skippy

Just thought that I would post a warning regarding shipping stuff in! Hubby got a call to say our stuff has been through the SS ....sorry quarentine and customs and would we like to send them a cheque for $500, thought we had been through everything, but they found a small sand filled lizard, that my daughter had bought and adored and they want the $500 is to destroy it! How on earth do they hustify that kind of money, what are they doing....flying back business class to the nearest incinerator in blighty?? You cannot even argue, they have you over a barrell, and no doubt if it wasn't that they would have found something else. I guess they are raking the money in!
Skippy!

Jonahs_mummy

We have one of those that surprisingly enough my mum sent to my son from AUSTRALIA! Mmmmmmm maybe I will post that on first....?

Pollyana

Are you sure its $500 just to destroy one item? Its usually a lot less than that - does that include the inspection fee as well?

skippy

Your Mum doesn't work for customs does she..........only joking!
skippy

Jonahs_mummy

Nope but it would be an advantge eh? LOL

Stormz

Bought some of those in Singapore (they are SOOOO funky) and got stopped by customs at Perth airport. They said I had to chuck them but I said what if I got rid of the sand and kept the lizards (to refill them with something else), . They said if I wanted to, and took them to the quarantine place. A few days later I went there and picked apart the stitching and poured the sand out into a designated bin and took the rest home.

Never did get around to filling the things up with something else. Chucked them in the end. Should have just chucked them at the airport. I think Customs are extra picky on flights from Asia than Europe, as there are so many tourists bringing over those sand and wood things they sell there.

Have a couple of wooden carvings I bought in Bali on the way back to the UK once..... be interesting to see if customs get those in the shipping and destroy them... even after being in the UK for 10 yrs.

Bought a wooden jewellery box in Maidstone (via India) a few years ago. A few weeks after little holes appeared in it as whatever bugs were inside decided to leave.

Gotta say I agree mostly with the strictness of Aus customs/AQIS, especially after seeing the effects of other imported demons which end up ruining the natural habitat/ecosystem (mice, cats, rabbits, cane toads, die-back (tree disease). Better safe than sorry, as once it`s in you can`t normaly egt it out again.

$500 for a toy lizard barbecue sounds like a piss-take though.

Jonahs_mummy

Whoa! thats a point.... we have numerous wooden carvings & ornament-thingies from our honeymoon in Bali! Bugger... wonder if they will be a problem????

Stormz

They`ll be a problem if the aussie`s see them.

samnrob2

We brought some wooden ornaments into Oz that we bought in the Maldives - they weren't picked up.

However, we were stopped after our bags went through the x-ray machine as my tin of tennis balls were mis-interpreted for some apples!?

Rob

The Bloke

The goons even picked on a PLASTIC flower on a hat when Pollyana got her stuff finally arrived. Cheaper to have it destroyed than agrue the point and spend the extra money for something that was going to fall apart after the radiation treatment.

DianneH68

Sorry, I'm being a bit thick here, but what kind of things don't they let you bring in and why?
And is it stuff in hand luggage or suitcases that they check (or both?)

G'Day

They are absolutely STRICT when it comes to fauna and flora. Any wood items need to be fumigated or they'll do it at your expense upon arrival - if you are lucky. They simply incinerated a friend's African masks! No seeds, fruit, veggies, pods, shells, feathers, eggs or egg products. My friend bought an Emu eggshell on a visit to Aus, moved to the UK, then wasn't allowed to bring her eggshell back to Aus when she immigrated Even if you bring in hiking gear it has to be spotless - no sand, grass etc stuck to it, they even checked the soles of our hiking boots, so wear the damn things if you can't get them clean - at least they didn't ask us to check under our feet!

Then there's medication and such as well.

They check luggage, hand-luggage and personal effects shipped over. I know for sure that they opened stuff to check because everything was all over the place when we got it. I had to unpack my luggage because I had something that looked suspect, then we spent an hour going over and over the same thing because I had made the "mistake" of declaring my detox herbal mix and they couldn't understand what it was. I told them it was simply detox herbs that I could get at any Aussie naturopath and suggested they read the label, which they did, then they asked me again - what's in it? So I told them the same again, and they asked me again - what's in it? After repeating myself about ten times I got fed up and told them it was just a herbal for "women's troubles" and they got all flustered and let me go It was 2:30 in the morning, I'd just spent two days on a bloody plane and I was just sooo fed up with the whole thing.

Have a look at the customs site for more details.

I agree with their strictness, but sometimes it's so hard to keep up with it all and they can be so bloody beurocratic.

DianneH68

Jeez! Didn't know about all that. Will have to be ultra careful when packing

Pollyana

www.aqis.gov.au
- has links to lists of does and don't, and info on what to declare. Essential reading for every would-be migrant!

NKSK

Does anybody know how a wooden dining table would be dealt with?