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It's definitely worth opening an account with one of the foreign exchange merchants for example OzForex. To use this, though you would need the bank details of DIAC to send it direct.
Once the account is opened you can get an online quote for transfer. If you accept this, the deal is fixed at that exchange rate and all you have to do is to transfer the money to the merchant's account using an online bank payment from your bank with a reference code. The whole process takes about a week maybe, that is for the money to reach OzForex, following which they transmit the money in AUD to the recipient.
Just out of interest, presumably your visa is coming out of the new 2008/09 allocation starting on 1 July 2008. There are lots of people in the queue waiting for their visa - do you think there is any reason why you have heard in advance of those other people?
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