There are a couple of local suppliers of antennas and IoT gear here in Australia that look like they have something suitable antennas so will give it a try. 

 I'm sure they'll be able to find the best solution. I've seen bad antennas make a good radio seem bad, and cheap radios "enhanced" by a high quality antenna replacement. It doesn't necessarily have to be expensive either. 

 So far I’ve mostly just been looking at https://meshtastic.org and https://meshtastic.au for which has more localised information for Australia (correct frequency etc). There are also some getting started videos on YouTube. That was enough for me to figure out what devices to order but I haven’t got too deep into it yet. 

 Thanks a lot🤙 

 Yeah I plan to try out reticulum as well when I get some of the other hardware that I’ve ordered.