Is an Australian bank account a good idea?

We will soon be traveling in Australia for a couple of months. I'm wondering if its worthwhile to open a bank account in Australia and transfer funds using a foreign exchange service like Canadian forex, to avoid the Canadian bank transaction and exchange fees?

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with experience or views on this topic.

Thanks,

I just transfered my money into travelers cheques with my bank.that was pretty cheap, I think I paid $20 to get $5000 in travel cheques. Then when I got here (OZ) I cashed in my Travel Chq for cash at an american express travel chq counter (they are everywhere) and they give you all your money in oz funds no charge. Then if you want to open an account you can but they might not let you if you are just traveling? Or you could just keep it in the travel chqs and use as needed. Hope that helps?:)

You really don't even need to do that!
Your Canadian Debit card will work in most of the major banks there.

I know that I can use my Canadian Debit card or VISA card and accept the extra costs for a foreign transaction and poor exchange rate as part of the cost of travelling. Those costs will be about 5% so if I spend $10,000 in Australia, I'm paying the Canadian bank or VISA about $500 for the convenience. If I used a foreign exchange service to transfer the money to a bank account in Australia the charges would be fractions of a percent, probably less than $50.00, but I don't know if an Australian bank would let a visitor open an account like that.

I got nailed hard with fees by using my Canadian debit card here in Australia-- $5.00 on each transaction. I started using my credit card to withdraw money from ATM's with no extra charges whatsoever, because they recognize it as a purchase rather than as a cash advance!

Your Canadian debit card will work there, you do not need to open an account, unless you plan to keep that account for long term. We used the debit card for our motorhome rental Australia trip

I got nailed hard with fees by using my Canadian debit card here in Australia-- $5.00 on each transaction. I started using my credit card to withdraw money from ATM's with no extra charges whatsoever, because they recognize it as a purchase rather than as a cash advance!

No way! Sweet! I'm going to see if that holds true when I'm there because here (in Canada) it charges me $2 for a cash advance. I was thinking about using the credit card in shops and asking for cash back instead of using my debit with its ridiculous $5 charge.

And I can't believe it's not easier to move money around from country-to-country the way we're all so globally connected now. I think it's easier than they say it is and it's all a big scam (but really I know nothing.)

Cheers
-Faye