Sat phone plan for tourists

Chris, I notice you're not a member so I can't mm you. If you email me I might be able to assist. email address jim.potts AT bigpond DOT com

A satellite Phone if leased will have an operating Sim card in it.

Iridium is the only viable system and DOES NOT WORK ON GSM it is a satellite only system

A thuraya phone can but the system reliability is very suspect

We hired an Iridium Sat phone from satcomhire.com.au. The site has prices and yes was $17 a day but varies depending on time hired for. There are many other places that hire also. My husband thought I was crazy spending that much to hire a phone for a few weeks but for the 10 days we were truly out of mobile phone range and remote it certainly gave me peace of mind! Arranged with family to turn on 2 hours each night and otherwise used infrequently so call costs not an issue for us.
Good reception where we were (Camerons Corner to Birdsville) Phone arrived on time prior to trip and with the pre post paid bag I was able to return when we were back in mobile phone territory. As they hopefully come down in price would consider buying one. The Iridium phone came with instructions/recharger and was compact and easy to use.

Chris,
We use the Iridum satellite phone and have found them to be very good.
You can hire one from Landwide Satellite Solutions. They have a web site and also their phone number is 02 9426333.

Derek