honeymoon for Rudd?

No, not likely As I wrote before, Rudd is on a roll, which could lead him to become PM. As I see it there are now three possible outcomes:
Rudd wins government in a Ruddslide;
Rudd narrowly wins, with Greens preferences;
The Liberals squeak in, losing many seats.
This is definite: Howard will lose his seat,
and the libs will lose control of the senate, probably for a long long time
There will be a bloodbath against the Costello camp, but if the libs win they will only last one term, and the next election will be a Ruddslide for Rudd government.

Howard government will go down in history as the worst government Australia has ever had.

Healing Australia, cancelling uranium contracts, and reactor leases, lifting our
overseas profile from the mud, ceasing our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be a hard struggle for a Rudd govt, which is already putting pragmatism above principle in many areas.
There is also the question of the AWB scandal. The public has not forgotten how Howard, Ruddock and Costello lied about not knowing what was going on. We would like to seem them prosecuted for this, and also heads to roll for the entire wheat board. Having troops in Iraq is one thing, but giving the enemy millions of dollars to fight them is beyond the pale.
But when Howard is gone, we have a good chance of reviving our spirits, and once again feeling proud of being Australian.
Hopefully the next Liberal PM hasn't been born yet.

By that time, we will have ditched the disastrous Westminster system of govt, and govern by consensus. We could once more lead the world by example of how a country could be run.