This is my series about trying to find our footing in Australia. It will no doubt be a series of joy and sadness and struggle... Things will turn out alright? Won't they?

Part 1: Settling In and Adjusting
Part 2: Checking In...
Part 3: House Hunting
Part 4: Best and Final
Part 5: Gazumped!
Part 6: School Worries...
Part 7: We did it!
Part 8: Travelling to and Remembering Sydney
Part 9: Searching for a New Used Car

So, against all expectations... most of the things relating to our cross-planet move are going quite smoothly. We have secured a house, a car, work... and a couple of weeks ago, our sea shipment arrived in Australia (Sydney)... unfortunately, the current snag is the air shipment, but I will talk about that some other time.

So, for those of you who don't know... Australia runs a pretty strict quarantine regime, due to our somewhat unique ecosystem that would be rapidly overwhelmed by introduced species. Of course, it really helps that we have no land borders with other countries, and that the entry sea/air ports are relatively few in number thus creating natural chokepoints at which quarantine measures can be applied. That said, the same chokepoints mean that the flow of material through them is somewhat slower as well...

Anyway, early this week, we got a message saying that our sea shipment had cleared the customs inspection and that it was on the way to the quarantine inspection. Plus, we would start making arrangements for taking delivery in the coming week... which was perfect, as the house settlement wouldn't be until this week! So, things have fallen in place, we take ownership of the house and the delivery would be scheduled for the week immediately afterwards! Wow, we couldn't have planned that better....

Of course, there is always going to be a spanner in the works... and soon after the customs inspection clearance, we received a message saying that quarantine had discovered 5 "pine" objects that would either need to be destroyed (cost 200 AUD) or irradiated with gamma radiation (500 AUD). Well, that was confusing to us... as Australians, we are acutely aware of quarantine (that is how we are brought up!)... and so we were pretty damn sure that we had no untreated pine objects in our sea container... but of course, we could have overlooked something. Anyway, we opted for the irradiation with a potential 2-3 week delay... and we asked to see a photo of the offending objects. Mostly because we had NO idea what they could be.

... and we received that photo in the top of this post. An oil dispenser and 4 wooden coasters! Now, these are FROM AUSTRALIA... and are made of AUSTRALIAN wood... and they are treated as well! The wood is distinctly Australian... anyway, I found it hilarious that these were the things that would hold up our shipment... especially as they were so incorrectly identified, by AUSTRALIAN customs! Do they even live here... The entire batch should smell strongly of eucalyptus oil...

Anyway, as soon as I got this photo, I called up the shipping contact (one of many that I've had to deal with), and thankfully this person was both incredibly friendly and helpful (not like many of the others that I've had to deal with, who often have one of the traits but rarely both!). I said that if these were the things that were holding up our shipment, they could just be destroyed... and if it would be possible to get a refund on the option. Thankfully, she thought it was absolutely hilarious that these were the things that were identified as a quarantine risk...

After a short moment to consult, she said that it was no problem. They would be destroyed, and our shipment would be released, and she intercepted the accounts payment and we would get a refund... as a bonus, she said that the pieces were so small, that the destruction would not cost 200 AUD but that we would get more back!

Sigh... sometimes, protocol adherence leads to some hilariously funny decisions being taken. 500 AUD and a 2-3 week delay for wooden coasters that were mis-identified... No thanks. Destroy them, and with the refunded money we will buy 500 coasters of the same type. I felt like saying to the helpful woman, please just take the objects home with you... but I guess that they need to adhere to protocol, and protect the Australian ecosystem from the dangers of returning Australian wood.

... now, to start dealing with the air shipment... and some other loose ends on the Dutch side.

I can also be found cross-posting at:
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