Travel Advice Needed

My wife and I are going to Australia and NZ for a few weeks this April.
We've never been. We've done some reading and research and chatted with some
people who have gone, but we would appreciate any advice that you could
share.

Is it relatively easy to exchange Canadian money to local currency in either
country? Where can we get the best exchange rates? Will our battery charger
and razor run on the local 50 Hz voltage?

Thanx~!

BL

in article , Barry Lee at
wrote on 2/5/05 2:24 PM:

My wife and I are going to Australia and NZ for a few weeks this April.
We've never been. We've done some reading and research and chatted with some
people who have gone, but we would appreciate any advice that you could
share.

Is it relatively easy to exchange Canadian money to local currency in either
country? Where can we get the best exchange rates? Will our battery charger
and razor run on the local 50 Hz voltage?

Thanx~!

BL



Believe it or not, Barry, you'll get a better overall CASH rate of exchange
by buying US dollars in Canada and then changing USD to AUD. The spread
between "secondary" currencies (like ours 8-( ) is abominable.

Most of our big five banks can order AUD cash for you on a couple days'
notice.

The very best rate will be simply to put a cash credit balance on a Canadian
credit card and then using Australian ATMs for your cash needs. The credit
balance means you won't pay exorbitant interest - and the rate is far better
than you will get by using your bank card. Beware that most of our banks
have flat fee charges as well, so take only amounts worth talking about
(i.e. NOT $20 at a time).

The 50 hz is not a problem but the plugs and the voltage are - buy a
converter. The Australian plugs are two prongs at 45 degree angles to each
other (more or less) sloping down and in, with an earth (ground) plug
between and below them. Be aware that most Australian sockets, unlike ours,
have "on-off" plugs beside them. Up is usually, but not always, off.

As for general advice on the country - relax and enjoy and don't try to do
too much. Asking for general hints is a little like asking about Canada -
it's almost as big and, IMHO, even more diverse.

On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 12:24:14 -0600, "Barry Lee"
wrote:

|My wife and I are going to Australia and NZ for a few weeks this April.
|We've never been. We've done some reading and research and chatted with some
|people who have gone, but we would appreciate any advice that you could
|share.
|
|Is it relatively easy to exchange Canadian money to local currency in either
|country? Where can we get the best exchange rates? Will our battery charger
|and razor run on the local 50 Hz voltage?
|
|Thanx~!
|
|BL
|
Hi BL

On exchange rates - I doubt you'll find any shops that would know what
a Canadian dollar looked like. Use credit or debit (preferably) cards
at ATMs and you'll usually get very good rates through your own bank.
have a chat to your bank people to make sure their card is accepted by
Atms here - they should be.

50 Hz is fine - but what voltages will your battery charger accept? We
are 220-240V 50Hz.

April is a good time to visit almost anywhere in Oz - where do you
intend to go?

Cheers, Alan

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 21:33:03 GMT, Raffi Balmanoukian
a wrote:

|Asking for general hints is a little like asking about Canada -
|it's almost as big and, IMHO, even more diverse.
|

Actually, I was surprised by these numbers, but they're all big
countries:

Russia
Area: 17,075,200 sq km

Canada
Area: 9,984,670 sq km

USA
Area: 9,631,418 sq km

China
Area: 9,596,960 sq km

Brazil
Area: 8,511,965 sq km

Australia
Area: 7,686,850 sq km

India
Area: 3,287,590 sq km

Source: CIA World Fact Book
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/su.html


Cheers, Alan

"Raffi Balmanoukian" a
wrote in message
news:BE2AB47E.29B8B%walkabout@TAKEOUTTHETRASHTOREP LY.ns.sympatico.ca...
| in article , Barry Lee at
| wrote on 2/5/05 2:24 PM:
|
| My wife and I are going to Australia and NZ for a few weeks this April.
| We've never been. We've done some reading and research and chatted with
some
| people who have gone, but we would appreciate any advice that you could
| share.
|
| Is it relatively easy to exchange Canadian money to local currency in
either
| country? Where can we get the best exchange rates? Will our battery
charger
| and razor run on the local 50 Hz voltage?
|
| Thanx~!
|
| BL
|
|
|
| Believe it or not, Barry, you'll get a better overall CASH rate of
exchange
| by buying US dollars in Canada and then changing USD to AUD. The spread
| between "secondary" currencies (like ours 8-( ) is abominable.
|
| Most of our big five banks can order AUD cash for you on a couple days'
| notice.
|
| The very best rate will be simply to put a cash credit balance on a
Canadian
| credit card and then using Australian ATMs for your cash needs. The
credit
| balance means you won't pay exorbitant interest - and the rate is far
better
| than you will get by using your bank card. Beware that most of our banks
| have flat fee charges as well, so take only amounts worth talking about
| (i.e. NOT $20 at a time).
|
| The 50 hz is not a problem but the plugs and the voltage are - buy a
| converter. The Australian plugs are two prongs at 45 degree angles to
each
| other (more or less) sloping down and in, with an earth (ground) plug
| between and below them. Be aware that most Australian sockets, unlike
ours,
| have "on-off" plugs beside them. Up is usually, but not always, off.
|
| As for general advice on the country - relax and enjoy and don't try to do
| too much. Asking for general hints is a little like asking about Canada -
| it's almost as big and, IMHO, even more diverse.
|
For "on-off" plugs, read switch.
Rgds Ian S....................

Headed to Melbourne for 4 days, and then 2-3 day stops each in Sydney &
Cairns. And somewhere else I don't recall at the moment

Our battery charger wll work on 220V. Now I just need to find an adapter for
the plug.

Thanx!

Headed to Melbourne for 4 days, and then 2-3 day stops each in Sydney &
Cairns. And somewhere else I don't recall at the moment

Our battery charger wll work on 220V. Now I just need to find an adapter for
the plug.

Thanx!

You can buy the adaptor at the airport at Melbourne, but Radio Shack or
similar should have one.

--
The Commissioner

www.the-commissioner.com

"Barry Lee" wrote in message
...
Headed to Melbourne for 4 days, and then 2-3 day stops each in Sydney &
Cairns. And somewhere else I don't recall at the moment

Our battery charger wll work on 220V. Now I just need to find an adapter
for
the plug.

Thanx!

that part is easy, they sell em at radio shack
wacky's
staples
luggage stores in the mall
Airport duty free stores
and just about every tourist place when you get to Oz

--
Ever wonder why evian Water
is $3 for a half litre,

spell Evian backwards
_
"Barry Lee" wrote in message
...
Headed to Melbourne for 4 days, and then 2-3 day stops each in Sydney &
Cairns. And somewhere else I don't recall at the moment

Our battery charger wll work on 220V. Now I just need to find an adapter
for
the plug.

Thanx!

I (Canadian) travelled to NZ in 2004. Some comments:

1) I took both US$ and Cdn$ traveller's cheques, and also used my credit
cards. Very easy to exchange traveller's cheques in both currencies,
although I pretty much did it only at banks, not stores, hotels etc. There
are lots of bank branches around, so this was no problem, as long as you
take note of weekends and holidays. Shop around...the rates can vary. But
shopping around is usually easy, since the rates for all major currrencies
(including Cdn $) are often posted in the windows. I found it best to avoid
the "specialty" foreign exchange places in tourist offices etc if you can. I
was amazed that they would offer significantly worse rates (and be doing a
brisk business), even when right around the corner a bank with better rates
was readily available.

credit cards, check with your credit card issuer(s) to see how they do
the conversion and what fees they tack on. For example, some Canadian
issuers may convert foreign currency transactions first to US$, then to
Cdn$, depending on the foreign currency involved. And traveller's
cheques, check into what fees the banks in Aus and NZ (and elsewhere) may
charge to cash them. For Visa and Mastercard cheques, you can check that at
http://www.cashmycheques.com/ . In NZ, I never paid a fee to cash a
traveller's cheque, but it seems that in Australia, they often do charge
fees (even the banks that charge no fees in NZ). In general, I seemed to get
better rates on traveller's cheques than on credit card transactions,
although it was a bit hard to say for sure since the exchange rates
fluctuated a fair bit over the time I was there, and I didn't have many
direct comparison data points (i.e. transactions using tc's and credit cards
on the same day).

And before leaving, I picked up some local (NZ) currency through a Canadian
bank, just to have some cash handy upon arrival so I wouldn't have to worry
about changing money at the airport immediately if it wasn't convenient.
However, the exchange rate wasn't particularly good, so I wouldn't suggest
getting a lot of cash in advance.

2) I picked up a combo multi-country electrical adapter/voltage converter at
Radio Shack before going. Didn't need to use it a lot, but it wasn't very
expensive. If your appliances (e.g. shaver) have dual voltage controls, you
wouldn' t need a converter, but may need an adapter. (Many motels etc in NZ
have North American style plugs specifically for electric razors, but you
may not want to count on that.) With or without the converter, electrical
razors (in my experience at least) will run a bit slower than you're used
to, due to the lower current frequency (50Hz vs 60Hz). Similarly, plug-in
digital clocks may (in my case did) lose (significant) time for the same
reason.

R


"Barry Lee" wrote in message
...
My wife and I are going to Australia and NZ for a few weeks this April.
We've never been. We've done some reading and research and chatted with
some
people who have gone, but we would appreciate any advice that you could
share.

Is it relatively easy to exchange Canadian money to local currency in
either
country? Where can we get the best exchange rates? Will our battery
charger
and razor run on the local 50 Hz voltage?

Thanx~!

BL