I have been advising a student who will start her study in Tasmania soon about clearing customs upon entry into the country. I will reorganise my notes here so that other freshmen will also benefit. (Sorry that I am writing in English as Chinese inputting on computer, for me, is too time consuming.)
1) Clearing customs at the first port of entry. There is no international passenger airport per se in Tasmania (even though the Hobart airport calls itself Hobart International Airport). When you change for a connecting flight to Tasmania in a mainland Australian city (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, etc.), you MUST collect all your luggage (BOTH handcarry and checked in) and go through customs there.
Australia has very stringent (the fussiest in the world, I would say) quarantine rules. On the international flight, the air stewardess should give you a landing card. You need to answer honestly, in particular about food and other quarantine items. Food means anything you can ingest, such as lolly, chocolate, biscuits and you MUST declare them if you have any with you. Food from the airplane is certainly a NO, NO and so finish everything on the plane. Customs officers at the airport will search basically every luggage and they have sniffer dogs on duty too. If they find food items that have not been declared, you will be in trouble. I am not kidding.
To check out what you may be allowed to bring (AND must declare) and what not, visit this web page: http://www.csu.edu.au/international/starting-on-campus/immigration-and-customs-regulations
My advice is that if you are bringing in any must declare items, gather these items in one piece of luggage. At the custom, tell the officer that you have all must declare items in one place and sometimes they will open only that piece of luggage and leave the rest (unless you look suspicious or there are not many passengers in the queue).
2) Make sure you have sufficient baggage allowance, in particular for the domestic leg between the Australian mainland and Tasmania. Most domestic flights in Australia only allow 10kg carry on unless you are advised otherwise. Domestic airlines here are very strict about excess (they will weigh your carry-on) and they charge a hefty rate on the spot. If you think you are likely to bring in more than the allowed weight, you can buy extra luggage online or ask your agent to buy it for you (depending on how you get your domestic ticket). Pre-booked extra luggage costs much less.
3) Allow at least 3 hours between flights. At times, clearing customs at the airports can be extremely slow. Therefore, make sure your arrival time and departure time for Launceston/Hobart at the first port of entry is at least 3 hours apart (5 hours will be more prudent). Jetstar and Qantas will close their domestic counters strictly 30 min before departure. You might have been queuing up for more than an hour in the domestic terminal (they have a single queue system). If you can't get to your counter 30 mins beforehand, you are out and they don't care. I must say changing flights in Australia can be very stressful.
4) Check out how far apart the domestic terminal and the international terminal are at your first port of entry. Melbourne Tullamarine is easy. The two terminals are adjacent to each other and the walk is very short. The international terminal and the domestic terminal of Sydney Airport are far apart. You have to take either an airline shuttle bus, an airport shuttle bus, the underground or a taxi. If you are arriving at the Sydney Airport, check your airline if they will provide shuttle bus services and if that will be free (normally it should be). The later three will cost you money and make sure you have at least AUD30 in cash.
If you have any question or if you want me to explain in Chinese, please feel free to ask. I will try my best to answer.
Welcome to Tasmania in advance!
|
微信扫一扫
提升卡
置顶卡
变色卡
抢沙发
