Oz hoiday money - best options?

DamianPS

Hi,

We were lucky enough to book flights to Australia following this site's excellent recommendation regarding Singapore Airline's sale!

We're off to Perth for 4 weeks in November and whilst i'm not anticipating spending thousands, i'm sure we'll get through some cash!

I'm looking into what's the best thing to do with regards to my holiday spends. The options I believe are;

1) Cash - though would appear risky if the sum is noticeable
2) Travellers cheques - Not sure how these work to be fair and if applicable in Oz?
3) Withdraw cash from my current account whilst in Oz (Though I believe that Lloyds will charge for this privilege!)
4) Credit card transactions (Again, not sure if my Egg card will attract fee's for doing this?)

A further consideration is that of a 'citi bank' account. I've noticed that a foreign currency account can be set up (available in AUD$) like a current account - attracting interest also, though I suspect that this will be negligible!
Does anyone have any experience of the Citi foreign currency current accounts? It seems to be the easiest, as I can make fee free balance transfers, though i'm concerned that the coverage of Citi bank in Perth may be limited.

Any help / guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

alwaysonthego_2

When I went to the USA I got a postoffice credit card on the recommendation of Martin, as there are no fees when spending on the card. We also got a good currency rate!

than4

My only comment that is unlike the US, where virtually anywhere will take travellers cheques in US$, it is not the same in Australia and you would probably have to go to a bank or money exchange place, even if they were in AUD$.

There are plenty of ATM's around, but most will charge for thier use. Most supermarkets and deparment stores do "cashback", but not sure if you would be able to do this with a foreign card.