Originally Posted by
Loren Pechtel
Originally Posted by
pinkcat
Just be glad you werent going into Australia, they dont want you to bring in wooden pencils or hairbrushes in case they have something that could affect their native species which is fair enough...
Yeah. It's meat and fruit they hate. They do get a bit obsessive about it, though--cooked meat isn't going to be a danger but that would introduce borderline cases. (I do think they should allow sealed tins and jars, though--how could those carry anything??)
I usually only bring (industrial quantities of
) chocolate into Australia, but on the two occasions when I had something that probably should have been confiscated, they gave me a break. Once a friend gave me a jar of flavored, processed, whipped honey just as I was leaving the US. Honey is one of the main restrictions because of diseases spread between bee colonies. I handed it to the quarantine lady and said "I know this won't be allowed", but she studied it for a while, shrugged, and said, "it's okay."
but
And I bought a Christmas ornament in Germany that was made of dried seed pods and stuff. Just wasn't thinking... Again, I showed it at quarantine and indicated that I was willing to relinquish it, but she looked at it, and me, and it, and me
and said, "it's okay." Again,
and
I'm not endorsing "breaking the rules" or "inconsistency" (you know me better than that!). I'm just saying that Aust quarantine aren't as heartless and obsessive as all that. YMMV.