Sydney Australia
Capital of the state of New South Wales, and gateway to Australia.
Aussie Travel TipsAny suitcase you choose should be small, have strong wheels (the bigger the better) and a handle that slides out of the way when not being used. It will save you hunting for trolleys at airports and bus stations. Take a note of what the airline flight crews take for their own use.Personally, I consider a backpack far easier to carry. Some even have a small, detachable 'day pack' for walking around town day trips after you've left the main pack at your hotel (or a left-luggage locker). Electricity Before you weigh yourself down bringing any electrical gadgets with you, consider... Will it run on Australian A/C mains voltage? Ours is 240 volts, which will burn up anything designed for 110 v (such as the US or Japan). The UK and much of Europe works on 200v, so it will probably be alright - but especially delecate gizmos have been known to burn out occasionally. Ask your local friendly electrician at home, or the appliance's manufacturer. There are two other differences, too. Firstly, our AC (alternating current) pulses at 50 Hz - that's 50 times a second - while in the US and Japan its 60 Hz. Most modern gadgetry won't care a hoot, unless it's a clock that relies on the pulses to stay accurate. The second difference is the shape of your power plugs and our wall sockets. You can pick up adapters at airport shops (most expensive) or at any Dick Smith or Tandy store in Australia, boith of which are now owned by Woolworths. And in Sydney, you can get the adapters in the Woolworths' Metro Town Hall store, on the corner of George and Park Streets and just opposite the Town Hall and the QVB Building. Computers Most Laptop Computers have 'universal' or switching power supplies that don't care if the AC mains supply is 240v or 110v, but read the instructions on the power transformer to be sure. All you need now is a plug adapter, or possibly just a replacement power cord, from any Australian computer store that sells laptops. And as for Batteries, dry cells or rechargeables, you can buy them anywhere over here. We call them D cells (torch/flashlight size), C cells (medium size), AA (penlight size) or AAA (very tiny penlight). There are also 9v transistor radio batteries, and large chunky 6v torch and lantern batteries. While you're in Sydney, you coyuld check out the speciality electronic shops in York Street near Town Hall, opposite the Queen Victoria Building. The speciality stores, all next door to neach other are: Dick Smith, Tandy (like Radio Shack), Jaycar and David Reid. All of them will sell you most kinds of batteries, cheap cells, rechargables (and chargers), alkalines or whatever. Cellphones (we call them Mobile Phones) in Australia are expensive to use in Roaming mode, and most US phones won't work here anyhow. If you plan on being here a month or more, it would make more sense to buy a cheap prepaid mobile phone locally, and chuck it out when you leave. Most mobile phone stores can sell you a brand new phone for about $50 (Australian) that includes at least $30 worth of calls. Keep your calls short and get other people to phone you! |
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