See I knew I'd get a good answer here

Thanks for the offer Mark. The DWL-G730AP runs about A$80 at the moment.

I like the look of the Linksys WRT54GS although it would seem a US only design by the power supply pins (although it is 100-240VAC). Would be fine in China (where I am right now) since most power points will take any sort of plug. Otherwise requires a power adapter (would be nice if they could have included that :)) Ebay has a couple - after shipping I'm looking around A$100. Still might be the one I go for. The dual wireless ("repeater") option sounds neat.

Airport Express also runs easily A$100+ delivered on ebay. My experience with Apple stuff is that what it does it does well, but sometimes is a bit limited in features. Will read the manual.

I agree, any sort of external "brick" is pain. I'm glad I finally got a cell phone that can actually charge from USB (not just for data exchange).

Thanks guys - now to have a look around China and see if I can find anything (although I did bring a 5m cable with me this time)