Your post is interesting in a couple of ways. A bit surprised that it took that long to get it back, and the A$12K fine seems pretty high. Currently,
----------------------------- Live mid-market rates as of 2006.05.20 01:21:53 UTC. 12,000.00 AUD Australia Dollars = 4,830.65 GBP United Kingdom Pounds 1 AUD = 0.402554 GBP 1 GBP = 2.48414 AUD
.....in US$, 9,080.25 USD
------------------------------------------------ Quite a penalty for failure to properly fill out a customs declaration. My advice is that when in doubt, declare everything if in any doubt at all. Especially drugs, even non-prescription or prescription drugs.
As mentioned in another recent post, possibly on another group, a few months ago an American tourist had some aspirin or paracetamol with a few mg of cough sryup per tablet. Available over the counter in US or here. However, she made a stopover in Mexico City, and Mexico requires a declaration of any amount of narcotic drugs, and cough sryup is a narcotic. She did a few weeks in jail for the offense. Prescription drugs are fine, providing you have a proper copy of the prescription.
Is there a minimum wage in AustraliaOn Wed, 10 May 2006 17:18:53 +0000, Glenat According to a quick look at Google, minim wage here around $A13 an hour, which sounds about right. ------------------------------------------ Gap between rich...
Australia is very tough on drugs, concealed weapons, etc.
Not as tough as Singapore, Thailand, etc. where possession of more than 15 mg or so of an illegal narcotic can result in the rest penalty or life imprisonment, though!
Even if pbutting through a country, are expected to know the laws. I know that cannot take more than $US10,000 US out of a US bank without them notifying the federal government. Comes back to the "war against drugs". Large amounts of untraceable cash are suspect.
Back in the 60's remember a news item about a US senator who didn't believe in using credit cards, & tried to rent a car at an airport using cash. Although he had positive identification, they turned him down flat.
Actually, the reason is easy enough to understand if think about it. If offer a credit card for car rental, they have a track on you, even if the rental charge is a couple of hundred security deposit and a charge per mile.
On the other hand, why should they accept any reasonable amount of cash? The rental car might have been worth, say, $5,000. The identification may have been false, the senator may have offered $2,000 cash deposit then sold the car to someone the next day for $5,000. Am afraid that cash is on the way out, actually. At a large chain store here Woolworths if stand near the checkout and watch, will find out that probably only 1 out of 20 people pay cash, and then usually on item worth A$20 or less. Why carry more than a small amount of cash if you don't have to?
Cheers,
