I would prefer an easier way to do the task:
use LWP::Simple to fetch your web page and Test::HTML::Content to test whether the HTML is what it should be.

There's more along these lines: to fiddle with the way the web pages should be navigated there is WWW::Mechanize::Shell which is on the lines of your lynx approach.
Or else there is HTTP::Recorder to record your browsing session and create a WWW::Mechanize (Perl) macro to redo what you just did on the web pages.
You can reuse or tweak these scripts later.

Cheers, Sören