South Africa captain Graeme Smith is expecting a tough tour Down Under later this year, despite Australia's struggles in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India.
Ricky Ponting's men are trailing 1-0 in the four-match Test series with one game to play and have shown little sign of challenging their hosts for a victory, with the efforts of their bowlers coming in for particular criticism.
However, Smith does not believe too much can be read into Australia's performance on the subcontinent, and pointed to its solid record on home turf, where it last lost a series in the 1992/93 season.
"I think conditions will be very different in Australia," Smith told PA Sport.
"It's conditions that they are use to playing on, it's their home ground and I think if you look at their stats, they haven't been beaten at home for a very, very long time. So it will be a massive challenge for us."
"But any tour away from home whether it's to India, Australia or to England is a really tough experience. You're in someone else's backyard, their crowds and their media, and I think you have to be very mature in the way you go about it."
"So we're excited, we're looking forward to it and we certainly believe we can do well, so hopefully this time we can pull it off."
The 27-year-old is in bullish mood ahead of the tour, which begins in mid-December, and has heaped praise on his side who recorded an historic Test series victory over England earlier this year.
He said: "Last season we came off a very successful season, the most successful season the Protea team has ever had, so that's really given the team great confidence."
"We're obviously building up to the massive tour of Australia, so every day we're really grafting hard at what we need to do."
Smith missed South Africa's recent one-day series against Kenya as he recovered from an elbow injury, but will be back during the tour of Bangladesh.
"It's such a long season ahead and so much of responsibility for me and pressure going forward in terms of my own performance and the captaincy, so I'm just building into the game," he said.
The Proteas' one-day form has not been at its best of late, illustrated by their series whitewash in England, and Smith admits the games against Kenya and Bangladesh will be a good opportunity to groom some of the younger players in the set-up.
"(Both series) allow us for an opportunity to blood a few new guys. We've had guys who've performed really well for their country for a number of years," he said.
"Our Test side is really powerful, really mature, a lot of great performers in there who have proven their worth over time. We go to Australia now and it's about keeping guys fresh and focused on what they really need to do."
"So it's our next-tier guys, who are going to be the future of South African cricket in years to come, that are really grafting in the one-day side and getting their opportunities."