I don't know where they do that on the NSW/Vic border. I've never been checked at Corowa. SA and WA are the strictest. Entering WA from NT, and from SA is a stringent check at the border. Entering SA from the west the checkpoint is at Ceduna, and from NSW the checkpoint at the SA border is unmanned most of the time. I haven't encountered border checking at Bordertown, but I haven't entered SA from Vic down south near Mt. Gambier. Animals and birds will be checked. Bird seed and the cage will also be cleaned up. The fresh fruit, veg, nuts and honey are the main targets. They don't confiscate cooked food, so if you want to take food with you cook it and freeze or cryovac first.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
If you are staying on the Hume Highway, you enter the fruit fly exclusion zone between Wodonga and Wangaratta. Zone boundaries are marked as a thick grey line in our Hema road atlas book. On the Hume, you leave the zone again south of Benalla - so you are not in it for much time. I have never heard of checks on that stretch of the Hume, because it is right on the edge of the zone, and such a short distance. There are no checkpoints though. There are mobile patrols, however, and quite steep fines for having prohibited stuff. I know these operate further west, especially along the Murray, in the real growing areas.
Its not a check point as such, but theres a really big rest stop at Chiltern on the Vic side of the border on the Hume highway, and you are supposed to dispose of all fruit-fly possible fruit/vegs there. Huge signs up warning of fines if you carry fruit in, and apparently they do spot checks, but we have never been searched there.
There is a brochure thats available from tourist information centres that lists what you can transport and what is banned when travelling between all states in Australia and its there for a reason so its best to comply as the fines are significant.
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Life was meant to be enjoyed Australia was meant to be explored
Happily doing both to the Max.
Life is like a camera, focus on what's important & you will capture it every Time
Ummm - is the point being missed here? As (originally) South Australians we take quarantine zones VERY seriously. In other words, we don't try to avoid check points, we make sure that we're not carrying any restricted items, all of which are listed, as mentioned above, in the readily-available booklet from all Information Centres. It's not hard, just needs a bit of forethought and a sense of responsibility.
(Off the soap-box) -
Andrea
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Free-ranging, in a Southern Cross 5th wheeler, in between property-minding (to save money!).
