Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# crossing date lin and NZ biosecurity Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
sequenz 01:35 UTC 23 Mar 2008 | We arrived in Auckland from Raratonga a few days ago and through ignorance and thoughtless lost quite a lot of money. We left Raro around 4 am March 11 and after a four hour flight landed in Auckland 7am March 12! We did not realize that crossing the time line means to lose a whole day and had booked our domestic flight for March 11, so we lost these tickets. We honestly reported biosecurity that we had been in the forest in the Cook Islands and were put in line with the "one to be inspected" our shoes were cleaned and then the lady asked if I had shells, which I forgot to mention on the custom declaration. Again I admitted frankly and showed her my shellobox, which was no big deal, but in my shell box were a few of these red "poor men's peanuts" that I did not even remember collecting and they went wild. I tried to explain that I simply did not remember, but to invain, they made me paid Euro 120 for "unintentionally" bringing these seeds.. We knew all about not bringing fruits and veggies and wood in the country, but this one got us. Hope this helps others not to make the same mistake. |
raro 22:27 UTC 24 Mar 2008 | Not sure what you mean by "poor men's peanuts". What I used to do when I owned a small resort in the Cooks was to boil the shells they were bringing overseas. Then I would charge them one cent. Then I would give them a receipt (without listing a price), showing they had purchased "boiled/sanitized shells" from the resort. For biosecurity concerns, tourists really should boil their shells before bringing them overseas. | 1