Moving to Queensland - what can I bring in?

BoxBrownie · Mar 16, 2011

Hi there everyone,
If all goes to plan - flat sale nearing completion, visa applied for etc - I should be on my way to Queensland in a couple of months. The plan is to settle for at least a good while (my wife is Australian) and I am of course bringing my photo gear with me.
My question is with photo materials. I am bringing a small supply to keep me going for the first year or so - ADOX MCC paper, Foma Nature 532 and a bit of the new Fomalux contact paper (which I have yet to try but I just know it's gonna be great).
I am wondering though whether I can bring in Ilford Warmtone Developer and Moersch EasyLith Developer. I've looked all over the govt. sites and can't seem to find a precise answer. The shipping co. says it is hit and miss with liquids but powders are ok (I am bringing some metol and a few bits I don't want to throw).
Does anyone know or have experience of bringing in these sorts of things?

SMBooth · Mar 16, 2011

I would contact customs (http://www.customs.gov.au/) with your questions, and even the transport company your using to ship gear.

tony lockerbie · Mar 16, 2011

Can't help with your question, but you will right at home in Qld at the moment, never stops raining! Welcome to OZ though, great place to live and to shoot.

BoxBrownie · Mar 16, 2011

The shipping co says it'll be ok for powders but don't know about liquids. I've been through the AU customs site and searched their materials database but can't find anything relating to photographic chemicals.

BoxBrownie · Mar 16, 2011

tony lockerbie said:
Can't help with your question, but you will right at home in Qld at the moment, never stops raining! Welcome to OZ though, great place to live and to shoot.

Thanks Tony, I'm not there yet but hopefully there'll be a bit of sun by the time I arrive!

Leigh Youdale · Mar 16, 2011

Shane is pretty right. Queensland importation is going to be the same as for the rest of the country anyway. Unbroken sealed containers clearly labelled by the manufacturers and clear documentation and descriptions of the chemical nature of the contents will probably be required. Probably there is a unit size limit as well.
Anything which has been opened will be treated with a certain amount of suspicion unless you can prove what it is. Difficult.
Personal effects up to a certain value are permitted and others of a specified household nature also, before import duty (probably at 10% GST rate) is applied.
I agree you should approach the Customs people with a list of what and how much of it you wish to import. They should be able to give you a pretty clear answer - better than the shipping company, I suspect. Better to email or even phone them - searching Government websites for information is bound to bring on frustration and little enlightenment.

Mick Fagan · Mar 16, 2011

Water wings and a snorkel!

Another 200mm of rain somewhere in QLD today in an 8 hour period, heard it on the wireless in the ute.

Seriously though, ensure that you can store your gear in a dry area, humidity this year is unbelievable, literally dripping from ceilings and running down walls in some places somewhere.

Apart from Ilford products, and then only a reasonably small range, you will find it sort of hard to get many of the papers you can get easily in the UK. Bring whatever you can carry, you won't regret it.

Bringing in powder solutions in their original sealed packaging is usually acceptable, or was last year when I went to Germany and took some film developer with me.

Bringing in liquid stuff could be problematic, not necessarily from this end, but from your end and wherever you touchdown halfway here.

I myself have Ilford's warmtone developer because I wished to try it, but I went back to mixing my own warmtone paper developer, cheaper and I mix up what I need only.

By the way, I'm not kidding about the humidity, it is a real problem in some places and some houses.

Welcome to Australia, marrying a skippy must be interesting, my missus married a skippy and reckoned it was a steep learning curve!

Mick.

largeformat pat · Mar 16, 2011

Check and see, your main "heavy stuff" will no doubt come in a box "container" if so you shouldn't have many dramas as long as the manifest states what is inside and you have current M.S.D.S. for the products, I would wrap them to protect your other items. I have purchased items, liquid and powder and had them airmailed to me no problems. Surface is less of a hassle if your paperwork is in order.
Hope this helps
Pat

Mike Wilde · Mar 16, 2011

Not sure where in Qld you will be, but when I left Brisbane in 2003 the Photo Continental store in Mount Gravatt sitll had a modest collection Ilford supplies on offer, and there were other optiions closer to the City Centre.

Ian David · Mar 17, 2011

tony lockerbie said:
Can't help with your question, but you will right at home in Qld at the moment, never stops raining!

Yes, but it is warm rain, not that cold English (or Victorian) stuff

Mick is right about the humidity though. Mould growing everywhere this summer. I bought a small electric dry cabinet a few years ago, which seems to be doing a great job of keeping my lenses happy.

Ian

rrankin · Mar 17, 2011

In my experience, the Aussie customs people are very helpful. If you email them with very specific questions, they will do their best to answer them or ask for additional info. I've gotten their response in the past, printed it out, and put it with the item so any questions while in transit will be answered before their could be a problem.
Richard

BoxBrownie · Mar 18, 2011

Mick Fagan said:
Water wings and a snorkel!

I myself have Ilford's warmtone developer because I wished to try it, but I went back to mixing my own warmtone paper developer, cheaper and I mix up what I need only.

Welcome to Australia, marrying a skippy must be interesting, my missus married a skippy and reckoned it was a steep learning curve!

Mick.

Hi Mick,
I was wondering if just adding P Bromide to Ilford PQ Universal would be more or less the same as Ilford WT. So you make your own from scratch? I regularly make D-76H but that is the only thing I do from raw chems. Are the ingredients easy/cheap to get?
Have been to Oz for 6 months back in 1999 and it was a bit of a culture shock. I'd been to India for 4 months on the way which is pretty 'other' so it was even weirder landing in country Queensland.
I'm doing the same thing this time (India first) and can't wait to get to Australia - new start and all that.

David Grenet · Mar 18, 2011

I've successfully ordered HC-110 from Freestyle, so I suspect you'll be okay but I can't say for certain...

Mick Fagan · Mar 21, 2011

I'm not that up with Ilford's developers and what they actually contain, but it does appear that you could be onto something regarding just adding some Potassium bromide.

A quick glance at Ilford ID-62 developer and Ilford ID-78 developer shows that they are almost identical with one notable exception. No. 62 has 2g P/Bromide, whilst No. 78 has 4.5g P/Bromide.

That isn't really all of the differences, but mainly the major difference.

Effectively both of those developers use almost the same ingredients, but in differing amounts.

Could be worth a try, you would have nothing to lose as you are talking paper, not film.

Getting chemicals isn't that easy, but it's doable. Vanbar in Melbourne would be pretty much the last bastion of raw photographic chemistry in the country.

I have almost enough chemicals to last at least 10 years at my current rate of usage, but with retirement looming, I'm not so sure.

Mick.

BoxBrownie · Apr 6, 2011

Well made a decision - taking only photographic paper in house contents and posting myself 100g metol (if it gets there it does...)
My other chemicals are up for sale in an APUG classified.
Had another word with the shipping co and they thought I'd be asking for problems (ie a thorough search) etc if I took all my bits so hey ho.
Thanks for the advice all. Looks like Vanbar does quite a bit of trad stuff still.
Steve

Tony Egan · Apr 7, 2011

You could also bring a moderate, pro-diversity, mildly left-wing social and political viewpoint - but, you'll be very, very lonely up there

After a while you get used to high shipping costs and having to mail order most things from Freestyle, Photographer's Formulary, Bostick and Sullivan, B& H etc. Once saving grace is the current high value of the AUD vs USD. I currently favour Freestyle for most things. Order on Sunday night, shows up next Tuesday or Wednesday at my Sydney front door. Still amazes me.

Hope you enjoy your time is this fine country.

BoxBrownie · Sep 27, 2011

Well here I Am in Queensland at last . Took 6 months for the visa but I am sitting outside in sunny Inglewood (pop1050 ish) and I feel pretty good !
Nowhere to set up a darkroom yet but all my photo gear has arrived so I'll be ready to go as soon as we get our own place.
Where to live though? We are thinking of somewhere below the nsw / QLD border . Will be taking a little road trip to see where we might like to settle . Any suggestions?

Sent from my GT-I9100

Leigh Youdale · Sep 27, 2011

Have a look at Nimbin!

Tony Egan · Sep 27, 2011

Depends how close to the beach, jobs, culture and infrastructure you want/need to be and how much you want to pay of course. Somewhere like Murwillumbah has reasonable cost of living, close to beaches, national parks and major airport at Coolangatta but far enough away from the tourist strip to avoid all those negatives. Less than 90 minutes to Brisbane if you need the facilities of a large city occasionally. Mullumbimby is similar but smaller. Nimbin is so-so. I woudn't live there. Uki just outside Murwillumbah can give you a similar counter-cultural, small village lifestyle without the feral tourists and petty criminals. I lived fairly close to Inglewood at Wallangarra on the border for 4 years in my teens. Girraween NP is a great place for photography but I don't think I could live in towns like Tenterfield or Casino. Kyogle might be as far west as I would consider but I come from the personal viewpoint of liking being close the beach and having an occasional conversation with a non-right winger!!

p.s. my wife and I have always had a soft spot for Bangalow. Let's retire to a little bungalow in bangalow

BoxBrownie · Sep 28, 2011

Murwillumbah looks good. Will check it out when we go on our little tour in the coming weeks (getting a car sorted first).
The other options we have are Brisbane which seems pretty expensive or Toowoomba over here which is maybe a bit too far inland but nearer the folks.
That nsw/ qld border still appeals more.

Sent from my GT-I9100

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 28, 2011

Tony Egan said:
[...] Mullumbimby is similar but smaller. Nimbin is so-so. I woudn't live there. Uki just outside Murwillumbah can give you a similar counter-cultural, small village lifestyle without the feral tourists and petty criminals. [...]

You're saying of Nimbin, "feral tourists and petty criminals"? Tch, tch. That putdown reaks of upper class decadence and insensitivity hybrid city limits -bushman snobbery and an unwillingness to see and embrace and appreciate diversity in small-town life. You wouldn't live there, nor obviously would you fit in; have you been there at all? I lived there, at 1 Alternative Way, communally, for 5 years. What constitutes "feral tourists" and "petty criminals"? You'll find these in Wentworth Falls if you're thinking of car vandals and pot smokers. Goodness, by imagination alone, I doubt very much the ferals are restricted, or concentrated to Nimbin; probably could be found anywhere in Australia.

Leigh Youdale · Sep 28, 2011

My suggestion of Nimbin was very much tongue in cheek, and I expected when the OP got there he'd take a note of the ambience and whilst finding it interesting, drive on.
I wouldn't live there either. But there are plenty of nice small towns in the border regions to choose from without having to embrace any particular culture. Anyway, most of the hippies have gone mainstream and now work at regular jobs for the Council in Lismore. There are a few die-hards around though.

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 28, 2011

Leigh Youdale said:
[...]l in Lismore. There are a few die-hards around though.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

BoxBrownie · Sep 29, 2011

I have been to nimbin once the first time I was here in 1999. We camped overnight and while it was interesting it's not on my top lost of places to go back to. Thought it a bit of a 'wild west' experience at the time though equally I wasn't keen on Byron either which seemed a bit too boutiqey. Fussy ain't I?

Sent from my GT-I9100

Tony Egan · Sep 29, 2011

Poisson Du Jour said:
You wouldn't live there, nor obviously would you fit in; have you been there at all?

Well yes, the Nimbin cemetery is sprinkled with my ancestors who were dairy farmers in the area - Doon Doon, Uki, Nimbin etc. I went to school in Lismore for 6 years in the '70s and know the region well. Committed my own petty crimes on the streets of Nimbin back in the day. Why did you leave?

Moving to Queensland - what can I bring in?

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