I don't want to hijack the OP but what I want to know fits in here I think, so hope I am not doing anything the moderators or OP will frown upon!

I am arriving in Melbourne at the end of next week for a 2 week visit (with the view to making a move properly in October) and I was wondering if I can just readily buy a pre-paid sim card for my iPhone5 without having to jump through hoops to do so. Can anyone advise how I would go about it?

Scratch my question above, I ordered one online in the USA and it is being shipped to me before my trip next week.

I don't think a US SIM card will be very useful in Australia. Incoming calls will cost a fortune, whereas with a local one they won't cost a thing.

If your phone is unlocked then you can pick up a local SIM card at tons of places here (department/electronic stores, supermarkets, newsagents, etc). Just bring along ID (passport...).

Sorry, should have been more explicit, I purchased an Australian sim card through one of the links on this thread that is nano for the iPhone 5 and gives me unlimited domestic (Australia) and USA calls and 3gb data for 30 days. That will do me fine for the visit then when we move we'll look at other options as well.

Is the iPhone 5S freely available at Apple stores or are they out of stock at present?

ive paid my i phone out and couldnt wait to get away from telstra the coverage where i worked was crap. i took my phone to optus byo... yes bring your own and they can fix you up with a package to suite you .you can nominate 1 gig of data then move your usage up or down .im down to $40 bucks a month!from a $100 with telstra.... due diligence.. research research research

If your coming to Brisvegas try fone junky at the gabba. he will unlock the phone you have and fix you up ect.

You can even buy one once you leave the customs hall at the airport. In addition USA SIMS will need to be activated in the US to work as they often send SMS messages as part of the activation procedure.

The market has been a bit shaky recently with Red Bull Mobile and Kogan both dropping out of the game.

Seems like Telstra still rocks though when it comes to coverage. Optus is good though for short stays as you can pay $2/day for an "all-inclusive" deal which also provides 500MB data daily (which you can tether).

Any good, new deals that have popped up in recent months?

Aldi use the Telstra network but they are scaling back their data I think

Keep an eye on this http://prepaidplans.com.au/