Australia became the first country to arrive in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup when they landed at Johannesburg international airport Wednesday evening.
Select TV crews and photographers were given brief access to the 'Socceroos' but there were no interviews before the Group D outsiders boarded a luxury coach for the trip to a hotel in the elite northern Sandton suburb.
Dutch coach Pim Verbeek said before leaving Australia that his 28-strong squad - which must be trimmed to 23 by June 1 - will begin training Thursday at a college in another upmarket area of the South African economic capital.
Australia have lined up friendlies against Denmark on June 1 and the United States on June 5 in Roodepoort on the western outskirts of Johannesburg before tackling Germany, Ghana and Serbia in one of the most demanding groups.
The 'Socceroos' face the Germans first on June 13 at the futuristic 70,000-seat Moses Mabhida Stadium in the Indian Ocean port of Durban, Ghana six days later in Rustenburg and Serbia on June 23 in Nelspruit.
World rankings released Wednesday placed Germany sixth, Serbia 15, Australia 20 and 2010 African Nations Cup runners-up Ghana 32, but the Asian qualifiers are considered the country least likely to dodge the opening-round cull.
Germany, three-time champions in seven final appearances, are overwhelming favourites to top the final table despite the loss of injured midfield conductor-cum-captain Michael Ballack from English champions Chelsea.
And many pundits have earmarked the June 13 Pretoria showdown between Ghana and Serbia as the crucial fixture in determining which other team advances from the mini-league phase.
Mark Schwarzer, the towering goalkeeper from English Premiership club and Europa Leaguerunners-up Fulham, acknowledged the underdog role before the Australians left Melbourne for Johannesburg.
"A lot of people have already written us off and people continue writing us off. That is something you get used to and over the years we have had to deal with that," he said at the official farewell.
"I think we are going there with the expectation probably not as high as people thought it would be. We are happy enough with that - we are happy to go there and hopefully show people they were wrong."
Captain Lucas Neill from Turkish club giants Galatasaray added: "We are going to go out and do you proud and let us hope we can have another rollercoaster of excitement like the last journey was."
Former Blackburn, West Ham and Everton defender Neill was referring to a brave 2006 World Cup show in Germany where they were felled by a debateable stoppage-time penalty that ItalianFrancesco Totti converted.
Australia qualified for a third appearance after 1974 and 2006 by topping a group including Qatar, China and Iraq, and another involving Uzbekistan, Qatar again, Bahrain and Japan.
The month-long World Cup kicks off on June 11 with a Group A clash between South Africa and Mexico expected to lure a capacity 90,000 crowd to Soccer City stadium on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
The Socceroos played their first warm-up match of the campaign in Melbourne on Monday night, a scrappy 2-1 win over New Zealand.