"Help the Yankee DISer" Part II-visit Australia/DL-the PTR(8/19 -TR Link Post#263!)

[Aussie Wendy]

Just back from a fantabulous 2 weeks in Japan ending with Disney Sea and a quick half day at Disneyland. Trip report to come over the next couple of weeks but wanted to agree with previous posters-your trip looks good and I agree with clothes recoms. Light pants, T's and jacket for Sydney, when in Melbourne we need an extra layer in winter-but we are from Qld! I have worn shorts/capri's in Sydney in winter some years and needed jeans others. Shorts and T's definately for Cairns and down to Mackay with the light jacket for the evening in the rainforest/for eve sea breezes. Shorts or light pants, Ts and that light jacket option also for Brissie/zoo-August can be freezing cold winds some years and very hot-like midsummer with serious sunburn other years-who knows for this year. It is almost always one or the other though. Don't neglect suntan lotion (buy it here if you want rather than carry)-I am reminded as we got badly sunburnt in Japan-wasn't expecting it for this time of year. I also was terrified by the NYC posts as we always wear very casual-til I thought-what the h***, I'm on hols. Jealous of your visit to Carsland at DCA. Have heaps of fun as you finalise planning and head into spring! NB Disney Sea should be added as a must on any disboarders "one day" list.

 

[aussieGeorge68]

Hi Pete, you seem to have done really well on the airfares, I don't have much to add, expect I was talking to my neighbour who works in the Weather bureau and he has some good news in relation to the weather in Eastern Australia, apparently the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) has finally dipped out of La Nina and its likely that the extreme wet weather of the last 2 years will ease. Nothing is certain of course, but it looks better.

 

[skier_pete]

Just back from a fantabulous 2 weeks in Japan ending with Disney Sea and a quick half day at Disneyland. Trip report to come over the next couple of weeks but wanted to agree with previous posters-your trip looks good and I agree with clothes recoms. Light pants, T's and jacket for Sydney, when in Melbourne we need an extra layer in winter-but we are from Qld! I have worn shorts/capri's in Sydney in winter some years and needed jeans others. Shorts and T's definately for Cairns and down to Mackay with the light jacket for the evening in the rainforest/for eve sea breezes. Shorts or light pants, Ts and that light jacket option also for Brissie/zoo-August can be freezing cold winds some years and very hot-like midsummer with serious sunburn other years-who knows for this year. It is almost always one or the other though. Don't neglect suntan lotion (buy it here if you want rather than carry)-I am reminded as we got badly sunburnt in Japan-wasn't expecting it for this time of year. I also was terrified by the NYC posts as we always wear very casual-til I thought-what the h***, I'm on hols. Jealous of your visit to Carsland at DCA. Have heaps of fun as you finalise planning and head into spring! NB Disney Sea should be added as a must on any disboarders "one day" list.

I'll be curious to follow your Tokyo DisneySea/Land report. I'd love to do that someday, but I don't think it will ever happen. We definitely are suntan lotion users big-time. We're the only family that comes back from a week at the beach as pale as we left. We will bring some sunscreen with us to DL, but likely will not bring a huge supply, as that is something we can re-stock in AUS.

Hi Pete, you seem to have done really well on the airfares, I don't have much to add, expect I was talking to my neighbour who works in the Weather bureau and he has some good news in relation to the weather in Eastern Australia, apparently the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) has finally dipped out of La Nina and its likely that the extreme wet weather of the last 2 years will ease. Nothing is certain of course, but it looks better.

Well, hope the weather isn't too wet, but we'll take whatever we can get. I used to fret more about weather, and would probably be a bit disappointed if it rains for 4 weeks, but in the end the weather is so out of our control that I can't worry about it too much. With that long a trip, it's almost impossible that we don't have SOME bad weather. In 2011, our travels had a snowstorm, a hurricane AND an earthquake, so can't get too much worse than that.

 

[afwdwfan]

Ok, I haven't read through this whole thing yet, but the DL/Australia combo is very intriguing. I definitely want to see this TR.

 

[skier_pete]

Ok, I haven't read through this whole thing yet, but the DL/Australia combo is very intriguing. I definitely want to see this TR.

Hey, welcome on over. Thanks for joining in. We don't get many guys around here...Let me crack you open a beer.

KKik-shhhhhhh.....

 

[afwdwfan]

Hey, welcome on over. Thanks for joining in. We don't get many guys around here...Let me crack you open a beer.

KKik-shhhhhhh.....

MMMMMMMMM..... beer.

Ever consider venturing over to the Dis Dad's area of the forum? Plenty of guys hanging out around there.

 

[skier_pete]

MMMMMMMMM..... beer.

Ever consider venturing over to the Dis Dad's area of the forum? Plenty of guys hanging out around there.

Well, I checked it out once but didn't sign in. Maybe I'll make it over some time soon. I don't tend to hang on the community board too much, though.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey there,

I sat down to compile a list of "things that I need to do before leaving on our trip", the list is still a work in progress but includes:

- Passports (DONE)
- International Driver’s License
- International plug adapters (3?)
- Clear memory cards
- Set up Thrive (Android Tablet) for download of pix/video
- Upload movies to Thrive
- Call Verizon regarding international phone usage/set-up.

My thought is I'd really like to have one functioning phone while in Australia, even if for limited calls. When I talked to Verizon, they told me they had a phone rental service, that would allow me to rent an international phone that would operate in Australia. The costs would be (in addition to my regular monthly costs):
o $19.95 for 3 weeks of rental phone + $3.50 for “value” service.
o Phone calls @ 99 cents per minute and texting at 50 cents for send / 5 cents receive.
o Data plan would be $30 per month of 500 Megabyte of data, but my regular phone can be used via Wi-Fi for data (Tablet also).

When talking it over with DW, we were wondering whether you can just go to a store in Australia and buy basically a pre-paid cell. Does anyone out there know if this can be done? Something where we could buy like 200 minutes or something for a flat fee. The text costs above aren't bad, but 99 cents a minute is pretty darn steep. (I also really don't receive a lot of texts anyways.)

Appreciate any recommendations anyone can give.

SkierPete

 

[aussietravellers]

International roaming calls are SO expensive.

We do have prepaid cells (we call them mobiles) but nothing like you have in the states, not the range or as cheap.

You can buy pre-paid mobile kits. Which will provide you with a simcard and you can load that with $'s. So if you have an old phone, that is not locked to a network you may be able to go that route. All sim cards and phones need to be registered so just check the fine print that they allow purchase by residents outside of Australia

But here are some of our main service providers and what you can look at getting and their prepaid mobiles and they may have info there too if they have the prepaid sim kits.

http://telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/prepaid-mobiles/

http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid/home/index.htm

https://www.optus.com.au/shop/prepaidmobile

http://dicksmith.com.au/mobiles-wireless/prepaid-mobile-phones

http://www.virginmobile.com.au/shop/ProductChooser/Handset/Prepaid/?i_cid=22001000

 

[PrincessInOz]

Pete - there is no issue with getting a prepaid Sim card for an international person over here. I have friends that do it all the time. Plus, if they do insist on an Australian address, you could always use your DW's friends address if needed to.

What handset do you currently have, do you know what bandwidth it operates on (or if it is a tri or quad band phone) and is it currently locked to your current service provider? Might be worth asking Verizon if you could unlock your current phone if it is on the right frequencies.

If you have a phone that has 900/1800/1900 and it is unlocked, you might get away with just popping a SIM card in for calls.

Australian networks 3G networks runs off 850 MHz. The 2G frequencies run at 1800 and 1900. And the new Telstra 4G network utilises the souped-up 2100 frequency. The 4G iPhone will not run efficiently on the Telstra network because it is tuned to a different frequency.


Your call rates at 99 cents per minute will line up with the prepaid call rate of around 66 - 78 cents per minute, depending on which plan and which carrier you choose. There could also be a flagfall rate associated with each connected call....22 cents seems to come to mind.

My caveat is that the last time I looked at the prepaid call rates would have been a couple of years ago. I don't think they would have changed significantly.

If I get time over the next couple of weeks, I'll pop into a couple of stores here to see what prepaid handset starter kits are on offer.

 

[cola]

Because of the different cell phone 'bands' used in Australia from US phones, lots of US phones don't work here (plus network issues) most phones on the AUstralian market will work in the US (multi-bands phones are common), the market is so small, we don't get phones only suitable for the Australian 'bands'.

If you get an unloacked phone, you can put any SIM you can buy in it. tvsn.com.au (search for phone - any shown are unlocked) and dicksmith.com.au (search for unlocked) are easy places to find cheap (and expensive) unlocked phones, with the understanding the cheap ones tend to be very basic and have small screens and are quite a way from being the latest model, but they all manage texting and calling.

A local SIM card may actually be more of a challenge since they seem to want a whole lot of proof of address things.

 

[skier_pete]

Thank you, thank you again for all the responses. You guys/gals are really helping me out. I've followed some of the links and I have to say, I am currently leaning towards just converting one of our own phones. The main advantages I see the Aussie mobile would be (1) less cost per minute and (2) having a "local" number I can be reached.

Unfortunately is seems that the pre-paid phone would cost just as much, if not more, so the first item has no advantage. And, while the second one is nice, really the two main reasons for having an active phone are being able to call OUT in an emergency and letting our loved ones at home have an easy access to reach us in an emergency. Paying our home mobile supplier seems best for those things, and the lack of the "local" number shouldn't be that big an issue. (I am hoping to use Skype for some of the home communication, but I am not sure how easy that will be.)

So again, thanks for the help. I think it made the decision a lot easier for me!

Just THREE MONTHS (and 1 day) to go. Really excited.

 

[joy13]

Wow - just went over your itinerary in the first few posts - this trip sounds awesome!!! I can't wait for the TR!

 

[skier_pete]

Wow - just went over your itinerary in the first few posts - this trip sounds awesome!!! I can't wait for the TR!

Thanks - the updates here have been rather few and far between as I haven't been booking much of late. However, we will slowly be adding more details as the time approaches. Can't belive it's just a little over 2.5 months away.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone.

A minor update going on...we booked our last two nights of hotels. We are staying on August 13-15th at the Glass House Mountains Ecolodge, which is in Glass House Mountains NP in the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands, quite near the Australia Zoo. Like many of our other spots, we came across it on the internet. Looks like a nice place though potentially limited amenities. (They mention no TV which is fine with us.) As long as they have a (comfy) bed, toilet and hot shower, I'm good. The room has bunk beds for DD - so right there it'll be a win.

We really haven't been doing much else for the trip yet...so I'm not expecting too many updates in the next few weeks. What I was thinking of doing is in the month leading up to the trip doing a daily "One Month from Today" Trip Update, and sort of using that to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row. Hard to believe we are just over two months away.

I'm also waiting until the next credit card billing cycle, but will be buying our DL tickets very shortly. The prices usually go up in June, and I picture them raising prices before CarsLand open, so want to get on that before the price hike.

 

[cola]

If the exchange rate continues it's current path, you'll find things not as scary expensive in Australia as anticipated. It will still be expensive, but not take your breath away expensive

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yup. In the last 3 weeks, your spending money appreciated by 5%.

 

[skier_pete]

If the exchange rate continues it's current path, you'll find things not as scary expensive in Australia as anticipated. It will still be expensive, but not take your breath away expensive

Yup. In the last 3 weeks, your spending money appreciated by 5%.

Wow! I just looked at the trend. That would be really good for us! I'm thinking if it goes up a few more %, I might have to find a bank where I can exchange some cash. (Too bad I've already spent about half the cost of the trip!)

(looking long-term, hard to believe if we had traveled in 2009 we would've had a 50 % improvement on our dollar value!)

 

[BecBennett]

(They mention no TV which is fine with us.)

They usually don't mention a TV because it's just a given. So I'm pretty sure there will be one - I can't comment on how clear the stations will be, but I'm pretty sure there will be one

 

[skier_pete]

They usually don't mention a TV because it's just a given. So I'm pretty sure there will be one - I can't comment on how clear the stations will be, but I'm pretty sure there will be one

No, they specifically mention there is no TV on the premises. We're not going to Australia to watch TV, though.