Australians needing a visa

Leon, you can enjoy free entry to HK, so there is no need to provide the entry permit. And the tourist L type for Mainland PRC cannot be used to enter HK.
It’s possible for you to apply for it in Zurich. You can choose the express service which takes 2 or 3 working days, or the rush service which takes one working day.

Thank you so much! The consulate in Melbourne would only provide double entry permits, and we used both of those in the past few days, hence the need for a third entry on our way home.
You've put our minds at rest! Are you able to tell me what the fees will be for the 1 day service? We'll only be in Zurich for a few hours, but could possible return a few days later from Lindau or perhaps even Bayreuth.
Once again, a very heartfelt thank you.

It will cost 80 francs in total (including visa fee 40 francs and rush service fee 40francs).
If you want to apply for it from Zurich, you should be there during the application process.

Thanks again. We'll arrive this coming Thursday and undertake the process.

Sadly we couldn't obtain a visa for the PRC from Zurich as we are not residents of Switzerland. Such visas are only obtainable from one's home country apparently. We did secure a transit visa upon arriving at Guangzhou however, but it meant we had to cancel our travel plans to Shanghai and we then had to book flights from Guangzhou to HK. All quite troublesome I'm afraid.