Currency Dilema

Over the past 6 months, this newsgroup has provided me with invaluable
travel advice and tips, and we are about to depart on our trip, we have just
1 last question to ask - what is the best way to carry currency for our
extended holiday?

Our trip takes in Australia (40 days), New Zealand (16 days) and 5 days in
both the Cook Islands and also Tahiti.

Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with the rest in
Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$ for Rarotonga &
Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to take a
smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely on ATM's /
credit cards?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks,



Simon

"Simon" wrote in
:

Over the past 6 months, this newsgroup has provided me with invaluable
travel advice and tips, and we are about to depart on our trip, we
have just 1 last question to ask - what is the best way to carry
currency for our extended holiday?

Our trip takes in Australia (40 days), New Zealand (16 days) and 5
days in both the Cook Islands and also Tahiti.

Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with the
rest in Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$ for
Rarotonga & Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to take
a smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely on
ATM's / credit cards?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks,



Simon

Simon,

Exchange a few pounds to local currency (Aussie dollars, NZ, whatever)
before you leave, and have the rest in a 'travel account' in your
favourite bank. Then use your card to access the account whenever you
need to on your travels.

This is how we travelled throughout Australia and it worked wonderfully.
No large sums of money to carry, and certainly no travellers cheques to
worry about. I understand many places don't even convert travellers
cheques any more. Don't know for sure, but am glad we aren't using them
anymore.

Petra

Thanks for your reply.

Did you rely on simply using ATM cards, and drawing out local currency? Did
this work out more expensive (lots of smallish transactions)?

I guess this will work well on Oz & NZ - not sure about the Pacific Islands
(if I adopt your suggestion, may just need to take US$ cheques for islands).

Thanks again for your help,


Simon



"Petra" wrote in message
7.134...
"Simon" wrote in
:

Over the past 6 months, this newsgroup has provided me with invaluable
travel advice and tips, and we are about to depart on our trip, we
have just 1 last question to ask - what is the best way to carry
currency for our extended holiday?

Our trip takes in Australia (40 days), New Zealand (16 days) and 5
days in both the Cook Islands and also Tahiti.

Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with the
rest in Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$ for
Rarotonga & Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to take
a smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely on
ATM's / credit cards?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks,



Simon

Simon,

Exchange a few pounds to local currency (Aussie dollars, NZ, whatever)
before you leave, and have the rest in a 'travel account' in your
favourite bank. Then use your card to access the account whenever you
need to on your travels.

This is how we travelled throughout Australia and it worked wonderfully.
No large sums of money to carry, and certainly no travellers cheques to
worry about. I understand many places don't even convert travellers
cheques any more. Don't know for sure, but am glad we aren't using them
anymore.

Petra

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:24:34 +0100, Simon wrote:

Did you rely on simply using ATM cards, and drawing out local currency?
Did this work out more expensive (lots of smallish transactions)?

If you get yourself a Nationwide current account, they don't charge at all
for cash withdrawals. Just about every other bank will screw you if you
take out small amounts as there is a minimum charge. 1.5%-2% with minimum
of £1.50-£2 is average.

Their credit card isn't as good as it used to be but it doesn't have a
foreign currency exchange loading. Most banks charge 2.75%.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Australian trip reports including
New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia

Simon wrote:

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to take a
smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely on ATM's /
credit cards?

For the last N years I have simply got money out of an ATM on arrival.
(Not that I've been to any of the places listed). All other methods
are vastly more labour-intensive (i.e. costly to the bank, and hence
to you) by comparison.

--
"I was nauseous and tingly all over.
I was either in love or I had smallpox."

Simon,

We used our regular credit cards from here in Canada. We'd get a couple
of day's worth of money each time, no more than a few hundred. When we
got home the Visa bill showed that the conversions were nothing more
than the bank rates.

I understand however that some banks do charge a hefty fee for using
this service. I'd certainly check with your bank before you tried it.

For the islands, there must be web sites that answer your question of
funds, but it never hurts to have a few Yankee dollars on hand :-) I'd
use bank notes rather than cheques, as some places - notably little
islands (?) might not accept travellers cheques in any denomination.
Nobody turns down a bank note.

Petra


"Simon" wrote in
:

Thanks for your reply.

Did you rely on simply using ATM cards, and drawing out local
currency? Did this work out more expensive (lots of smallish
transactions)?

I guess this will work well on Oz & NZ - not sure about the Pacific
Islands (if I adopt your suggestion, may just need to take US$ cheques
for islands).

Thanks again for your help,


Simon



"Petra" wrote in message
7.134...
"Simon" wrote in
:

Over the past 6 months, this newsgroup has provided me with
invaluable travel advice and tips, and we are about to depart on
our trip, we have just 1 last question to ask - what is the best
way to carry currency for our extended holiday?

Our trip takes in Australia (40 days), New Zealand (16 days) and 5
days in both the Cook Islands and also Tahiti.

Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with
the rest in Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$
for Rarotonga & Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to
take a smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely
on ATM's / credit cards?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks,



Simon

Simon,

Exchange a few pounds to local currency (Aussie dollars, NZ,
whatever) before you leave, and have the rest in a 'travel account'
in your favourite bank. Then use your card to access the account
whenever you need to on your travels.

This is how we travelled throughout Australia and it worked
wonderfully. No large sums of money to carry, and certainly no
travellers cheques to worry about. I understand many places don't
even convert travellers cheques any more. Don't know for sure, but am
glad we aren't using them anymore.

Petra

Simon wrote:
Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with the rest in
Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$ for Rarotonga &
Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

Firstly just a quick note on bringing money for the Pacific island
nations - although the Cook Islands make their own coins and notes the
NZ$ is the main currency (due to the relationship between the islands
and NZ) So as you are travelling to NZ there is no need to get any
additional special currency for Rarotonga.
If you are unable to get Pacific Francs for Tahiti then I would think
that taking Euros would be preferable to taking US$. (Think France in
the South Pacific!!)

I would agree with what other people have said in this tread about using
ATMs/credit cards once you are over here rather than carrying around
large amounts of cash/travellers cheques. As well as the security
advantages, the exchange rate is usually better as it is normally nearer
to the bank rate than the tourist rate you get on the high street. (The
downside is you do not know what this rate is when you get the money
out, all you know is how much of the local currency you received)

Have a wonderful trip
Ian

Replying to my own post - oh well.
Just another quick note (thanks to my wife) one thing to consider when
you are on the islands there may not be easy access to an ATM once you
get away from the main centres (In fact there were none at all in the
Cook Islands until 2000 - both Westpac and ANZ now have them in downtown
Avarua according to their websites)

Ian

My advice is - Use ATMs to access your own money in Austr and NZ. In the
Cooks they use NZD readily, so take NZ cash from NZ to there. In Tahiti -
ATMs are again common, and they use Euros.

ATMs are everywhere in Austr and NZ, including in the arrival areas of the
main airports!

Someone mentioned tips! Tipping is NOT part of the Pacific cultires,
certainly not Austr or NZ, nor the Cooks. Tahiti - not common either.

Exchange rates!! ATMs always give you the wholesale interbank rate for the
day. Your bank will charge a fee of between 1% and 2.2% - depending on their
charges scale - plus a fee for use of a foreign ATM. This sounds a lot; but
typically it just about reduces the exchange rate to the equivalent of the
retail exchange rates you would be using if you used Travellers Cheques, or
changed cash on the street.



Have fun!!




"Simon" wrote in message
...
Over the past 6 months, this newsgroup has provided me with invaluable
travel advice and tips, and we are about to depart on our trip, we have
just
1 last question to ask - what is the best way to carry currency for our
extended holiday?

Our trip takes in Australia (40 days), New Zealand (16 days) and 5 days in
both the Cook Islands and also Tahiti.

Would we be best to take a small amount of cash for say Oz, with the rest
in
Travellers cheques ( for both AS$ & NZ$) & perhaps US$ for Rarotonga &
Tahiti (with a few small bills for tips etc)?

OR, would it be better ('cause of the good old British pound), to take a
smallish amount of cash in local currency / cheques and rely on ATM's /
credit cards?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Many thanks,



Simon

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:26:43 +1000, "A Mate"
wrote:

Someone mentioned tips! Tipping is NOT part of the Pacific cultires,
certainly not Austr or NZ, nor the Cooks. Tahiti - not common either.

From an ex-melbourne cabby - tips are not expected but
always welcome in Oz cabs. But only tip for good service,
not just for the provision of transport.


Cheers, Alan, Australia