Engage brain, check charts, revise radio procedures, and do it.
@Sunfish: After all, it's just like flying anywhere for the first time. If you're in Melbourne, you also had to get acquainted with the airspace here at one point or another. Where I'll give you full credit is that studying charts alone isn't always sufficient to get a thorough picture of what pilots should do. That's nothing new, of course, but flying in and around Sydney, the ERSA at YSSY is full of information regarding flight procedures where I personally wouldn't expect to find it. Flying privately and VFR while requiring extensive preparation and planning shouldn't feel like daunting task each time you're headed to new places though. I'd say take a best effort attitude by investing whatever time you consider reasonable in order to get a good picture of what to expect and carry out a safe flight. For the rest, just talk to ATS if unsure. The only certainty is that however much study you put into it, 1. you won't get rid of unexpected and random events, 2. you'll still make a few mistakes.