Law / Father and Grandmother Polish born - can I get a Polish passport? [14]

Merged: Australian applying for Polish passport *IN* Poland - mother is Polish, but her passport expired

I am an Australian citizen. My mother was born in Poland and has Polish citizenship and an (expired) Polish passport. I would like to apply for a Polish passport, but I don't have any of the required Polish documents yet. If I understand the process correctly, I need to:

1. Register my Australian birth certificate at the registry office in Warsaw
2. Receive my Polish birth certificate from the registry office
3. Use my Polish birth certificate to then go and apply for a PESEL number (is this the same as a Polish ID card?)
4. Finally, use my PESEL number to apply for a Polish passport

I'm willing to go to Poland once, for 2 weeks or so, to speed up the process. At what point in the above process would be the best time to go to Poland? Should I go register my Australian birth certificate in Warsaw, in person, first, and then do the rest from Australia? Or would it best to go and apply for the PESEL number in person? I guess I'm asking at which point in the process seems to have the worst bottleneck that creates the 18+ month waiting times that we keep hearing about.

Any answers or advice would be much appreciated!