i'm actually travelling to vietnam, cambodia, thailand THEN australia (aussie explorer march 09 wooo!) and new zealand.

but i'm really not sure what international phone card to buy.
has anyone come across the cheapest company? or cheapest way of calling home?

any help would be great thanks!
Eve x

Once you arrive in S.E. Asia there will be many options to buy phone cards/ SIM cards. There are lots of service providers and its quite competitive. Usually if I'm in that part of the world I have a preference for the services provided by ITALK.
Check them out:
http://www.thaitelephone.com/EN/calling-card/thailand/italk/index.php

oh, that looks really great thanks.
so i could buy that in bangkok airport?
and could i only use it in thailand, or would it be possible to call from vietnam and cambodia too?

thanks so much for this help!

From memory there were booths selling that brand , but also lots of others as well. Its probably best to have an initial look at the airport to have an idea but there are plenty of opportunites to buy them once you're in the city.

I would buy just enough communication time for Thailand and once you move onto another country just continue buying cards.

For the rest of SEA , its relatively easy to buy another card once you're there. Lots of internet cafes stock them as well as backpacking places.

You should be able to pick up a SIM card from Vodafone, Telstra or Optus when you get to Australia. They're freely available in the suppliers own shops...I'm sure there'd be something at the airport and, if not, definitely when you get into the city.

great, thanks guys.

so it definately seems worth my money to buy sim cards in each country.
as opposed to the one offered in the contiki travel pack?

Eve x

Most of UK backpackers whom I've met on the backpackers circuit like to use this whilst abroad:
http://www.sim4travel.com/what_is_sim4travel/

This can be another option.Check it out.