with each others expat workers payroll info. But you only have to stay out of the US for just under a year to be exempt from US tax but there is a catch try bringing 30-40 grand into the US at one time and that exempt crap goes out the window.
This is CABL.com posting #252230. Tiny Link: cabl.co/mbdMo