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Quarantine issues in Australian ports


kimba_99

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Just found this article about passengers taking food off the ship in Aussie ports. So for those of you who like to take lunch or a snack with you when you go on an excursion please read (you may get a $200+ fine).

[url="http://www.affa.gov.au/ministers/truss/releases/03/03336wt.html"]http://www.affa.gov.au/ministers/truss/releases/03/03336wt.html[/url]

Kim
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We just returned from a cruise in Australia and the quarantine laws are taken very seriously. Officials were always on the ship to check our bags as we got off. Many times there were x-rays machines as well. There didn't seem to be any threat of a fine, just confiscation if they found something unacceptable.

[B]--Karen
Life is Too Short to Drink Cheap Wine[/B]
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That is correct. You won't be fined but all the food will be confiscated. Because we are an island continent and we don't have a lot of the diseases that the older world has such as foot and mouth etc. we are not allowed to bring into our country any food substances from any other country.

Please obey our laws, and do not bring any sandwiches, cheese, meat, cakes, fruit etc from the ship. If not, it most embarrassing to be pulled up after a lovely dog (usually a beagle) has given the handler the notion that you have food on you.

We all go through it each time we return from an overseas trip so it is not just for tourists but for anyone returning home from overseas.

Jennie

The next cruise is always the best!

3RD OCTOBER, 2004 PRINSENDAM
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[This message was edited by Aussie Gal on 04-13-04 at 09:06 PM.]
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  • 2 months later...
Actually you WILL be fined if flying in at least. We were returning home to Brisbane and an apple (that Qantas had given us in a little bag with water and chocolate bar etc) was detected by the scanning machine. We were fined $250, held up for over an hour and treated appallingly.
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Not all food is taken off you, as long as it is declared and they check it out as you are coming through customs. I've never had any food confiscated.
Corniglia, the chocolate wouldn't have been your problem. There are plenty of warnings around about fruit fly, and seeing that you were 'coming home to Brisbane' I'm surprised you didn't realise....you can't even cross a state border without being warned about off-loading any fruit you have.
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Moreover, Qantas is very specific about making an announcement that "all aircraft food must be left on board" - I've never known them to miss it.

I agree with [B]aussie jb[/B] - making sure you declare all food so that Customs can see it and make the decision is the best way of staying out of trouble. You can get a surprising amount of safe food through. You just have to be honest - and they like people who are. After a while, you also get a good feel for what is acceptable and what isn't. Commercially-made chocolates, biscuits, etc. all seem to be perfectly acceptable.
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We would have declared it if we knew it was in the bag- we just stuffed the Qantas goodies bag into the bottom of our day pack without looking in it(20 hours prior to landing) and didn't give it another thought and there was definitely NO warning from the cabin crew.
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Usually they have the video up about half an hour before landing showing what you are allowed to bring in and also when you fill out your arrival form it definitely mentions no food on the sheet and that is where you tick yes or no. It is really very clear.

Jennie
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It's part of the "Welcome to [Sydney] airport, where the local time is xxxx and the temperature is xx degrees" announcement, which is made after touchdown and turn off the active runway. As I say, I hear it half a dozen or more times a year, and I've never known them to miss it.
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[quote name='corniglia']I didn't realise you were all on the same plane as me[/QUOTE]Corniglia, how often do you fly from an international destination into Australia on Qantas? If you do that with any degree of frequency you would know that:-[list=a]
[*]The Snack on Q bag contains fruit (it has done ever since it was first introduced about 18 months ago).
[*]You ought to declare all the food in the bag, even the stuff that would then be regarded as safe by Customs and allowed through.
[*]There are two points at which announcements are made, as a matter of routine, that aircraft food must be left on board - one pre-recorded, and one scripted - precisely so there is no variation from flight to flight.[/list]You can't expect people who fly QF regularly to believe that there was "definitely NO warning from the cabin crew". That simply [U]would not happen[/U]. I only fly into Australia about half a dozen times a year, and still I have had all this drummed into me so much that I can't forget any of it.
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I do not want/need to get in to an argument over this with you. I am not a complete idiot. I will finish my participation with: we were not aware we had fruit in our bag. We have since had an apology from Qantas (what happened on THAT flight I don't know but it was one of a few problems). We have also had an apology from AQIS who have sent the customs officer for "re training" . FYI another couple entering the country exactly 24 hours later on a QANTAS flight got caught by the sniffer dog with a "qantas apple"- also unaware. It has since come to our attention that it has happened many times. Now some people are stupid I know but I am aware of quarantine issues in this country- we even have them crossing some state borders.

forgot to add- we did get a quarantine message- we did NOT get anything about Qantas issued food.
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