Can I just warn any lurkers out there...........

I'm a wee bit discombobulated by the suggestions that people who do not post regularly on the forum are somehow less deserving of winning a competition prize. Not including the 'my Gransnet', there are seven headings in the banner at the top of the page. Is it not possible that many people use the information on this site without feeling the need to post on the forum, which is only one part of Gransnet? What about the people whose hobby is entering competitions? I haven't actually counted the number of 'regular' posters but are we suggesting that these people are more deserving of a prize than anyone else?

Nah, it was those Maoris again. Turkey dinner every day for a century and then ooops! all those two legged dinners seem to have wandered off somewhere
(no doubt that the europeans would have done the same if there had been any left...)
Thing about going into NZ or OZ is you have to declare on the form - then you will not get fined e.g. is my straw hat/footwear/jar of marmite OK?
Trouble is one can be a bi groggy after such a long flight.
Possums are a complete and utter disaster as they are like carnivorous squirrels eating nestlings, eggs, buds etc etc. There are tens of millions of the cuddly little b****s there. The Australians are welcome to round em up and have em back.

Well I bet it wasn't the moa Annodomini

But they can still take in the cats that have been partially responsible for the extinction of native species of ground-dwelling birds.

My daughter asked about her wicker baskets - she had some lovely ones for storage too. Anything that might have picked up spores -walking boots, bicycle and car tyres, gardening tools - must be declared and will be steam-cleaned at your expenses.
New Zealand is 1,000 miles from anywhere else and they have been able to keep their rare indigenous species safe by strict border controls. Possums are being eradicated as they do so much damage to trees and to ground-nesting birds.
You can take in food, but you have to declare it. Birds' nest soup seems to be a no-no!
It must be nice to have such a new country and be able to start more or less from scratch.

Well I have a certificate from taking only one flying lesson and one for going up in one of Mr Branson's balloons but I don't think they are of any use for anything other than putting under the glass I have just put on a spider to take it outside.

Bags New Zealand is very protective of its unique ecosystem and is very fierce about importing natural products that could also bring disease that is not indigenous to the islands. I don't know specifically about wicker baskets but I shall hit the website that is the equivalent of our DEFRA site to check everything.

It would depend on the material, surely? I know wood products have to be inspected, but they aren't banned.

wot Bags sed.

Please tell me why wicker baskets aren't allowed, G, or I'll spend the day worrying about it inventing daft reasons.

anno You only do the Standegde Tunnel once
If I am completely honest I will have to confess that mrA steered the boat with the help of a pilot, while I lurked below, doing my knitting.
Which brings us nicely back to the OP
(Lurking, not knitting)

Good luck with your bedding, absent - I know wicker linen baskets are not allowed!

jane, I think that sounds slightly more scary than crossing the equator or the IDL! But then, I don't like enclosed spaces.

Well I have a certificate for passing through the Standedge Tunnel (4 miles long under the Pennines) in my narrowboat.
So there.

Crossed the equator many times, by air, on the road and, several times, on foot, but still no certificates! And Air NZ didn't give me one for the International Date Line.

Greatnan I had a bag full of Walkers cheese and onion crisps which, at that time, you couldn't buy in NZ. I reduced one of the chaps in charge to fits of laughter when I anxiously asked if it was okay for me to bring them in as I didn't want to pay a huge fine.

Now I need to find out about importing things like a goose down duvet and pillows (I have the relevant web address).

All I got from Singapore airlines was a damned apple which nearly cost me a fine of $400 - you would think an airline flying regularly into New Zealand would know the rules! I just put it in my bag and forgot it.

My International Dateline one was from an airline but is decades old – maybe 1950s. In fact, it was my father who crossed the line (and the equator) but he had my name put on the certificates. When he crossed the equator on a ship, there was a whole "ceremony" with Neptune coming aboard and men being "shaved" with a massive cut-throat razor made of wood. I can't remember what else but somewhere I have a Super8 cine film of the ceremony.

Bah - you don't get one on airlines!

Does it mater whether members post? Are we really so mean that we don't want non-posters winning competitions. It's not even as if we are talking about lottery-style prize money.

nanaej I've got one of those somewhere and one for crossing the International Date Line.

Just catching up on the Forum after busy week/week-end!

I have a certificate for crossing the equator. apparently King Neptune will keep me safe if I fall into deep water!

Re University of Life.. we are all in it but, as 'me mam' used to say ' it's not the experience you have but what you learn from it that counts'

No, Greatnan, because at least you post on those forums, if only rarely. So many of the competition winners on this site are members whose names we have never seen on any threads.

I look at a few expat forums most days, but rarely post on them. Sometimes there is a thread that interests me, or I ask for advice on technical matters. Am I a lurker?

JO5. So you think lurkers just join for the competitions? Is it possible that some of them might happen to read one of the more acrimonious exchanges, or even a remark like that and be deterred from taking part?

I take my foot off the accelerator and let the car slow down gently. When it gets to about 20 mph I accelerate away. The other driver usually gets the message.