In New Zealand

[7.62 Precision]

After a crazy trip (running into all kinds of issues with foreign law conflicting with TSA regulations, injuries, sunburn, stuck on an island in the pacific for a while, no internet) things are finally sort of settled down. Have a couple weeks that I need to hunt like crazy so I can write some articles, then I will probably have to go back to AK for a job, then back here again. Brought some ARs that I needed to hunt with (rifles or parts supplied by manufactures) but couldn't help myself and brought a lever gun, too.

[gamekeeper]

Sounds like quite an adventure ! Glad you to hear you are not leverless.....

[octagon]

Good luck!

[Griff]

[M. M. Wright]

May God bless your hunt and confound the bureaucracy.

[kaschi]

How easy is it to bring guns into New Zealand?

[7.62 Precision]

Piece of cake. You contact the NZ police and give them all the information for a temporary firearms license and information on make, model, and serial number of any rifle you are bringing. If you are bringing an A category firearm, that is all, if you are bringing an E cat firearm (Military Style Semi Auto), you will likely need to supply a reason why you need that type of firearm, and a pistol will definitely need justification (the match or matches you will be using it in). You will need an address and firearms license for the person that your firearm will be stored with while in NZ. If you are hunting with a guide, most will store it for you. If applying for an E Cat, the firearm will need to be stored with a license holder who also has an E Cat license. Easiest to stick with A Cat firearms.

You check your firearm against the list of approved firearms, and if it is not on the list, just describe it to the NZ police and they give you permission to bring it, or don't if it happens to be illegal (too short, or an MSSA if you are not applying for an E Cat endorsement)

Before you check your luggage, you need to go to US Customs and fill out a temporary export permit. If you take a firearm out of the country without doing this, you will run into a nightmare trying to get back in with it. If you fill this out and do not bring the firearm back with you, you will run into a different type of nightmare.

If you are flying Air New Zealand, you simply check the firearms and ammo as you would on a domestic flight. When you arrive in New Zealand, declare the firearms at customs (and on the customs form you fill out on the plane), and then you pick up your bags, go to the police office, and they have a firearms license and import permit waiting for you for $25 NZ.

You then go through customs screening as usual, where they are not concerned about the firearms at all, but you spend 45 minutes dealing with the paperwork required when you had to surrender the coral your kids picked up in Fiji because of an endangered species treaty that NZ is party to. Oh, never mind, you are flying Air New Zealand, so you didn't go through Fiji. That was very smart of you.

New Zealand police are super cool, friendly, and helpful. They see themselves as a part of the community, with a role as being protectors and public servants, not an occupying force, so they are generally very good to work with.

Then you take the firearms to whoever will be storing them for you, and that is where they stay whenever you are not using them.

[7.62 Precision]

The last post may sound complicated, but is pretty simple. The other alternative is the 30-step process I chose to use:

1. You have a ton of Alaska Airlines miles. AK Air is partners with Air New Zealand, so a lightbulb lights up above your head . . .

2. You check and you can't use AK Air miles to fly on Air NZ flights right now, but you can fly on Fiji Airways, for not too many miles!

3. You check the Fiji Airways website for policies on carrying guns and ammo. Looks good.

4. You check ticket availability, all good, so you call AK Airlines to book. You can only get a max of 4 mileage seats on any one flight, regardless of the airline, so you buy tickets on Air NZ for two of the kids to fly with their grandparents. You have to transfer some miles between kids and buy some miles, only costs a few hundred dollars; you are still saving a bunch. Miles for one of the kids doesn't post to the account, Airline rep says it may take until the next day, but no worries, the flight is almost empty, no chance of losing the seats.

5. 7:56 am the next morning the miles post so you call AK Airlines to book. It will be 4:30 pm by the time you get off the phone. No seats are available on the day you needed to fly. So you try another date. the agent books the tickets one at a time. Between booking the third ticket and the fourth, the last seat becomes unavailable. So you try a different date. And another date, same thing each time, before all the tickets are booked, one or another of the flights end up full. Finally you end up with tickets for a week or so after the house will be empty and two of the kids leave with their grandparents, so you will have to find someone to stay with. You have three flights going way out of your way before getting to LA to board the Fiji Airlines flight. The entire trip will be 28 hours, except, after booking each flight, 4 tickets on each, the final flight from Fiji to NZ does not have availability for one of the kids. Next available travel date from the US is a month later. So the travel time ends up: leaving Phoenix 5 AM on the 25th, arriving in New Zealand on the afternoon of the 1st. But you're saving a bunch of money, right?

6. You buy the ammo you will need in NZ.

7. Fiji Airways website says you need to call them to inform them if you plan to travel with firearms and ammo. So you give them a call. They inform you that Fiji law allows ammo to be carried only as freight on a passenger flight, not as checked baggage. You will have to drop off the ammo at their fright desk. They give you another number to call. You also spend some time calling and emailing to get authorization from Fiji customs and police to transport the firearms through Fiji.

9. At the other number, You are told that TSA regulations do not allow anyone to deliver fright to an airline unless they are a Known Shipper under a Freight Agent. You have to be registered as a Known Shipper, or else you have to hire a freight agent to hand the ammo to them. You will have to pay a $150 US transit fee to the Fiji government to fly ammo on a Fiji Airways flight. But you are still saving money.

10. You spend every free minute for almost a week trying to find some Freight Agent who will make you a Known Shipper. Finally, a freight company feels sympathetic and registers you as a known shipper in the TSA database and does not even charge you for it.

11. You call and email back and forth with Fiji Airways, and find out that even though you are now a Known Shipper, TSA says that the freight agent has to arrange everything with the airline. So you call the freight company and ask what this service will cost. They look into it and decide it is much better and cheaper to just use an airfreight company and ship the ammo direct to Aukland to await your arrival at the airport there. They arrange that for you, again at no cost. Still saving money.

12.You get to the airport to find that while the website was quite clear that you are allowed two bags up to 60 lbs each per person on the international Fiji flights, it seems there is a US regulation, or more likely an LA airport regulation, that the second bag for each passenger on any flights to pacific destinations from LA have to be charged $160 each, and for any bag over 50 lbs, you have to pay an additional $160. fortunately you kept the bags under 50. You pay and get on your flight. You are informed that you will have to pay these fees separately for each of the Fiji flights.
You arrive at the LA airport, and find out the freight company has decided they don't want to bother with you today, and won't take the ammo until the next day. You can't wait for tomorrow, or you will miss your flight today. So you find a friendly looking police officer, ask him if he is a shooter, and give him a couple hundred dollars worth of ammo. But those mileage tickets are still saving you money.

13. You get custom forms taken care of. You check in. You have to take your luggage to TSA for screening. Your daughter sits on a suitcase on the luggage cart and it tips over and dumps her on the floor. You right the luggage cart and bend down to deal with her necklace that broke. Someone takes the last backpack off the luggage cart and steals the cart. You had set the boarding passes in the basket on the cart to free a hand to deal with the necklace.You go back to the ticket counter and get new boarding passes. You go a half-mile to the TSA screening point, and when you get there, they shut it down and tell you to go to a different one. So you go the half-mile to the other one, and wait. And wait. And wait. Finally the guy who has the authority to start the belt shows up, and the guy grabs the first case to screen it. At that moment, these guys show up with carts and carts of luggage and move your cases to the side and start screening all this other stuff. Finally, the guy grabs the first case again, and as he starts, another TSA guy tells him to shut down and move the screening back to the other location, so back you go to stand in line again. Finally, you board the flight. After several weeks of non-stop dealing with bureaucracy, you are finally able to relax. All stress is over.

14. You arrive in Fiji and go through customs, informing them that you have firearms that you need to leave in police custody. A police officer arrives and escorts you and three kids down the street to the police station. Meanwhile, your daughter has noticed that everyone wears a flower in their hair and has made it her mission to find a flower for her hair.

15. The police fill out the appropriate forms, and take the gun cases off to be locked up. You get a taxi to a couple towns over, and the taxi driver would be happy to take American money, he does not mind at all. You whip out a calculator, do the math, and pay the appropriate amount in American money with the exchange rate. He is a little crestfallen, but you tipped well, so he isn't too disappointed. You check in for the charter, and your daughter finally finds someone to giver her a flower for her hair.

16. You make it to the island where you will stay. It costs $139 US for an adult and three kids to stay for 4 nights. But since you booked, your 12-year-old turned 13, and has to pay adult fare for meals. Meals for an adults, a 13-year-old, and two kids, plus a charter back and transportation to the airport at a time when the ferries are not running totals just over $900.

17. You are helping your daughter catch crabs when one of your sons starts frantically calling you from down the beach. When you get to him, he is standing on a rock in a pool of blood. Not too bog a deal. Then he takes a step toward you and the blue is running from his foot, and by the time he puts it down, it is in a pool of blood again. So, you pick him up and carry him the 1/4 mile back to the office, have a look, and the foot is split an inch-and-a-half or two inches back between two toes, top to bottom. Clean it up, carry him to the bar, and deal with his shock for a while, while they bring a nurse from another island in a skiff. He comes out of the shock and eats lunch on a bench in the bar while the nurse stitches his foot back together. Still saving money, though.

18. Despite sunblock, you get burned so badly on your legs that you can hardly move. Calves swell to double size and are tight as a drum. I huge chunk of your leg falls off right down to raw flesh, and your pants and sock are soaked with the fluids running out of your leg.

19. You return to the airport, leave the three kids waiting at the terminal with the luggage, and go to the police to get the guns. The person who is responsible for the key to the arms room accidentally took it home with him last night, and they can't get ahold of him. You jump in a police car and drive to the other station and wait while they try to find him. Finally get the guns, throw them in the back of a police truck, and jump in the cab with four police officers. You hit your knee on the door and a huge chunk of your knee falls off.

20. You get checked in, get to the gate, one kid in a wheelchair, and just at the door of the plane, you get stopped. Fiji Airways policy says the pilot has final say on whether firearms fly on his flight. Pilot is OK with it, but wants them in a specific location in the cargo hold. so you have to help them figure out which cases are the guns. Then they are not sure if the paperwork you have from the Fiji customs is the correct paperwork for transporting guns through Fiji. Customs calls them and clears it up - you had the correct authorization. You can barely walk, pain is almost unbearable, and you finally get to sit down on the plane.

21. The flight crew comes to your seat and tells you that you are needed in the cockpit. You go up to the front of the plane and duck into the cockpit where the co-pilot is saying, "No! Take them off! Take them off! They are hazardous goods; they will not fly on my flight. Take them off! I will not let them fly!" By now the ticket agents are there, the luggage handlers are there, flight attendants are there, and other airline personnel are there. They take you off the plane to identify the cases. They can't seem to figure out that the flyrod tube is not a gun, but you finally get them sorted on which cases have guns.

22. The entire group of people there are arguing with the copilot. They keep telling him the guns are authorized, the correct paperwork is done, etc. He says, "No." Customs emails something and they print it and show him. He says, "No." Customs sends a guy up to the tower to call the copilot on the radio and tell him to let the guns fly. He says that the plane will not leave the gate with guns on board. And that is that. They tell you they are sorry, but he has the final say. You can't get off the plane, customs will store the firearms, you will pay a daily storage fee, and will have to fly back at a later date to get the guns.

23. The plane leaves the gate on time. There is nothing left for you to do but pray, but hopelessly, because what good can that do now? The plane rolls out onto the runway and turns for takeoff.

24. The pilot keys his intercom mic and says, "Sorry folks, but we have to return to the gate. One of our brakes is not functioning and we will need to sit at the gate while our ground crew repairs it." He is a young American with a midwest accent.

25. You sit in the parked plane and work on filling out customs forms. Suddenly you sense a presence and loop up at the copilot standing next to you seat looking down at you with a friendly look on his face (I don't know if Fijians know how to have anything other than a friendly look on their faces). "Sir, I have asked for your cases to be loaded on the plane. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I had a misunderstanding. They will fly with you on this flight."

26 and etc. You arrive in NZ do everything in the previous post, and have to surrender the coral that the kids squirreled away in their suitcases, and sign several seizure forms. The majority of the time taken with this is due to the customs official apologizing and trying to make you understand why it is necessary to prevent coral from being transported or possessed, when you truly do understand the point of the treaty.

30. You shut your hand in the car door and bleed all the way home. But you saved money . . . . or . . .

[Carlsen Highway]

Where are you in New Zealand? How long are you here for - the roar is starting. You need to be hunting.

[M. M. Wright]

Ah 7.62, why is someone else's misery so funny? Anyway, thanks for the humor on a rainy Easter morning here in Northeast Oklahoma. I pray you make it home without any more pieces falling off.

[7.62 Precision]

Where are you in New Zealand? How long are you here for - the roar is starting. You need to be hunting.

I am in Rotorua. Dong my best to do as much hunting's possible, don't have my own vehicle here yet, so that limits me a bit, but I have several publications that need articles, and manufacturers who supplied firearms for the hunts, so I have to get something shot ASAP.

I have a job in Alaska that I will have to go to in a few weeks, so need to get a bunch of hunting in before that. Will probably be in Alaska several months before I get back to Rotorua.

Edit: By the way, I need to get down your way. The last time I lived here I worked so much I never had a chance to travel to the South Island.

[Old Ironsights]

While you are there, pick up a few cans...

[Griff]

Your epic sure puts my little escapade with a pair of spurs at LAX on my last trip to NZ to shame!

[KiwiKev]

Welcome to our part of the world. If you are down near Wellington on a Sunday you are more than welcome to visit my club which shoots every week 9.00am to around midday.

http://www.gwmlc.org.nz/

[MrMurphy]

Just make sure you don't shoot a hobbit. There is no season on them.

[Carlsen Highway]

Shoot as many hobbits as you can. The little bastards breed like rabbits. I have a .222 set up just for them.

[Old Ironsights]

Shoot as many hobbits as you can. The little bastards breed like rabbits. I have a .222 set up just for them.

So long as he sends me any Rings he finds...

[AJMD429]

Wow....some 'piece of cake'......

Glad there are all those rules; it keeps murders, suicides, and terrorist killings from happening....

[7.62 Precision]

Shoot as many hobbits as you can. The little bastards breed like rabbits. I have a .222 set up just for them.

Yeah, if enough of them aren't shot to keep the population down, they have to drop poison for them. Best to hunt them with dogs, though, dachshunds, because they go underground when you chase them.