Headed to Australia next week and wondering if I will have any hassels with Customs
 

We are headed to Australia next week and only just found out that one has to declare prescription meds upon entry at Customs. My BP and asthma shouldn't be too much of an issue as they are pretty common but I also take a testosterone hormone treatment because mine became very low.

Come to find out just about all forms of the stuff are illegal there and I am having to apply for an import permit which may or may not arrive before I depart. So I have been told on some travel forums that they may confiscate it which sucks because it is expensive and one needs to taper off of it and avoid suddenly stopping.

Other then that I'm excited about the trip!

I realize the thread is about the trip but how's the treatment working out for you? How did you find out it was low?

It was about a year ago when I had some of the usual signs for a 55 year old male like not as much interest in sex but also some unexpected weight gain, lack of energy, elevated blood pressure. I usually see my urologist annually since my dad had prostate cancer and he suggested a blood test for testosterone. Sure enough it was very low.

So he prescribed this stuff. Overall it has had many positive effects. Probably the only negative is that it is a gel solution and you have to message it on to an area of muscle mass like chest/shoulder area or thighs (my preference) and it's kind of cool from the alcohol in it but it dries pretty fast.

Oh and it is expensive if you don't have insurance, about $900 a month for my dose but I get it for $15 copay!

I understand it's customary for an American to buy a round of drinks for all the Aussies, when you enter a bar. That's what they told me, anyway.

What, not those kinds of customs?

Remember to call everyone Bruce to avoid confusion.

ETA: Try not to die. Everything in Oz will kill ya.

Chris - can you get a Dr's Certificate/Letter to take with you?

Generally, so long as you declare, the label matches your details and the drugs enclosed, and you arent carrying 4kgs for a month stay - you will probably be questioned, but nothing bad should happen (well, I dont see a cavity search as bad, YTMDFM).

Yeah, but you do get to invent funny names for stuff.

"What's that?"

"A sock?"

"No, it's a willigumwuppat!":p:

Here's an Aussie slang list

My personal favorite is - "Mappa Tassie : map of Tasmania - a woman’s pubic area"

I have no idea about the medicine, but you'll get in trouble for any fresh food, meat, cheese, plant material, seeds; anything that could have some kind of agricultural pest that could get established here.

You learned your lesson with the rabbits, eh?

Not quite footie...but the Cane Toads sure woke us up!

Well, that and the goats. And the foxes. And buffalo. Feral cats and dogs, too, camels, horses, donkeys, pigs, pigeons, millipedes... and there are persistent sightings of puma/cougar looking felines allegedly released by USAF shenaniganistas during WWII.

I warned Mum about taking her own tea.
Even in this country, she will generally have a sandwich bag with a couple of teabags in it. The lady is fussy. When I raised the issue she wasn't as dismissive as I expected. I mean after all they are teabags from a known seller, not some loose bark from the garden. But I think she respected my Border Control watching credentials.

And in fact it turned out that boxed, sealed, Twinings or not, they would have been confiscated. I can only assume that the vast majority of Australian weed is homegrown.

Funny, the Americans are similarly strict but they allow tea. That's all banana lady has in her suitcase.

What I find odd is that items like packaged tea, which when boxed and shipped in 40 foot containers, gets passed through with minimal inspection, would be confiscated when a single easily inspected unit in a person's possession.

S'true. Mum was able to buy very similar tea in Oz. And it probably wasn't home-grown.
Admittedly she couldn't buy the exact brand and flavour she likes... When I say she's fussy I'm not being overly harsh. The woman can tell the difference between water boiled in a saucepan (her preference) or in a kettle.

God help you if you try to tax it, though. :D

Chris, you'll be landing at the start of the football finals season. If you're in Sydney, that means rugby league, but IIRC you're going to Melbourne, which is Aussie Rules. They're pretty crazy about it there. You might find it helps to have a team. You'd probably do best with one of the Melbourne-based teams, and of these Hawthorn or Collingwood are a fair chance to win the cup.

Just don't say you're "rooting" for a footy team. We only use that word as a verb to mean having sex with.
Unless you are rooting for the team, of course.

We have a new kettle. It's making the tea taste all wrong. Both of us can taste it. I may be a little "fussy" but beest certainly isn't. (He married me, after all....)

Chris, have you looked on the internet for the cream you use? In some cases you can get stuff like that delivered by post and if customs don't happen to check it, it might get through. I assume that'd be the illegal way to do it, but if it's really important to you to have it, then I guess you would have to make that call.

The other alternative is to go see a doc here as soon as you land and get something similar that's legal in Oz. If you only need a couple of weeks supply you might be ok dollar wise. A doctors appointment will only cost you about $50, then the script will cost whatever it costs. You could have it sorted within a couple of hours.

After a quick websearch, it looks like there's a product called 'testogel' which is legal in Australia. You should talk to your doc in the US and see if you can get that brand maybe? Alternatively, get your doc to contact a doc local to the area you'll be staying over here and arrange an appointment for you ahead of time.

sorry for being off-topic but i couldnt resist:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...0urbo1_500.png
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...0urbo2_500.png

Major Haggis!

If'n you want to visit Aus, Ibby, my Uncle would put you up.
You'd be a bus ride away from meeting Ali.

I only say that so that when you are rich & notorious I can contact you and borrow for the airfare to go myself. It's the thought that counts, right?

Clock spider! *shudder*

We have picture spiders in our house, Razz.

Its a bit of a hazard moving pictures here, but I can usually see a leg poking out as a warning.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! I'm so not travelling anywhere, ever. I can handle regular teeny boring non-lethal spiders.. but giant and/or deadly ones freak me out something fierce!

It was in the news recently that the stocks of anti-venom for funnel web spiders are running low, and the lab that makes it are low on spiders, and so ... wait for it ... they are asking the public to bring in funnel web spiders if they trap them.

Ummm , am I the only one who can see this going badly wrong?

:unsure:

Paraphrased from a Guide to Dangerous Australian Animals. Emphasis added, for the sake of the shudders.

Have a great time, Chris. ;)

Hey, you're addressing a world traveler who has survived the wilds of Africa, Paris, and other inhospitable environs. He ain't scairt. :p:

Yeah, he probably won't see any funnel webs anyway.


They're far too fast to see. :devil:

As long as he doesn't go lifting up any rocks in leafy areas he should be right. And if he stays out of the water the sharks wont get him. There's no crocs that far south. It is snake season though, so he should keep an eye out for them if he goes on any bush walks.

At least we don't have any man eating animals if he decides to go camping. :)

Who needs man-eaters when ya got trees and shrubbery that'll bugger ya in your sleep?

Also, I don't trust any continent that doesn't have a native cat.

Drop bears arent prolific down there...well...there are some on the Murray River....

Yeah, they're headed south just like the cane toads. Pretty soon they'll be everywhere.

Heh, drop bears.

Snicker.