Australia ?

[Hyde Hunter]

does anyone have any advice for the first time traveler to Australia for hunting as in clearing customs with rifles and ammo and permits. and a good airline and which one to avoid, thanks

 

[rifletuner]

I am Australian and have flown in and out of Australia many times with firearms. I use Qantas almost exclusively, so cant talk about any other airline. Never had a major issue using Qantas when flying with guns/ ammo. Qantas does require written approval to fly with ammo. But its just a formality - its a letter that the airline issue to you and you need to produce when you check in.

You need to get an import permit from the state police of whichever state you are arriving in, and an export permit from Australian Customs. Its a bit of paper warfare, but not really difficult to get. Unless its changed recently, there are no fees involved with Customs permits, and I believe only Western Australia charges a fee for their state permit.

When you arrive in Australia, checked firearms should be taken by airlines staff directly to customs. You should collect all your checked baggage from the carrousel in the arrival terminal, then go to customs and head to the red coloured "anything to declare" aisle and tell them you have to clear firearms through.. Customs officers will want to see both the import and export permit. They will check the serial no on the forms against the firearm/s, and may look at other items like ammo, but may not look at much else. Its usually a pretty straight forward process. Customs staff have to be specifically trained on this, so sometimes the biggest delay is them finding someone who is allowed to inspect your firearms.

When you depart Australia, you need to go to the customs office at your point of departure from the country. If at all possible, you want a direct flight out of the country, with no domestic stopovers on the outbound route. Several times I have had to deplane at a domestic terminal, gather all my baggage in the domestic terminal, get on a shuttle bus to the international terminal, then go find the customs office, then recheck all my baggage at the international terminal. The customs officer that clears your paperwork out of the country will then escort you to checkin and stay with you until the firearms are accepted by the airline. Most flights from Aus to USA depart from Sydney. Some from cities like Melbourne or maybe Brisbane may be possible, but will generally only fly a few or less days a week and they change the schedules to/from these cities often.

When booking flights, do not accept anything that stop in asian countries as this will significantly complicate travelling with firearms. Its not difficult to fly from CA or Tx direct to Aus with Qantas, but I cant speak for other airlines.

Happy to answer more questions if you have them. Ask if you need more info on anything

 

[Franco]

I second what @rifletuner stated above.

Do you already have an specific hunt and outfitter? The outfitter should assist with all paperwork, be sure to ask about the export paperwork.

I did a hunt last October out of Darwin; I flew Qantas from Dallas to Sydney because it's a non-stop with an A380. I would stick with a major carrier, especially with firearms.

There are several travel agencies who handle traveling with firearms and offer assistance with paperwork. I use PWP - 210-686-0766, but I know a lot of guys who use Gracy Travel.

I would recommend getting to your final destination with the least amount of stops; sometimes overnights with firearms can be problematic, other times not.

We did a day of sightseeing (eating, drinking, smoking cigars) in Sydney because the connecting flight to Darwin left too close to our arrival. The hotel across from the SYD airport was both convenient and accommodating of our firearms.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I second what @rifletuner stated above.

Do you already have an specific hunt and outfitter? The outfitter should assist with all paperwork, be sure to ask about the export paperwork.

I did a hunt last October out of Darwin; I flew Qantas from Dallas to Sydney because it's a non-stop with an A380. I would stick with a major carrier, especially with firearms.

There are several travel agencies who handle traveling with firearms and offer assistance with paperwork. I use PWP - 210-686-0766, but I know a lot of guys who use Gracy Travel.

I would recommend getting to your final destination with the least amount of stops; sometimes overnights with firearms can be problematic, other times not.

We did a day of sightseeing (eating, drinking, smoking cigars) in Sydney because the connecting flight to Darwin left too close to our arrival. The hotel across from the SYD airport was both convenient and accommodating of our firearms.

thinking about Big Country Safaris 3 buff cull hunt, it looks like we would have to overnight in Sydney as the connecting flight to Darwin is only 2 hours and I do not know how long customs takes there to clear

 

[Franco]

thinking about Big Country Safaris 3 buff cull hunt, it looks like we would have to overnight in Sydney as the connecting flight to Darwin is only 2 hours and I do not know how long customs takes there to clear

Very good choice, you will have a great time hunting with Alex. He can guide you through all your paperwork including the export permit.

Between clearing upon arrival and checking in for the Darwin flight, you won't have time. We just booked for the next day and made good use of our time while waiting.

We did the combo/cull hunt and had an awesome time.

 

[Tim Blackwell]

thinking about Big Country Safaris 3 buff cull hunt, it looks like we would have to overnight in Sydney as the connecting flight to Darwin is only 2 hours and I do not know how long customs takes there to clear

You won't regret that hunt, it's an incredible place. I'm heading back in September.