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, who quits after the tournament to take up a post in Morocco, said in a statement issued several hours later that his squad were excited to be in the first African country staging the tournament.
"I have been in this country eight or nine times already and I have always enjoyed my stays. It is a great country and they have some of the best hotels," he said.
"However, now we are here for a different reason - we are here to compete. I know it is not going to be easy as we have a tough group with some quality teams.
"The most important thing for Australia is to win our first match. We have given ourselves plenty of time to prepare and acclimatise to the local conditions.
"My players will have to get used to the altitude and the few warm-up matches will help us a lot in achieving this. When playing in the World Cup you have to prepare yourself and make sure the team is in good condition."
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 arranged 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' confront 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.
Mark Schwarzer, the towering goalkeeper from English Premiership club and Europa League runners-up Fulham, acknowledged the underdog role before the Australians left Melbourne.
"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."
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.
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