There is no limit on how much money visitors can bring into Australia, however, amounts greater than $AU10,000 must be declared at customs. This is done by filling out a Cash Transaction Report Agency declaration. Australian banks are at liberty to report customers carrying amounts more than $AU10,000, if it is deemed to be suspicious.

The Aussie dollar fluctuates daily, against the US dollar in particular. It is wise to keep a close eye on it for the weeks and months before you leave home, and buy travellers cheques, in Australian dollars, when the rate is in your favour. Travellers cheques in foreign currency attract conversion and commission fees, and the exchange rate will continue to fluctuate.

Mastercard, Visa, and to a lesser extent Diners Club and American Express are widely accepted. These will also allow you cash advances from banks and ATMs. They are also a great asset for anyone looking to hire a vehicle. It will cost you $AU25 to send cash electronically back home to pay your credit card bill each month, plus what you lose with the exchange rate. Of all the Australian banks, Westpac seems to always have the best rates and lowest charges for overseas transfers. In England, do not believe your bank if they say you can easily transfer your credit card to an Australian one when you get here; it's technically absolute balderdash.

It requires a 12 month work visa, or a residency visa, to be eligible to open an Australian bank account. The first six weeks of your stay you only need a passport to open an account, after that there is a compulsory points system (that we Aussies always have to deal with). Bank fees and charges seem to increase regularly, whilst service standards reciprocally decline (...sigh..), but, basically, avoid opening a cheque account as these involve extra charges for each and every transaction of any sort. Do get yourself a 'cashcard', as these are accepted almost everywhere nowadays, and will even pay for the groceries whilst withdrawing cash at the same time and place [EFTPOS]. Bear in mind that some businesses in the more remote parts of north Queensland do not have EFTPOS facilities and prefer to deal in cash only.

Banks are open 9.30am until 4pm Monday-Thursday and until 5pm Fridays. Do try to avoid the major banks on Mondays, and expect exasperating queues during lunch hours. In late 1999 it was common knowledge that many credit card bills had items wrongly billed in triplicate, that's three times for the same item, so don't trust the banks' electronic billing system.

Currency

Australia too has a decimal dollar system, with 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, $1-, $2- coins, and $5-, $10-, $20-, $50-, & $100- notes. Goods, and even services, are still priced in single cents, and the total rounded up or down to the nearest 5c.

A new Goods & Services Tax [G.S.T.] is due to kick in come July 2000. The only people who can say, with any real confidence, how this will affect the man in the street, have probably had too much to drink.