Need advice on international long distance calls - to Australia

[spooky3]

I have a friend in Australia and called her recently then was shocked to get my phone bill. My trusty phone company charged $3+ per minute. Yikes! My cell phone rates, which I figured wrongly would be worse, are a little better, but not much.

I don't make a long of international calls. Are the phone cards (pre-paid or not) a good idea? Or is there something better to do?