New Zealand bound...

[Terry Hayden]

I'm going to be travelling to New Zealand in
early February. We should be there for two weeks.

I am putting a "lite" pack together to try to bring
a 4x5 with me.

Couple of questions -

Has anyone experienced what the routine is with the
customs folks on clearing expensive photo gear on
entering the country? I certainly plan on bringing
everything home with me, but do I somehow need to
prove that to the customs folks?

Same thing with film. If I either preship it to a fedx
depot or bring it as carry on, how do I deal with customs?

Does anyone know if Air New Zealand will give me any
static about calling my gitzo a carry on item in addition
to my camera pack ( which, as I understand it, must weigh
less than 15 lbs.)?

I'm really jazzed about all we will see, but I need help
with these logistical issues.

Thanks in advance

Terry
www.terryhayden.com

[Lachlan 717]

Here in Oz, we had a TV show called "Border Security". Basically, it was a doco that showed Australian and NZ Customs and Imigrations in action.

I remember one episode was about a professional photographer going to NZ for a shoot.

To cut a long story short, NZ Customs decided that he had too much roll film, and charged him import duty. They were of the opinion that he had import quantity of film.

So, I would suggest getting in touch with their Customs agency and finding out how much you will be allowed to bring with you...

For what it's worth, it's a bloody spectacular place! The South Island is much grander than the North. All the best for the trip.

Lachlan.

[eddie]

it will be no problem. do not worry.

it is always safe to declare anything you are not sure of! it can not hurt. i used to declare all kinds of worthless crap going to thailand as the line for "something to declare" was always shorter than the "nothing to declare line" you may find this to be true as well.

carry your film on. run it through the CARRY ON x ray. you will have no problem. i check my tripods.

you will have great time. i spent 2 years on the south island....i loved it!

eddie

[Richard Wall]

I was there back in the 90's and carried 2 35mm cameras and a large amount of 35mm film and a Sinar 4x5 with plenty of film. I always carry my film and cameras with me, but I put my tripods in my checked luggage. I have never even been given a second look by customs when traveling with film/cameras, this includes NZ. The equipment is given more scrutiny when getting on the plane. I think your more likely to get the stink-eye by customs if you are a Kiwi and bringing in a lot of new equipment.

Have a good time. The whole country is absolutely beautiful, but the south island is especially gorgeous - IMHO.

Richard

[Tim C]

I can help you with this. We fly regular down to NZ. I take film down all the time, plenty too. Film is very expensive in NZ.

Where are you flying from?

I try right from the start not to have my film x-rayed. When you count the number of times it can go through the machine, you're pretty much on the limit.

I fly regular from LAX with either ANZ or UA. Eddie is right about 4x5. I always hand my film over to the TSA for a hand search. Always have the invoices etc. A smile goes a long way, they have a rotten job, so courtesy is much appreciated.

If you fly UA through Sydney, Australia, there is another security check when in transit to the next gate whether ANZ or Quantas. Just hand the film over as at LAX - no worries.

Customs at AKL is simple. Tell the Officer at the gate you have film, declare everything. They are really helpful. You're just another photographer who has come to photograph their beautiful country and you've made one hell of a journey.

There is agricultural screening. This is major. Pull your film out. Have it in ziplock bags. Show the Officer before it goes through, they have never given me hassle, I am allowed to hold it whilst my bags go through the x-ray.

ANZ are great. They are really helpful. Just ask, you might have to pay something, I never have.

I'll be down there too for February. It'll be very hot. You need to be up sharpish to get the light. Make sure you have plenty of sun screen, buy the Cancer Society approved when down there. The sun will sting you, no word of a lie, ten minutes and you're fried. Your enemy is the sun, not NZ Customs. Long sleeve linen shirts and a sun hat!

Cheers,

Tim.

[DavidFisk]

Been there 11 times. Greatest landscape small country on the planet. One oddity, after you gather your stuff in the Auckland airport and clear customs, you have to put your stuff through x-ray just before you leave the terminal. Never had a problem with 5 separate scans on a single trip. If you have a photo vest and travel with just separate sheets (no ReadyLoads), you can probably carefully arrange the boxes in the rear pockets and get them through unnoticed. Depends on how you want to play the game.

Re carry-on: fly Air NZ, not Qantas. Yes, theoretically your carry-on is weight-limited. But I have had no trouble with both a fully loaded Super Trekker and Pro Trekker on separate occasions. Kiwis seem a whole lot cooler about this than people from Oz. You just have to be a bit discreet when boarding. I have a separate shoulder strap that I clip onto the pack that lets me keep it behind my back when they take my boarding pass. It might work with a tripod as well.

[Terry Hayden]

Major help - thanks everyone.

For the record, I will be flying ANZ out of San Francisco to
Auckland.

Has anyone had any success in pre-shipping film to
N.Z.? Maybe Fed-x and hold it at the depot?

My concern is that I do, indeed, use readyloads. Even
combining boxes it takes up a fair amount of space. I'm
afraid that 10 or more boxes worth will more than take up
the space in the carry on that I'd rather use for the gear.

Thanks again and any other kibitzing on locations or whatever
whould be appreciated.

The master plan is to land in Auckland, rent a car, and drive
a LOT. I'm hoping to make it down to the southern area of
the south island as my far point.

We fly back ( after two weeks ) out of Christchurch via Auckland
back to S.F.

Terry
www.terryhayden.com

[Merg Ross]

Terry, wishing you a grand journey, with lots of keepers! I look forward to seeing the results.

Merg

[Tim C]

If you've not fixed s hire car, you might like to give ACE Care Hire a call. The AKL City depot is the best to deal with, you'll save yourself a lot of money. Avoid booking via the web, always phone, they'll negotiate. The cars are not luxurious, but we've never broken down and have done 1000's of kms over the years.

The X-Ray after Customs is the Agricultural Screening.

There are a couple of photo outfits in Wellington. They make stock your film?
Probably after paying the Fedex and Customs charges, the price of film in Kiwi may not be so bad after all.

Tim

[eddie]

you can ship your stuff by a number of ways. USPS is good too. you can ship it General Post Office to your self with no issues. i have done this in many many countries with great success. just pick your PO.

i found the S island way better....but i am a mountain person......

[Paul H]

You're much better off bringing your film with you, in your carry on baggage. A few passes (or more) will not harm it. (When living & working in Europe, I used to always pack a little Minox 35GT, usually loaded with ISO400 colour neg. Sometime that camera would have done 10 or more return trips with the same film loaded, and I never experienced any x-ray damage).

Make sure you declare anything and everything, especially for the quarantine declaration.

As mentioned, get some decent, high SPF sunscreen. Oh, and insect repellant for the South Island.

(BTW, technically it is illegal to kill sandflies when you are in a National Park :confused: )

So, how long do you have? The length of time you have will largely dictate your route.

[Steve M Hostetter]

create a diversion

[Paul Ewins]

Terry, we went there in June last year for a couple of weeks and did a lot of travelling. NZ is deceptively large, especially the South Island which is sparsely populated. I was surprised to be doing the same sort "drive for hours between towns" driving that is normal in Australia. Don't try and pack too much in or you won't have time to stop for the interesting things that pop up unexpectedly. We planned to spend time at the glaciers, but didn't have time to stop at some of the braided rivers which would have been much better photographic subjects.

I can second the cheap hire car recommendation. I can't remember whether it was Ace or not, but we had a 10 year old Toyota Corolla that did the job and cost a half to a third what the major companies would charge for a new one. Do be prepared to spend a lot of time behind camper vans (RVs) as the South Island appears to be where they go to breed.

I had a terrible time finding decent camera shops and forget about processing. There may be some in Auckland, the only place we didn't get a real good look at, but Christchurch and Wellington had nothing in the way of LF and roll film was pretty much the same. Unless you can get a solid recommendation from a local you will have to take it in with you and bring it home again.

[r.e.]

Couple of questions -

Has anyone experienced what the routine is with the
customs folks on clearing expensive photo gear on
entering the country? I certainly plan on bringing
everything home with me, but do I somehow need to
prove that to the customs folks?


You have this backwards. The issue is bringing the camera gear back to the U.S. If it is expensive stuff, register the gear with U.S. customs before you leave.

Re your other questions...

Speak directly with Air New Zealand about what you can take as carry-on. No doubt, that info is on their website.

Definitely go to the South Island, and in particular the west coast. Also, there is a lot to be said for taking a small plane from Queenstown through the mountain ranges. It is one way to get to Milford, and well worth it.

It's hard to respond to your query for suggestions about where to go/what to see without knowing more about your interests. Are you interested in New Zealand wine, fly fishing, etc? There are some great lodges in New Zealand, but whether they make sense depends a lot on your budget.

If you are into fishing, and not an old fogie, the Trout Bum Diaries DVD about New Zealand might be worth a look before you go: http://www.aegmedia.com/

Cheers.

[Paul H]

...

I had a terrible time finding decent camera shops and forget about processing. There may be some in Auckland, the only place we didn't get a real good look at, but Christchurch and Wellington had nothing in the way of LF and roll film was pretty much the same. Unless you can get a solid recommendation from a local you will have to take it in with you and bring it home again.

For processing, use either Wellington Photographic Supplies (http://www.wps.net.nz/) (Vivian Street) or Imagelab (http://www.imagelab.co.nz/) (Wigan Street). Imagelab handle all the regional E6 processing (even my 9x12cm stuff, which did cause them some head-scratching since I forgot to label them as such...). WPS also have a decent stock of 35mm and 120 film, and a limited stock of Large Format film. The staff at WPS are friendly and knowledgeable, including some LF shooters. Imagelab aslo carries MF film.

In Christchurch, try Photo & Video (http://www.photo.co.nz/).

[bobc]

Hey Terry,

I, too, travel between the US and NZ, living part of the year in each country. I just arrived back in the US two days ago... Thankfully, I just missed the sub zero temps but more are on the way, ugh!

A lot of good info has been given already, let me just add a few things that I've experienced:

r.e. has it right that if you want to register your equipment, it would be with US customs. I did this the first time I brought a lot of camera stuff out of the US. I just listed all the big ticket items and serial #'s on a piece of paper and had the US customs folks stamp and sign it acknowledging that I was bringing it out of the US. I haven't done this a second time and have traveled quite a bit around the world and the customs folks all seem pretty non-plussed about seeing a lot of photo gear.

I used to be worried about the horror stories I've read online about film going thru X-ray machines but I've never had an issue and even in 3rd world countries, I've just let it go thru. I'll only worry and try to have it hand inspected if it's going to be passing thru a lot of machines. Some of my film has gone thru 11 machines with half of those being after it was exposed with no ill effects. None of it was high speed film tho.

You could ship it which would still be cheaper than buying it there as it is super expensive. A rough estimate of cost is $5 per pound for shipping. Ship USPS, or DHL (They're still on solid ground for Int'l shipping, last I heard), avoid UPS. I don't try to pull fast ones on TSA or customs, etc. except when filling out the customs form for the package: I'll list the contents as less than $400 NZD. Otherwise, you have to pay GST which is 12.5%. I justify this since it's film that I am going to use and it will leave the country. It is not like a good that I am going to sell in NZ afterwards.

If you get in a jam and need film, in Christchurch, Photo & Video carries a limited range of 4x5.

You could have your film processed in NZ and there is a great shop in Christchurch but again, it's super expensive.

As for your tripod carry on, that may be iffy. I've always put mine in check-in. The Air NZ website statement seems like they may not let you. I have been called on the 15 carry on weight limit, too. You could call Air NZ as someone else mentioned but unless you had something in writing to show the ticketing and gate agents, they would be making their own call regardless of what someone else in Air NZ told you.

As for declaring stuff, when you get on the plane, you'll see from the declaration form what NZ customs is truly worried about. Namely, illegal stuff and bringing exotic agricultural products in. To this end, make sure that there is no US dirt on your tripod or hiking shoes and any hiking gear that you have. Scrub them really well! You'll notice that they really aren't interested in your camera gear unless there's a chance of soil contamination.

As for places to go, it is an individual calling. Most people do find the mountains, glaciers, etc. of the South Island more spectacular than the environmental offerings of the North Island. If people are you're thing, there are more Maori folks on the North Island. Also as mentioned, it may be a lot of driving for just two weeks. I've never done a detailed comparison but it seems like NZ is the equivalent distance of New England to the Carolina's. The thing is, the places you'll want to be are on narrow, windy back roads. It takes a chunk of time to get from place to place. So, even tho it doesn't look far, it takes time to travel from place.

As for other stuff: I went thru a whole tube of sunscreen in the last two weeks and still got burned! The sun in Summer in the Southern Hemisphere is much, much stronger than here in in the Northern Hemisphere.

To deal with jet lag what works for me is to go to sleep within a couple hours after eating dinner on the plane. I'm assuming you're catching the 7PM out of SFO... Use Benedryl (sp?) or something from your doctor to knock yourself out. If you can get 8 hours of sleep during that flight, you'll do well the next day. It works in your favor since you'll leave SFO in the evening and get in AKL at 5AM. You'll feel rested but a little off just as if it was any other day of the week and you got a good night's sleep but were up early the next day. Since the flight is long, follow the usual air travel advice and avoid coffee, tea and alcohol and drink tons so that you stay hydrated.

Cheers,
-bob

[Terry Hayden]

Bob,

Thanks for the updated advice - it all sounds good.

I figured a way to carry on my readyloads as a "personal item"

Our local REI store had some neat padded nylon laptop bags that
just happen to be the perfect dimension for readyloads. I can fit
60 to 70 sheets in it. Since N.Z. air specifically shows a non-bulging
laptop bag as an acceptable personal item I should be good there.

I bought a largish hard side suitcase for the tripod and sundries. We
are each ( my wife and I ) allowed two 50 lb suitcases. We will actually
only use one each and have this tripod suitcase for sundries ( chochkies
and such purchased there ) on the return trip.

Thanks for the dirt tip - it's pretty clean, but I'll wipe it ( and our sneakers)
down.

If time allows I will probably ask for hand inspection of the film - but
if it's at all tight I am resigned to having it go through the carry on
x-ray machine.

I already hit my doc up for some sleeping pills. Given that I keep
hydrated and don't wind up with DVT I had figured on following your
plan exactly ( yes, that is our flight out of SFO).

I know I'm way overbooking our time trying to hit both islands. I 've been
using a web site to estimate travel times to get a reality check.

Speaking of which - we will be staying in motels. Most advice I've gotten is
that, at this time of year, we can't count on just showing up and getting
rooms in popular places. Any thoughts on how far ahead we need to book?

Thanks again to all for the advice & help - it's been great!


Terry
www.terryhayden.com