Well I should have known. The flower/gift shop across the road from the Chinese consulate (中华人民共和国驻悉尼总领馆 版权所有) does visa photos, to attach to the visa. Very enterprising of them. Anyway, this time I arrived armed with all the necessary bits and entered into the application hall. You should go there. It is just so very much reminiscent of a train station booking hall, found anywhere in china, but fitted out to a higher level. I instantly felt like I was in China. This was unexpected.
The application went very smoothly. There were no queues as there were at least 5 booths open, even though I was there first thing in the morning. Hand over the passport, bit of paper that is a visa application form and a photo, get back a bit of paper so that I can collect the passport in 4 days. $30 seems reasonable for a country that still requires and charges for a visa. I will take the opportunity to point out that South Korea does not require a visa at all.
*wanders off to add the consulate to the map*
