Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

FAST FACTS: AUSTRALIA 85
one tax invoice (or receipt)—now there’s a nice piece of bureaucracy to
remember Australia by! Carry the items in your carry-on baggage, as you
must show them to Customs. You can use the goods before you leave
Australia and still claim the refund, but you cannot claim a refund on
things you have consumed (film you shoot off in the camera, say, or
food). You cannot claim a refund on alcohol other than wine. Allow an
extra 15 minutes to stand in line and get your refund.
You can also claim a refund if you leave Australia as a cruise passenger
from Circular Quay or Darling Harbour in Sydney, Cairns, Darwin, or Fremantle
(Perth). If your cruise departs from elsewhere in Australia, or if
you are flying out from an airport other than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,
Adelaide, Cairns, Perth, Darwin, Gold Coast, or Broome, telephone
the Australian Customs Service (& 1300/363 263 in Australia, or 02/6275-
6666) to see if you can still claim the refund.
Items bought in duty-free stores will not be charged GST. Nor will items
you export—such as an Aboriginal painting, say, that you buy in a gallery
in Alice Springs and have shipped straight to your home outside Australia.
Basic groceries are not GST-taxed, but restaurant meals are. Other
taxes include departure tax of A$38 (US$25) for every passenger 12 years
and over, included in the price of your airline ticket when you bought it
in your home country; landing and departure taxes at some airports, also
included in the price of your ticket; and “reef tax,” officially dubbed the
Environmental Management Charge, of A$4 (US$2.60) for every person
over the age of 4 every time he or she enters the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park. (This charge goes toward park upkeep.)
Telephones The primary telecommunications network in Australia is Telstra
(www.telstra.com).
To call Australia: If you’re calling Australia from the United States: Dial
the international access code (011); dial the country code (61); dial the
city code (drop the 0 from any area code given in this book) and then the
number. So, if you’re calling Sydney, the whole number you’d dial would
be 011-61-2-0000-0000.
To make international calls: To make international calls from Australia, first
dial 0011 and then the country code (U.S. or Canada 1, U.K. 44, Ireland 353,
New Zealand 64). Next dial the area code and number. For example, if you
wanted to call the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., you would dial
0011-1-202-588-7800. For other country codes, call & 1222 or look in the
back of the Australian White Pages.
For directory assistance: Dial 12455 if you’re looking for a number inside
Australia, and dial 1225 for numbers to all other countries.
For operator assistance: If you need operator assistance in making a call,
dial & 1234. To make a collect call, dial & 12550. To find a number, Directory
Assistance is & 1223 for numbers in Australia and & 1225 for international
numbers.
Toll-free numbers: Numbers beginning with 1800 in Australia are toll-free,
but calling a 1-800 number in the States from Australia is not toll-free; it
costs the same as an overseas call. Numbers starting with 13 or 1300 in Australia
are charged at the local fee of 25¢ anywhere in Australia. Numbers