Another good way is to get the 28Degrees Mastercard - works like a normal
credit card (no fees or rewards) but they do not charge the exorbitant
rates that most other cards charge - I have used it and a normal card
overseas on the same day and seems to save a couple of %.
On 29 January 2013 13:02, Tony Russel <> wrote:
> Hi dufton (?),
> Sounds as though you had a great time. However , my bank ( NAB) advised me
> how to avoid being charged an exchange rate every time I made a transaction
> with my Mastercaed whilst overseas. They are giving me a Travellers Card
> loaded up with pounds stirling , then I pay all my bills in Uk in stirling
> and avoid exchange rate rip offs at each transaction. I can reload it in
> GBPs on line if I look like running short at any time.
>
> Tony
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of dufton
> Sent: Tuesday, 29 January 2013 11:56 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] birding-aus Digest, Vol 82, Issue 58
>
> Re booking overseas trips
>
> We went to England and Scotland in May 2012.
> We booked all our accommodation ahead but directly through the owners or
> managers of the accommodation via the internet.
> In all cases we were given a lower price and in most cases did not have to
> pay ahead although some in the busier towns required a deposit.
> This may not be the case for very low cost accommodation but I always make
> a
> good nights sleep a priority to get the most out of every day - we hit the
> ground running and are up from dawn to dusk when we travel so it makes good
> financial sense as we can do more every day if we are feeling healthy and
> well rested.
> We always pay any deposits by credit card as if you do not receive your
> service - eg the accommodation is not available - then you can submit a
> claim at the bank and they will refund your credit card and then try to get
> the money from the accommodation - in fact you can do this for all credit
> card purchases for example plane tickets where the airline collapses. I
> always have a separate special card just for use overseas which I close
> when
> I return it is pretty safe.
> We had fantastic service at all the places we stayed in despite the
> amusement of trying to work out the different types of plumbing.
>
> As our time was very limited (3 weeks) it saves us a lot of time not to
> have
> to spend time looking for accommodation and we used google map trip planner
> which gave us a good idea how long we would take to get from place to place
> and how long we could afford at each place - we always would love to stay
> every birding place longer no matter how long we are there anyway. When we
> told locals how short a time we had they were super helpful pointing out
> best places and special birds we might like to see so we had a fantastic
> time -thank you all you wonderful British bird watchers. Birdwatchers in
> general are a lovely tribe to belong to anyway.
> Stranded by the floods and not able to get home to Brisvegas - missing all
> the those great birds - sigh!
> Leonie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of
>
> Sent: Tuesday, 29 January 2013 11:00 AM
> To:
> Subject: birding-aus Digest, Vol 82, Issue 58
>
> Send birding-aus mailing list submissions to
>
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://lists.vicnet.net.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>
>
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>
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
> "Re: Contents of birding-aus digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Birding in Bundaberg Qld (Trevor Quested)
> 2. Ex-TC Oswald Seabirds (Graeme Gallienne)
> 3. Strange bird behaviour at Weipa (Alan Gillanders)
> 4. Re: Cautionary tale re paying for overseas birding trips
> (Peter Shute)
> 5. Re: Cautionary tale re paying for overseas birding trips
> (Tony Russel)
> 6. Lesser Frigatebirds at Horshoe Bay, Mgnetic Isand, Qld
>
> 7. Thousands of Fork-tailed Swifts and White-throated
> Needletails
> 8. Re: Cautionary tale re paying for overseas birdingtrips
> (Chris Brandis)
> 9. Australasian Swiftlets and Fork-tailed Swifts, Toomulla, N
> Qld
> 10. Re: Cautionary tale re paying for overseas birdingtrips
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 06:58:24 +1000
> From: Trevor Quested <>
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Birding in Bundaberg Qld
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Thanks Mike Carter for asking about us. We are not in a flood area and just
> lost a lot of trees from the horrendous winds. Chris Barnes is ok but I'm
> not sure about his house. It hopefully is safe but the water was still
> rising when we last spoke. Nev and Jann Capell were evacuated by boat as
> their home went under. They are with friends. Sad news about Bill
> Moorhead's home. It is right in the line of the raging Burnett River.
> Trevor Quested
> Sent from my iPad
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:02:01 +1000
> From: "Graeme Gallienne" <>
> To: <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Ex-TC Oswald Seabirds
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Yesterday I was flood bound at home at Cedar Creek (just NE of Mt Tamborine
> on the Gold Coast) and a bit jealous of all those birders getting out to
> the
> coast and recording all the unusual seabirds. However, my husband called
> out as he'd noticed an unusual bird so I ran outside with my bins and as I
> watched from my verandah throughout the day I saw quite a few Sooty Terns,
> adults and juveniles, several Common Noddies, at least one Pomarine Jaeger
> and a different unidentied smaller Tern which appeared to be an immature as
> it had mottled plumage on its breast. All were very unexpected as we are
> about 11 kilometres from the coast as the bird flies and my property list
> has risen by 4 species as I also recorded a group of 4 Hardheads blown by -
> although common in the SEQ area, not so here.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sandra Gallienne
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:46:13 +1000
> From: "Alan Gillanders" <>
> To: "birding-aus" <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Strange bird behaviour at Weipa
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Greetings from beautiful Yungaburra,
>
> I received this interesting missive about Oswald related bird behaviour and
> was wondering if someone on this list could help out.
>
> Regards,
> Alan
> Hello.
>
> I was wondering if your organisation could give me some help in explaining
> an unusual bird behaviour that I observed during the worst part of Cyclone
> Oswald up here in Weipa last week please?
>
> I am currently working on the Schergher RAAF Base approximately 40 kms east
> of Weipa and on the Sunday 20th at around 11.00pm I observed literally
> thousands of medium sized birds circling our illuminated basketball court.
> The birds were later identified as Bridled Terns with a sprinkiling of
> cockatoos. These birds manically circled our centre in about a 100 metre
> radius with the wind gusts often blowing them into each other until
> disappearing at day break. The next night being the eve of Tuesday the
> 22nd
> (and by far our worst night of our storm) they were back at nightfall again
> continuing their manic circling until around 3.00am when they began
> falling
> randomly out of the sky and in large numbers into our flooded compound
> where
> a group of men often waded thru thigh high deep flooding to rescue 224 of
> the fallen birds that were too exhaused to fly anymore. I tried releasing
> a
> few after a few hours but theyt would barely get off the ground, bank to
> the
> side and crash la nd where we would grab them and put them back into our
> shelter again. We dried them off the best we could thermally and gave them
> shelter until transferring them to a local wildlife refuge for release
> during the day on Tuesday. Fortunately we only couldn't save a reported 4
> of them but the rest were released without incident later that day.
> Haven't
> seen them since. Is there a name for this behaviour, what causes it and is
> it common because I have never seen anything like it? Straight out of
> Hitchcock movie lol.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:26:33 +1100
> From: Peter Shute <>
> To: Peter Marsh <>
> Cc: "" <>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cautionary tale re paying for overseas
> birding trips
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> This sounds like an inside job. Even if you had used a credit card to pay
> them, would the bank refund the money? I think they would if you had paid
> the right people and an insider had passed the card details on to someone
> else. But would they be interested if you had paid the wrong person?
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 28/01/2013, at 4:26 PM, "Peter Marsh" <> wrote:
>
> > Dear Birders,
> > I appear to have had a very lucky escape when paying for a birding
> > trip in
> East Africa. I had a recommendation to a local birding company in the
> country concerned and communicated with them a number of times regarding a
> private trip I was organising. This communication was all done by e-mail
> with them using a single e-mail address. After a number of exchanges I
> received an e-mail (apparently) from the same e-mail address asking me to
> send the money to them via Western Union. I did this and received an e-mail
> from the (apparently) same e-mail acknowledging the receipt of the money. I
> also received advice from Western Union that the money had been picked up..
> >
> > A few days later I received an e-mail (again from the same e-mail
> > address)
> asking if I was still interested in the trip! I responded referring them to
> their acknowledgement of the money. That night I had a phone call from the
> company advising that they knew nothing of the money or the
> acknowledgement.
> I sent them copies of all the exchanges. I have now received advice that
> someone at their end has been arrested and that the birding company will
> recognise the payment and my trip is on.
> >
> > In researching the situation I have come to understand 2 key things
> >
> > 1) NEVER SEND MONEY TO A BUSINESS THROUGH WESTERN UNION. It might be
> > fine
> for sending instant cash to a friend or family member through WU but should
> not be used for business transactions. This is because the security is
> pretty small. If you receive a request from a bird guide to send money
> through WU I suggest you phone the guide and say you need bank details.
> money sent through a bank is more traceable.
> >
> > 2) NEVER RESPOND TO AN E-MAIL FROM AN ?UNKNOWN? PARTY BY HITTING THE
> > REPLY
> KEY. My tech savvy brother has made me aware that it is quite easy for
> someone setting out to do a scam to send an e-mail appearing to come from
> e-mail address A but for the reply to actually go to a different e-mail
> address B. If you have the genuine e-mail address in your address book and
> use that to address the e-mail rather than hit the reply button you know
> what address the e-mail has actually gone to.
> >
> >
> > I stress that the birding company and Western Union appear to have
> > behaved
> honourably at all times. I also appreciate that it is only through their
> efforts the perpetrator of the attempted fraud appears to have been caught.
> I will, however, be more careful in the future and thought it worth sharing
> this experience with other birders who might be thinking of chasing birds
> in
> distant parts of the globe.
> > regards
> > Peter Marsh
> > ===============================
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
> > unsubscribe
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to:
> >
> > http://birding-aus.org
> > ===============================
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:09:35 +1030
> From: "Tony Russel" <>
> To: "'Peter Shute'" <>, "'Peter Marsh'"
> <>
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cautionary tale re paying for overseas
> birding trips
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Hm, doesn't all this indicate that it is unwise to pay anyone overseas in
> advance - unless you know them personally. I'm heading off to UK in April
> and have been advised not to pay anyone in advance ( except the airline and
> car rental). By all means book, but only pay accommodation and guides etc
> either during or once you have received the service, not before. I've even
> been told not to book accommodation in UK until the morning before you are
> certain where you are going to be that night because there is so much
> accomm
> available it's easy to find somewhere a day in advance. This last bit also
> covers the possibility of a pre-booked and paid trip not going exactly to
> plan and losing one's deposit.
>
> BTW, this is not a birding trip, I'm not even taking my bins. I might have
> a
> look at a few birds but I'm not much interested in ticking overseas birds,
> only Aussie ones.
>
>
> Tony
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Peter Shute
> Sent: Monday, 28 January 2013 8:57 PM
> To: Peter Marsh
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cautionary tale re paying for overseas birding
> trips
>
> This sounds like an inside job. Even if you had used a credit card to pay
> them, would the bank refund the money? I think they would if you had paid
> the right people and an insider had passed the card details on to someone
> else. But would they be interested if you had paid the wrong person?
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 28/01/2013, at 4:26 PM, "Peter Marsh" <> wrote:
>
> > Dear Birders,
> > I appear to have had a very lucky escape when paying for a birding
> > trip in
> East Africa. I had a recommendation to a local birding company in the
> country concerned and communicated with them a number of times regarding a
> private trip I was organising. This communication was all done by e-mail
> with them using a single e-mail address. After a number of exchanges I
> received an e-mail (apparently) from the same e-mail address asking me to
> send the money to them via Western Union. I did this and received an e-mail
> from the (apparently) same e-mail acknowledging the receipt of the money. I
> also received advice from Western Union that the money had been picked up..
> >
> > A few days later I received an e-mail (again from the same e-mail
> > address)
> asking if I was still interested in the trip! I responded referring them to
> their acknowledgement of the money. That night I had a phone call from the
> company advising that they knew nothing of the money or the
> acknowledgement.
> I sent them copies of all the exchanges. I have now received advice that
> someone at their end has been arrested and that the birding company will
> recognise the payment and my trip is on.
> >
> > In researching the situation I have come to understand 2 key things
> >
> > 1) NEVER SEND MONEY TO A BUSINESS THROUGH WESTERN UNION. It might be
> > fine
> for sending instant cash to a friend or family member through WU but should
> not be used for business transactions. This is because the security is
> pretty small. If you receive a request from a bird guide to send money
> through WU I suggest you phone the guide and say you need bank details.
> money sent through a bank is more traceable.
> >
> > 2) NEVER RESPOND TO AN E-MAIL FROM AN ?UNKNOWN? PARTY BY HITTING THE
> > REPLY
> KEY. My tech savvy brother has made me aware that it is quite easy for
> someone setting out to do a scam to send an e-mail appearing to come from
> e-mail address A but for the reply to actually go to a different e-mail
> address B. If you have the genuine e-mail address in your address book and
> use that to address the e-mail rather than hit the reply button you know
> what address the e-mail has actually gone to.
> >
> >
> > I stress that the birding company and Western Union appear to have
> > behaved
> honourably at all times. I also appreciate that it is only through their
> efforts the perpetrator of the attempted fraud appears to have been caught.
> I will, however, be more careful in the future and thought it worth sharing
> this experience with other birders who might be thinking of chasing birds
> in
> distant parts of the globe.
> > regards
> > Peter Marsh
> > ===============================
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
> > unsubscribe
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to:
> >
> > http://birding-aus.org
> > ===============================
> ===============================
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:47:58 +1100
> From:
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Lesser Frigatebirds at Horshoe Bay, Mgnetic
> Isand, Qld
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>
> On 26/1/13, as a result of Oswald, George Hurst counted at least 60 Lesser
> Frigatebirds at Horsehoe Bay on Magnetic Is off Townsville, Qld.
>
> Chris Corbett per Joan Wharton
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:53:21 +1100
> From:
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Thousands of Fork-tailed Swifts and
> White-throated Needletails
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>
> On 27/1/13 Larry Corbett, Chris Corbett and Rosemary Payet watched a dense
> flock of thousands of Fork- tailed Swifts and White-throated needletails
> for 2 hrs (12.30-2.30pm along Cungulla Rd, from Aims Rd to Cungulla Beach.
>
> Rosemary Payet per Joan Wharton
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:57:20 +1100
> From: "Chris Brandis" <>
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cautionary tale re paying for overseas
> birdingtrips
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8";
> reply-type=original
>
> I booked a hotel in Singapore via a booking agency but I was delayed.. I
> rang them to get the booking transferred but they stated I had to cancel,
> hotel policy, and rebook and pay again.
> I said I would get back to them but I did not.
> When I got to Singapore Airport there are instant accommodation agencies
> just outside the gates so I booked into the same hotel. When I got there
> they said that it was not there policy and I could have transferred without
> a problem.
> Trouble is finding the hotel contact number as on the web they all seemed
> to
> go through the same agencies.
>
> Cheers Chris
>
>
|
