[LondonBroil]

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Australia isnt as good as it seems at first. You only have one point of entry, but once you spread into asia, you have to defend on many sides.
I prefer south america as my main base. Once you take over north america, you only have to defend one more entry point (three instead of two). And its very easy to mess with your opponents continent bonuses on asia europe and africa, while you stock pile in N and S america.

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First off, once you spread into Asia, you don't have to defend on many sides at all. Just leave enough armies on Siam so no one can get in, then start branching out into Asia/NA for countries. No one usually goes for Asia very much and the amount of countries you can get will get you to those important 12/15 numbers.

The problem with SA is that if the person who has Australia doesn't look to bother Africa too much, then they put a lot of pressure on you, especially getting 3 extra armies (as opposed to your 2) every turn. Also, there's no way you will be able to get (and hold) both SA and NA if your playing against thinking opponents. In games that we play, anyone who takes over NA is immediately attacked by almost everyone because letting that person keep it for 1 or 2 turns almost always wins them the game.

The best strategy I've found if your going for SA only works if you go before the person who takes Africa. Take over SA, then get your 5 armies on round 2 and break into North Africa to prevent your opponent from getting those 3 extra.