Visiting Australia
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Visiting Australia
Jan 2004
My husband is visiting Sydney in March (a dream realized)
and would really appreciate recommendations for where to
go, what to see & do, where to stay, eat etc. He has a very
limited budget. Thanks!
Sharon
Buy the Lonely Planet Sydney book. It's perfect for that.
Former Sydney resident.
Dana
February 2003
Does anyone have any recommendations for our upcoming brief
visit to Sydney? We're looking for a cool hotel that won't look
ascant at our sprinting toddler, fun things for him to do
during the day, and any remarkable places to eat.
Thank you-
Christina
The zoo in Manly is a fun daytrip, a pleasant ferry ride across
the bay from Sydney. Our son also enjoyed visiting one of the
wild animal parks (there are several in the Blue Mountains, a
bus or car ride away) where he was able to play with kangaroo,
koalas, dingos and the like. You can find out about these
places from your concierge or local tourist shops.
enjoy your trip!
we lived in sydney several years ago and it is a great place
for children. i would recommend doing a city search for
sydney's summer (it is now summer there) events. there are tons
of outdoor events going on in sydney this time of year (such as
music in the park, outdoor movies overlooking opera house,
festivals and such). also the restaurant i would recommend is
the cafe sydney which overlooks the opera house and harbor
bridge. try to get a table on the deck or looking on the harbor
and do it at dusk for the beautful sunset, food is also great!
sydney also has a zoo and you can take the ferry there which is
fun. and also a day trip to the blue mountains on the train is
a fun time. have fun!
chalyn
We went to Sydney last year and but did not take our toddler who
was 20 mo at the time. But we found out there would be a lot of
things that he would enjoy. Ferries ride itself would be fun.
You can take the ferry to Toranga zoo. We stayed at Pacific
International Suites,a really nice apartment 1 block from
Darling Harbor. Darling Harbor itself would be fun, there is a
really nice playground that the kids would like. The beach would
be fun for the kids too. There is the Royal Botanial Garden for
them to run around. Feel free to email me if you want more
info.
smartin
We spent a week in Sydney in 2000. I can't recomend a hotel,
since our kids were well past toddler age, but I can highly
recommend the Sydney zoo. The ferry takes you there (a fun
ferry, but watch your child carefully if you stand on the
outside deck, since the railings are low and it is pretty
open). We also did some fun day-outings (through the blue
mountains, and on a dolphin-watch boat), but they involved
fairly long bus rides, so might not be ideal with a toddler.
In general, we found Australians to be very friendly and
helpful.
R.K.
February 2003
My husband will be in Australia on business soon, and he likes to
call home every day when he's away. Any suggestions for ways to
call that won't result in a killer phone bill? There doesn't
seem to be anything in the archives that addresses this. Thanks!
Kathy
Buy an international phone card from a news stand or
corner store. The price is under .10 a minute and will not set
you back at all. This is the cheapest way I have found. The
cards are very easy to use and can be recharged over the
phone.
Hadley
try calling cards there are several to choose from Ive found the
non rechargeable to be the best economicaly
Andrea
I can highly recommend the carrier ''Hello World.'' You can call
Australia for 14 cents a minute and they can set your husband up
with a code, so he can call you from Australia through them for
the same inexpensive rate. I have used their service for years,
since I call Germany frequently. Because of the time difference,
I sometimes need to call from my work phone and the call gets
directly billed to my home phone at no extra cost. There is
no ''plan'' cost with this carrier. You only get billed for the
calls you make, and if you want, you can set up automatic
payment with them too. Here is the customer service number: 1-
888-333-6710.
Heike
I have always used an international calling card from companies
like MCI. It can be very inexpensive.
Vivienne
When in Australia, look for pre-paid phone cards to buy. Because
the dollar is so strong down there now, that may be your cheapest
bet. I have purchased prepaid phone cards here (Costco is by far
the cheapest I've found so far -- comes out to less than 5 cents
for domestic minutes), then used them overseas to call the U.S. I
also use them here to make long-distance domestic calls. You have
to call a customer service number, listed on the back of the card,
to get the special access code to call from Australia (or any
country you might be traveling to). When you call, they will tell
you how many domestic minutes equal one overseas minute. It
depends on the country. Here's the customer service number on the
back of my Sprint card from Costco: 1-800-203-2821. You could
call them for info.
DO NOT use a calling card (i.e. AT+T, SBC). The charges added to
your card and the calls themselves are much more expensive than
any other method. You could also find out how much collect calls
to your home from Australia would be. That way, you'd only be
charged for calls when you're actually home to receive them. I
still think the prepaid cards are the most convenient.
Frequent traveler
You can use a messenger. You could download Trillian for free
and have free conversations. The voice or video messengers
don't work very well but written communications are great.
Regards,
Kishore
Definitely try onesuite.com, which is a rechargeable calling
card type thing. The rate to Australia by 1-800 access number
is $0.055, and by local access number is $0.045 per minute.
That means if you have flat rate on your phone for local calls,
you pay just $0.045 per minute. The lines are very clear, and
they also have several other nice features which make calling
very easy. I call China every week, and the rate is only
$0.039. You can recharge by phone or on line. Great long
distant option.
Judy
I forwarded the orginal message to my brother in Australia, who
I talk to weekly (he calls because it is cheaper than if I call
him). Here is what he sent back to me:
Australian International Long Distance: For international phone
call from Australia, I use a prepaid ''Apple'' phone card
www.applecomm.com.au . Available at most convenience stores
(like 7Eleven) or newsagents in major Australian cities. There
are many different providers of similar type cards --all special
deals-- but I prefer the Apple brand offered by Green
Communications. The rate is AU$0.04 minute from Australia to the
USA/Canada or Europe (that's US 2.5cents per min) & the quality
is excellent. (NOT an Internet call; it's a standard long
distance reseller.) No subscription, no sign-up, no flagfall
access charges. Billed per exact second. The card is excellent
value to call anywhere in the world and within Australia. To
use, simply purchase an Apple Card in denomination of AU$10, $20
or $50. (If you purchase $50 card you receive an $5 bonus for
total $55 worth of calls.) The card will have unique PIN code &
list local dial-in access phone numbers for each major
Australian city. Just dial the local access number, follow
instructions to enter your PIN and dial your international phone
number. Quick note, in Australia each local call from a
standard home or business phone line is billed by Telstra (the
monopoly local phone provider) at AU$0.25 per local call
(untimed). So, just keep in mind that calling the Apple local
access number from any home or business line incurs a AU$0.25
local call charge by Telstra ... or from public pay phones it's
AU$0.40 for a local call.
Australian Mobile Phone Service: If you already own a GSM
mobile phone (GSM is a cell phone that uses a SIM smart card;
make sure it is 'dual band'
phone as the GSM wave band in North America is different
frequency from the rest-of-world), the best deal is the
prepaid ''Communic8'' (yes, spelled with the numeric '8')
www.communic8.com.au . Great starter deal for AU$25: new
Australian mobile phone number, AU$25 free calls (sometimes
AU$50 during promotions), voice mail, two months network access,
no contract, no subscription, immediate activation and standard
mobile phone rates. Purchase at any Telstra phone shop. When
call value/network access is depleted, simply add more via
credit card or purchase a pre-paid Communic8 'add-value' card
available at most supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience
stores.
If you don't own a GSM mobile phone, Vodaphone offers a pre-paid
mobile phone service kit that includes a new GSM mobile phone -
and- SIM smart card with new Australian mobile phone number for
about AU$200 . No contract. No sign-up. Purchase the
Vodaphone pre-paid mobile phone kit at most convenience shops
(7Eleven) or electronic stores (Tandy, Dick Smith, Office
Works). You keep the GSM mobile phone and may re-use it in most
countries around the world by locally purchasing a SIM smart
card (with new local mobile phone) in the country that you
visit. Similar to 'Communic8, simply add call value/network
access by purchasing 'add-value' pre-paid Vodaphone cards.
-I know this is long, but my brother is unemployed down under
(by his choice) and has the time/need to research best/cheapest
deals on everything. Hope it helps.
Kerri
this page was last updated: Jun 24, 2005
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