NZ bureacrats need to do something usefull

[Guest]

I copied the below from pacific puddle jump forum.A cruiser is agonising over NZ or Oz.I think Squid and others have already commented on the need for for foreign cruisers to be able to keep their boats here for longer than is presently allowed.

And it sounds like some Australian officials are trying to negate the bad stories coming from there.

This stuff doesnt matter to the pricks in Wellington but I bet it matters to all the self employed marine businesses battling out there.

 

Re: [pacificpuddlejump] Re: Australia vs New Zealand

 

Hi Gary (and any other interested parties),

We arrived in Bundaberg from New Calendonia in the first week of November 2009. Had an excellent check-in experience. All the folks (Customs, Quarantine & Immigration) were welcoming and efficient. If you want to avoid a long drawn out going through of various food stuffs, just check the Australian Quarantine website which has a great database on what is and isn't restricted and its searchable. The Quarantine cost was $330. Not fantastic but we spent well over a $100 in Amercan Samoa for a much shorter visit. Our friends arriving a day after us had a terrible experience of finding bugs aboard during Quarantine. The whole experience of quarantining the boat, arranging fumigation and reinspection was handled really well by the Quarantine folks. They were sympathetic, accomodating and as helpful as they could be. All the horror stories that we heard about what it would end up costing to get it all dealt with were ridiculously wrong and other than the actual cost of fumigation (they were allowed to find and arrange the best price themselves and they were allowed to take the boat to Brisbane to reduce the cost of bringing the fumigators up) there was no other charge from Quarantine other than the original $330 even though they put in tons and tons of hours dealing with the situation.

 

Depending on length of visas and where you're from, the cost varies. Again good information on their websites. We only applied for 3 month visas as we planned to store the boat and fly home to Canada. These visas were applied for and approved online in just a few minutes at a cost of $100 each. Don't show up in Australia without a valid visa.

 

Trip was good from New Caledonia certainly we didn't deal with cold. We spent the next 3 months in Queensland in and around the Bundaberg area. It was HOT by the end of January when we flew home.

 

We were originally hoping to go to New Zealand but we could't arrange for the long term stay for the boat with Customs in New Zealand. Their laws did not allow for us to obtain permission ahead of time to store the boat for 18 months and then add more months on either side to stay out of the cyclone season. We know that people do manage it by getting regular extensions but the bottom line was we couldn't get legal permission to do it ahead of time and we needed that assurance before making the committment. We even thought about paying the bond but it still wasn't possible to get 2 years in New Zealand for the boat. The Customs folks that we contacted in New Zealand were very pleasant and very sorry that they couldn't help us. Australia on the other hand has had a recent change in their temporary boat importation rules. They allow a maximum stay (for the boat) of 3 years. Done in one year increments with renewals at the end of each year. We just obtained our first one year extension through email. However, once you've used up this 3 year period (even if you do it in multiple visits), you then have to keep the boat out of the country for another 3 years before returning. There are other options such as paying a bond at that point but it won't be an issue for us at that point.

 

Austalia is expensive for everything. No doubt about it. We spent a LOT of time investigating all of our options for storing the boat on the hard while we returned home. Lots to consider but price and safety were our primary considerations. We had quotes for monthly storage in a yard (not including lift/splash) of as high as $4300/month. Yes, you read that right and I didn't move the decimal place. Lots of quotes in the $1200/month range. Was a bit scary at that point but we did end up finding the right place for us for pretty much Mexico hard storage prices. We had to live with some depth issues for lift approach and good timing with the tide but that's not strange for us as we draw a considerable amount.

 

As for marinas or places to stay in Queensland, we can only tell you about a few. The Port Bundaberg marina (official port for arriving) which is a nice marina also with a nice haul-out facility (although we didn't haul out there). Chandlery on site. It wasn't inexpensive but was a nice arrival place. We found it restrictive as you're too far from Bundaberg even with the shuttle/bus system. We spent quite a bit of time about 8 miles up the river moored right in front of the town of Bundaberg. We took advantage of the moorings there but you can also anchor and there are some docks as well. Quaint and great town access. Pretty good chandlery at the marina there in town and really nice folks that run the moorings and docks there. Ended up hauling and leaving the boat in Hervey Bay/Urangan which is south of Bundaberg but north of Brisbane. Lots of dock space in the Urangan harbour although too shallow for us. Anchoring outside the harbour is possible but can be very lumpy with wind over current. We visited friends on another boat on a dock in downtown Brisbane. Great city. Wonderful river access.

 

That's all the info I can think of.