Australia has a wide range of shops and services throughout the town and city centres. Generally shops are open from 9.00am until 5.00pm most of the week and until 9.00pm on Thursday late night shopping, Sunday is generally a shorter business day.  Coles and Woolworths are the big chain grocery stores, open later most of the week.

Banks business hours are usually from 9.00am until 4.00pm from Monday to Thusday and until 5.00pm on Friday, some are open on Saturday morning. Cash can be withdrawn from an ATM 24/7 and you are able to purchase items from stores using your debit card where EFTPOS is available, if unsure ask. Banks and postal services are closed on bank holidays. Postal services operates from 9.00am until 5.00pm, Monday to Friday and occasionally on the weekend.

The major telephone providers in Australia are Telstra, Optus, Vodaphone and Virgin Mobile. All of these companies offer locals calls at a standard rate of 30 cents for a local, non-timed call from a landline.  Interstate and internationals call costs will vary between providers.  All the above telephone providers offer various mobile plans for both pre-paid and post paid phones.  Pre-paid will cost about $100 for the handset and you top it up with credit as much as you like and the credit will last for anywhere up to 3 months.  Post paid handsets can be free and plans start from $20, however, you are usually locked into a plan for about 2 years.

The same telephone providers also offer internet services. In the capital cities and large rural centres you will have access to ADSL and cable broadband internet, satellite internet is used in more regional areas of Australia, otherwise dial-up is available everywhere.  Some libraries will offer internet for free, but ask first.

Libraries are located in all town centres and offer a range of books, CDs DVDs and newspapers. You will need to become a member to borrow anything and returning items late will incur a fee.


Communication

Australia has both free-to-air television and pay-TV providers.  The digital free-to-air offers up to 15 channels where as pay-TV will have over 200, but this requires a monthly subscription. There is a nation newspaper , the Australia as well as state related newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age, The Brisbane Courier Mail, The Canberra times, The Adelaide Advertiser, The West Australia, The Northern Territory News and the Hobart Mercury as well as regional and foreign-language newspapers.