Your flight plan sounds perfect! Plenty of both kinds of aus flying, eastcost and other.
I'm going to second the 182 as well. I've never flown one but Having flown A36 in the center, there is nothing worse than sitting in a glasshouse with no ventilation. Dont worry too much about the HF make sure you have an ELT and plenty of water/rations/first aid. If something does happen its going to be a long wait for help.