canuck1usa

Hi All,

This may be a really stupid question - (although my mom tought me there is "no stupid question's") but can I use my bank card in Australia??

It has an Interlink and Plus logo on the back.

I know there will be a service charge but I don't like carrying travelers cheques. I prefer to take money out every few days as I need it.

I have used a bank card in Europe so just thought I'd ask! If travelers cheques are what I need to carry - let me know!

I'll be in Brisbane, Perth, Darwin and Sydney.

Thanks for your help!

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>can I use my bank card in Australia??<<<

Yes, indeed.

If your bank card just happens to be issued by Bank of America in the USA or the Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada, you can use it at Westpac ATMs in Australia without incurring a service charge. That's because the banks in question belong to a global alliance whose member banks have agreed not to charge each others' customers ATM fees.

However, that's a side issue. The main thing is that North American bank cards / debit cards can be used in Australia in the same way that they can be used in Europe.

yobfeer

Can-uck, One would want to be very attentive when spelling that name.

Any way Can-uck or can not-uck ummm
yes you can, you can use most credit cards if you can find an establishment which has electricity.

You see the cards are not the problem as Australian's will take any form of payment, they are not very fussy when it comes to money.

But we do not have enough power down here yet to run the machines which process the cards.

Why don't you delay your holiday for about 40 years, give us some time to get things sorted out down here.

Or come tomorrow and just bring cash.
If the Aussies realise you have a bag full of cash they will be falling over each other to get at it.

Especially if you go to Canberra.

They actually have big buildings down there full of bludgers whom are trained for years on how to get your cash.

Yobfeer.

Judy_in_Calgary

Give her a break, reefboy. Believe it or not, Aussie posters occasionally ask similar questions when they're getting ready to travel up here to Canuckistan. But we (usually) don't behave like yobs when people ask questions.

canuck1usa

Thanks Judy in Calgary (which by the way is where I'm from!) for you kind reply!

I have a Bank of America card so I should be just fine.

I also get asked by Aussie's, Kiwi's and European's visiting if they can use local ATM's - I tend to answer nicely rather than make myself look like a jerk.................

dizzy1

canuck1usa, really sorry you got such a "yobbish" reply from Yobfeer. Firstly a YOB or YOBBO in Australia is someone who is uncouth, a smartar.. and who is not tollerated outside the drunken bar room hotels. I think that yobfeer is a name worked around fearing to be a yob which obviously has not worked. I also think his name is really another ID used by a regular on this forum who wishes to be a pain in the butt every so often. It shows and I think I know just who this is too.
No question is stupid, why should you have all the answers about somewhere else in the world? So please don't be put off by a yob in future. At least you will know what and who they are.

margo_oz

I think most atm's here use 4-digit numbers - whereas many Northern American ones use 6-digits. You might like to check this.

yobfeer

Dizzy, Please click on the Tim Tams discussion above and you will see I have made an apology to the poor lady regarding the ATM question. I was under the influence the night I wrote that statement and have apologized to every one at Fodors for my insolence.

I must agree with you, there is nothing worse than a Yobo, please excuse me if I come across as one of those. Actually Dizzy I am just a poor hard working boat driver who spends his wretched life diving for cray and catching live trout between Misima in New Guinea and Hervey Bay in the South East part of Queensland.

Tonight I sit on the deck of my old boat in the Harbour of Cairns waiting for the refit to be complete before I can once more go to sea.

Actually tonight I have once again committed a mortal sin.I have popped the Cork of a 2001 TWO CHURCHES Cab Sav from the wonderful Barossa Valley.

Already I am beginning to feel a little dizzy. Dizzy Please excuse the pun, it was unintentional.

The breeze tonight is 8 kts from the South\ East. The temp has fallen dramatically in the last 24 hours as the wind gently backs from North East to South East.

Tomorrow the Ocean will be like a huge sheet of glass with just a few ripples.
The sea lice, and Blue Bottles will disappear, the crocs will go back into the mangrove swamps where they belong. The beaches along the coast around Cairns/Port Douglas will open once more. You will be able to swim with out a stinger suit and not have to worry about being stung.

But mark my words Dizzy, the perfect conditions will not last for long.
It’s February, It’s wet season. No matter how many lies we tell the tourists, we can not change the weather.

Im so dizzzzzzzy my head is spinning, like a whirl pool it never endssssssss,
I bet Neil from Oz knows the rest.

reefboy, ahhhhh ummm sorry yobfeer.

pat_woolford

yobfeer or reefboy - its not a matter of lying to tourists, many come here anyway at this time of year and for various reasons . So when they do you have to try to send them on the best reef day possible, according to weather. I've just switched 5 Americans from tomorrow to the next day - south east wind forecast for tomorrow is 20-25knots, next day seems to be easing to 15/20 knots, at least marginally better. When tourists only allow themselves 2-3 days in area there does not leave much leeway for optimum weather conditions. You must also know there's been some wonderful February days this year with great reef visibility.