Import Warning

[cus]

G'day Guys,
Finally received my frame from the states, after 3 months. All is good with the frame,
it's in really good shape. I've imported gear from the states before without too much
trouble , but had some greif with this one, partly because of sender & new employee
at the freighters. The sender first off tried to send the frame on an untreated pallet,
so had to get him to re-pack in rienforced cardboard. Never let them use any timber
in their packing that isn't treated & stamped, otherewise it will still land in Aust.,
but will be sent for treating & reinspecting $$$$. So anyway, told the sender to send the
frame clean, but arrived with dirt & spider (hitchhiker), which cost me $500 extra.
There was allot more that happened along the way, but thought I'd just warn everyone to
make sure the bike or parts are extremely clean before packing, & make sure timber is
treated.

regards, Cus

[Retired Fireman]

Hi Cus, I shipped my H.D. over to the states in 2008 for the Sturgis Rally and the H.D. 105 Party. I was warned  along with the others who shipped their bike over in CAPITAL LETTERS about making sure the bikes are immaculate on their return. Well before I left I took mine to a hand car wash and paid $35.00 for a complete blast under the guards engine etc and a carefull wash. Well the bone heads who's bikes were in my container on return to Ozz not only didn't get the mud blasted off the bikes didn't bother to wash them and some had dirt in the crates! I laughed to myself when I picked up my bike and just rode it home from the shippers, my bike was stamped "free to be collected" after the quarintine people looked at it and just stamped it, the bone heads were there for half a day waiting for their bikes to be de-contaminated at a rediculous cost. Ha Ha some people just don't listen to anything they are told and know better. Anything you bring into this country has to be clean and bug free which includes dirt and mud where bugs live. Did you complain to the shipper about not cleaning the frame and the cost you incurred?

[Beezageezauk]

Unfortunately for you guys this seems to be an Australian and New Zealand thing about your governments being paranoid about bugs and cleanliness.

I didn't take my long distance bike over to NZ for the BSA International Rally earlier this year because it would have required a complete strip down and renovation to get it as clean as the authorities insisted.  The bike is as rough as it comes after being ridden for thousands of miles through all weathers and apart from the hours of work needed, it would have lost much of it's character.

After following the television programmes about the NZ and Oz border controls I feel that they do go over the top with many of the rules and regulations. In fact my wife had to dump a banana (possible bug contamination) before she got off the plane at Christchurch, NZ and she is Diabetic. 

I've never encountered these problems when entering other countries but at least we did our homework before we set off and stuck to the rules.

Beezageezauk.

 

[A10Boy]

Strange that the Ozzies are so keen to control imports when they have some of the worst creepy crawlies in the world! Given their regulations, presumably, they could never take the ASHES into their country, even if they could win them!

Also, I hope the forum have software to de-bug their posts into this forum, just in case.

[muskrat]

G'day all,
               some of our bugs (critters) are very dangerous, good for getting rid of those pesky tourists That's the way we like it.
Being so isolated from the rest of the world for so long, we don't have most of your bugs, that could upset our bugs. eg cane toad, crown of thorn starfish etc. Before white man came the country didn't even have the common cold.
 If one of your bugs gets in and destroys our agriculture industry we will have to let in more tourists to earn our keep.
Cheers

[bonny]

G'day all,
               some of our bugs (critters) are very dangerous, good for getting rid of those pesky tourists That's the way we like it.
Being so isolated from the rest of the world for so long, we don't have most of your bugs, that could upset our bugs. eg cane toad, crown of thorn starfish etc. Before white man came the country didn't even have the common cold.
 If one of your bugs gets in and destroys our agriculture industry we will have to let in more tourists to earn our keep.
Cheers

it'd be no problem for me to go as a tourist to either oz or nz , especially after seeing lord of the rings . i'd sooner go there than to the states .

[cus]

The funny thing was, after paying $500 for my frame to be cleaned, (imagine if it was a car!),
when I opened the box, it was still dirty, with webs in tact. The frame had some holes in it,
so if it was blasted, there would of still been some moisture in the frame, but bone dry,
so I don't know exactly what they did...."not much" I think. They said if I'm not happy about
the situation they would crush the frame, for a $200 fee, extra that is...."nice guys".
The other thing I'm sure most of you know, is that from the states, the bikes must have a title,
that's why I had to leave the frame from my last purchase over there & bring the remainder of
the bike over as parts, it had no number. Again it would of been freighted all the way to Aus.
then crushed on arrival, at my expense of course. Plenty of pit falls when importing, but still
worked out well for me, in the long run.

regards, Cus