What are the immigration requirements for Diving gear?

[Thrasherg]

My wife and I will be heading to Australia in October for a 1 week live aboard, diving the Great Barrier reef, we will then fly to New Zealand for a week, before returning to Australia for another week of sight seeing, then return home to the USA.
I see that on the New Zealand immigration forms we must declare all diving equipment and it may or may not be allowed to enter the country. We will not be diving in New zealand, but as we will leave Australia at one airport and fly back to another airport, we cannot leave our scuba equipment at the first airport, so think we have to bring it with us to New Zealand. I could not find any information on what New Zealand wants done to the equipment before it is allowed to enter New Zealand? I suspect spraying most of the equipment with disinfectant is probably enough, but what about the wet suits? Anyone have any suggestions? We do NOT want to have our SCUBA equipment confiscated, it is very expensive!! Looking forward to seeing a bit of New2 Zealand, but a bit worried about the diving equipment as the New Zealand immigration WEB site has almost no information on the requirements, it just states we must declare the equipment or risk being fined $400 and having the equipment confiscated.. It just states the immigration officer will decide if the equipment can enter the country or not..
Thinking we might be able to have the equipment shipped from the diving boat (when the diving part has finished) to our next hotel in Australia and the hotel might hold it for a week before we get there? What shipping companies exist in Australia? is there an equivalent to Fedex or UPS?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Gary

 

[Thrasherg]

so no-one has ever brought diving equipment into New Zealand, or there is just no issue with customs?

 

[MB NZ]

Don't worry. They are most concerned about the spread of freshwater pests, so if you haven't been freshwater diving, not an issue. It would make your life easier if your gear isn't dirty with mud etc. Declare everything. It's not customs, it's Biosecurity and they can be a bit over-zealous and inconsistent at times, but they will be polite and respectful.

 

[justinthedeeps]

I've heard of people getting questioned for "are you working on this trip?"

They took away three alkaline AAA batteries from my carry-on backpack because they were in a ziplock bag instead of the original packaging.. because it violated some safety rule

Glad they didn't notice all the possum eggs

 

[clownfishsydney]

I have never had a problem taking dive gear from Sydney to NZ. All they might ask is has it been used recently in freshwater, but I doubt they would even do that.

By the way, we do have UPS and Fedex in Australia, we are not backwards and it is not immigration that decides about equipment, it is Customs which is I think part of Ministry for Primary Industries.

 

[Thrasherg]

Thanks everyone, regarding the Fedex/UPS question, I just thought there might be an Australian company that offered a similar service but for less money or better reliability, I have NOT had good success with Fedex and try to avoid them whenever possible.
Sounds like if we just rinse our gear after we have finished the liveaboard gear, we should be good.

Thanks everyone that replied.

Gary

 

[pnwkiwi]

Per @MB NZ’s advice: tick the sporting goods box on your NZ arrival form and declare your gear. Make sure it is clean. Bio Security may ask you to open your gear bag for an inspection but they are friendly folks and their process is quick and painless. I travel to / from NZ frequently with dive gear, bikes, skis etc and it’s never a problem. Have fun on your trip!