The Wallabies will head home today attempting to come to terms with their first defeat of the Robbie Deans era after being thrashed 39-10 by New Zealand at Eden Park.
Australia were unable to build on their five straight victories under Deans and end a hoodoo in Auckland which now stretches to 10 straight games since 1986.
The All Blacks shot to the top of the Tri-Nations table with last night's bonus point win, while Australia will take a week off before preparing for an equally tough road assignment in South Africa.
The Wallabies play the Springboks in Durban on August 23 and a week later in Johannesburg, where they haven't won since 1963.
"We'll lick our wounds, we get a break now for a week or so and then re-group and really look forward to our preparation for South Africa where we play two important matches," skipper Stirling Mortlock said.
The All Blacks hit back hard last night after their 34-19 loss the week before in Sydney, dominating the breakdown and lineout and pressuring Australia with a well executed kicking game.
They scored two tries on either side of halftime, the first two to prop Tony Woodcock and the second two to near unstoppable centre Ma'a Nonu.
"The effort the guys put out there tonight was massive but unfortunately it didn't go our way and the harder we tried the more we seemed to dig ourselves into a hole," Mortlock said.
In more bad news for Australia, fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper suffered a suspected broken hand.
He is already Australia's second choice No.15 with Cameron Shepherd sidelined with a broken ankle.
The All Blacks' win eased the pressure on coach Graham Henry, who had been staring down the barrel of a third straight loss, something the Kiwis have not experienced since 1998.
"I thought they (the Wallabies) played well last week, we played well this week," he said.
"Every dog has its day and today was our day."
The Test was the last before Eden Park is redeveloped for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
