lizzydizzy
I currently regularly do up to 15 overnights per month (I'm Sydney based).... quite a few in Perth and Canberra and to a lesser extent Melbourne, Darwin, Brisbane and the odd Adelaide.
I don't agree with your theory that Qantas will be creating minimum overnight patterns next year after the small base in Adelaide is set up. MEL, PER and BNE are already large established bases and as I mentioned, I still overnight there regularly. Darwin and Canberra are cities with no base. Add to this TSV, CNS, HBA.
Lots of factors go into creating flying patterns: Duty hour limits, flight schedules of city pairs, crew numbers available in each base, aircraft size and crew compliments required, etc etc
The Qantas schedule is a complex system unlike smaller airlines that can fly crew in and out a few times a day and then have them back home that evening. The Adelaide base will of course reduce overnights there however there will still be hotel requirements in that city because of the reasons I've mentioned above.
regards
flitegirl (a Qantas "dear")