Mobile phones

Mobile phones are the best thing that have happened to backpackers since AJ Hacket said 'I'll tie my feet to this rubber cord and jump off this bridge'.

Apart from the handy stoned crows guide in paper back, probably the best thing you can have in your backpack is a mobile phone. It makes booking hostels and tours much easier as you don't need to find a pay phone that's working and the pocket full of shrapnel to pay for the call.

Nowadays mobile phones are actually the cheapest way of phoning home other than using the phone at work after the boss has left.

There are some decent carriers in Australia too and most of them offer a pre paid deal which is pretty hard to beat. Now adays, it's just not worth signing up to a plan while you are over here, no matter how long your stay is as the calls are just as cheap for prepaid mobiles phones as they are for mobile phones on a plan.

The main dealers in Australia are:

• Virgin mobile
• Vodafone
• Optus mobile
• Orange
• Telstra

The most important piece of advise is not to get a fancy schmancy mobile. Just get a bog standard brick of a phone so that when you accidently drop it off the side of Ayres rock or come home from the pub and it falls out of your pocket into the sink, you'll have half a chance of getting it working again.