Kotiti Haere - Wanderers wrote:Customs Warnings for NZNever, never, never bring fruit into the country. Check your backpack before you leave to come to NZ to make sure you have not had an apple that you bought 3 days ago in your backpack and have forgotten about it, for when it is found you WILL get fined NZ$200 on the spot and not even be able to eat the apple! This applies to any fruit, seeds or food.Being a movie star will not save you either as Hillary Swank found out!

This might sound like a stupid question but does this include in my luggage if I'm only in NZ for a lay over? I will be studying in Australia for a full year and might find food I enjoy or want to bring home for friends/family. If it is indeed illegal to bring it back what would you suggest I do?? Would mail work for packaged food like candies, chips, etc??

Cody R. Hough wrote:

Kotiti Haere - Wanderers wrote:Customs Warnings for NZNever, never, never bring fruit into the country. Check your backpack before you leave to come to NZ to make sure you have not had an apple that you bought 3 days ago in your backpack and have forgotten about it, for when it is found you WILL get fined NZ$200 on the spot and not even be able to eat the apple! This applies to any fruit, seeds or food.Being a movie star will not save you either as Hillary Swank found out!

This might sound like a stupid question but does this include in my luggage if I'm only in NZ for a lay over? I will be studying in Australia for a full year and might find food I enjoy or want to bring home for friends/family. If it is indeed illegal to bring it back what would you suggest I do?? Would mail work for packaged food like candies, chips, etc??

Our customs are indeed very strict because our climate is very attractive to bugs and animals and they tend to over populate once they arrive (bee mites, spiders, possums etc). They will fine you on the spot if you do not declare things especially fruit, meats (including dried meats from Asia), dirty golf gear, dirty hiking boots/tents etc. They are fine with chocolate and candy.

The best advice is to declare any edible item you have and they can then determine if it can be brought in or not and you will not be in any trouble because you declared it. I always declare every food item I have just to be safe. Often the declare lines are shorter anyway at the airport.

This is good to know before I make arrangements to travel there. I was planning our honeymoon to Fiji but was concerned about these types of incidents. I also recently was informed about some other incidents involving honeymooners getting killed.

I was forwarded the information here http://bit.ly/2MOYCR.

I'm glad we are being informed about this. Please keep us posted on any more information like this.

Better lock yourself in a room then, people get killed in every country in the world. I've been to Fiji in the past 6 months and can safely say that unless you ignore the usual advice about walking around late at night then you'll be fine.

Suva was the only place I felt unsafe, but that was more to do with a bomb threat with several streets being closed...

If I visit Suva Fiji for a couple of weeks, can you give any suggestions and what to take or do?

Yiddogray wrote:Better lock yourself in a room then, people get killed in every country in the world. I've been to Fiji in the past 6 months and can safely say that unless you ignore the usual advice about walking around late at night then you'll be fine.

Suva was the only place I felt unsafe, but that was more to do with a bomb threat with several streets being closed...