Avalook at Australia News

Issue Number 20, 9 December 2000

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ISSN 1443-0797

Editors: Eric Lindsay and Jean Weber
info@avalook.com.au

In this issue...

National Parks information
Australian maps online
Customs information - duty-free alcohol
Customs information - prescription medication
More health information for visitors to Australia
Collecting your e-mail while traveling in Australia
Australian words: billy tea, damper, ensuite
Subscription information

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National Parks information

Moved to http://www.avalook.com.au/natparks.htm.

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Australian maps online

Here are two sources of maps that you might find useful.

AUSLIG

The Auslig map project is run by the Australian government mapping authority, Australian Surveying and Land Information Group, at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

Their site is a great place to get maps of the country (not street maps), showing roads, rivers, railways, and other features. http://www.auslig.gov.au/facts/mapproj

They have a nice map of Australia, broken down into 140 map sheets in JPG format. The maps are in four sets (NE, NW, SE, SW), each of 35 thumbnails, so you can select the ones you want and download them from the website. You can get the larger scale map sheets (about 100KB each) by going into the directory big and selecting the four master HTML files. Be warned, a 3 MB download over the phone line can take some time, and your browser must be capable of saving all the 35 map graphics in one move.

Auslig also has an interactive atlas on CD, called Australia Unfolded, which is derived from their 1:250,000 scale topographic map data. We have version 2. If you can find it, it costs around A$70 and provides 288 MB of vector data and 175 MB of images in TIFF format. Maps can be saved as Windows bit maps (BMP). You could try contacting mapsales@auslig.gov.au

Australian Geographical Placenames (Gazetteer)

http://www.auslig.gov.au/mapping/names/natgaz.htm

Search on a place name to obtain a report including place name, state, place type (town, mountains, etc), latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes and seconds (and in decimal degrees), 1:100,000 Map Sheet Code and 1:250,000 Map Sheet Code. You can also generate a map showing the position in Australia, and a locality map covering about 300 km around the area.

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Customs information - duty-free alcohol

When we came through customs in Sydney in early December, we noticed some big signs up near the incoming duty free shop saying we could now bring TWO bottles of alcohol (a total of 2.25 litres) into Australia duty-free.

In the past, when a 1-bottle rule was in effect, we had found that we could actually bring in 2 (as long as we declared them) without having to pay any duty on the 2nd bottle. A closer look at the signs revealed the fine print saying conditions apply. The conditions are that you must declare the excess over 1.25 litre per adult.

So the rules have not changed; the duty free shops are promoting a loophole. Customs generally do not charge duty when it is of a trivial amount, though I suppose they could if they wanted to.

If your second bottle is of an average cost ($20), then the duty payable on it is minimal and you won't be charge. If your second bottle is a very expensive cognac ($200), you might end up having to pay! And there doesn't appear to be any provision (as some countries have) for bringing in more bottles of less-expensive alcohol.

Check http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/customs.htm for the official word on Australian customs requirements.

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Customs information - prescription medication

Here's a few words from the government's website at http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/health.htm

Medicinal products brought into Australia are subject to strict controls and should be declared on arrival...

As a general rule, visitors may bring medications required for personal use. The maximum amount allowable is three months' supply.

Medications should be kept in the containers in which they were dispensed or supplied. Visitors needing to bring prohibited substances such as narcotics, amphetamines, barbiturates, tranquilisers, hallucinogens, growth hormones, anabolic and androgenic steroids and erythropoietin (EPO) should check about import permit requirements, and also bring a letter from their doctor...

Some medicinal products may also require quarantine clearance. Medicines with components of human or animal origin, and traditional medicines which contain, or represent to contain, protected wildlife species, have special import requirements or restrictions.

Our comment: your bags are NOT automatically searched if you are carrying prescribed medications, but they might be. You'll probably want to carry your medicine in your carry-on bag anyway (for safety), so it would be fairly easy for you to show them the medicine if they want to check.

Also note that some medications that are dispensed with prescription in some countries may be prescription-only in Australia, and others can be obtained without a prescription here but require one in other countries. For example, codeine combined with aspirin or paracetemol can be purchased in Australia without a prescription, though it's now kept behind the counter and you may have to register with the chemist before you can buy it.

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More health information for visitors to Australia

For other health information for overseas visitors, see http://www.health.gov.au/haf/docs/visthlth/2000hlth.htm

See also the article in issue 10 of this newsletter, which includes the Web addresses for some of the major health insurance companies in Australia: http://www.avalook.com.au/oznews10.htm#med

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Collecting your e-mail while traveling in Australia

This article has moved to http://www.avalook.com.au/email.htm.

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Australian words: billy tea, damper, ensuite

Some correspondents asked me to explain a few terms that I've used in recent newsletters: billy tea, damper, ensuite. These have been moved to our page on Australian language.

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© Copyright 2000 Eric Lindsay and Jean Weber. All rights reserved.

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