Currency Exchange in Aus/NZ

[Coadysmom]

We cannot get Australian or New Zealand dollars at our banks in my area. We are considering taking cash and exchanging money at the local banks in Sydney.

1. Do most local banks exhcnage foreign money?

2. Is the exchange rate better/worse/the same as the airport terminals

3. Is the exchange rate at a local bank better than a 3% transaction fee for an ATM transaction?

 

All advice is appreciated.

[Aussie Cruisers]

We cannot get Australian or New Zealand dollars at our banks in my area. We are considering taking cash and exchanging money at the local banks in Sydney.

 

1. Do most local banks exhcnage foreign money?

2. Is the exchange rate better/worse/the same as the airport terminals

3. Is the exchange rate at a local bank better than a 3% transaction fee for an ATM transaction?

 

All advice is appreciated.

 

Hi Peg,

 

I find the airport excellent. Sure, you always pay a small fee, but it is a service. Over here, if you are organised, Australia Post will exchange free of charge, so that is great if you are organised (not much use for you tho!)

 

Another option? Change a small amount at the airport, and then use an ATM for cash as you travel. This is my preferred method as it saves having too much to change back over, and it saves carrying too much as well.

 

See you in a fortnight!

[Globaliser]

We are considering taking cash and exchanging money at the local banks in Sydney.

...

3. Is the exchange rate at a local bank better than a 3% transaction fee for an ATM transaction?

IMHO, and that of many other posters here, the risk involved in carrying cash is really not worth it. The outstanding "best way" of getting cash overseas (which virtually all frequent travellers do exclusively when it is possible) is to use local ATMs. Thus, for example, it has been something like five years since I last used a bank or a bureau de change to change any money.

 

ATMs are everywhere in Australia and New Zealand - including right in front of your nose when you exit from Customs at the airport. So when I flew to Sydney earlier this year and discovered when I got to Sydney airport that I only had AUD 6 on me, rather than the couple of hundred which I thought I still had in my Aussie dollar "float", it was the work of a couple of minutes to get enough for the cab to my destination.

 

If you use an ATM, you will typically get the same sort of exchange rate levied by the credit card companies - usually much better than the rates offered by banks and bureaux de change who are changing phyiscal currency. You are unlikely to do any worse using an ATM, even including the fee, and you could do significantly better. In any event, the ease and safety of using ATMs will far outweigh any slight premium that you do end up paying.

Over here, if you are organised, Australia Post will exchange free of charge ...

Places like this who say "free of charge" will not necessarily be better value. If there are no fees and no commissions, the exchange rate tends to be terrible. The business has to make its money from you somehow. "Free of charge" is bait on the marketing hook. It's all spin.

[M&A]

I agree, ATMs are the only way to go. I don't bother with exchanging currencies either.

[bobsydney]

ATMs are everywhere in Australia and New Zealand - including right in front of your nose when you exit from Customs at the airport.

 

Not sure where you are cruising to/from, but if you are sailing into Sydney, there is even one at the Circular Quay cruise terminal just outside the entrance.

 

Cheers

Bob

[captainron]

Hi Folks,

Spent three weeks on the North Island in 2006 and had no problems using my Canadian Bank of Montreal ATM card at any of the banks or machines (Auckland, Waihi, Tauranga, Taupo, Mt Maunganui, Napier, Rotorua).

 

ATM cards are the best way to go.

 

Ciao for now!!!