Gday Reddo!
Keep me in the picture if there's a bit of a get together on. I'm off till Sat 14th. Please make it near a railway station - I can't risk a PCA these days

Goodo!

Some at Hemeriod might dispute the need... :p

Having a break before the course... good idea... have a good time, say 'hi' to Brissie for me... ;)

Landed in Sydney. Managed to get the 3 bottles through with no worries. (Bottle of Jimbo, Moet, Verve cliquot)

Meeb :ok: will do, how's 73 treating ya?

Mustafa, will do too. (Bro's wedding on the 14th)

Tis good to be back :ok:

:ooh: 3 :p

Then you say that you dont drink much :} or was that the minimun that they allowed you to drink :}

It's all I could carry :ugh:

reddo... you'll just havta remember, next time, to take a spare backpack with ya... :E

Spare back pack is in the main bag. It's for all the shopping I am taking back :ok:
Checkers has given me a rather long list. :E

He gets PK withdrawals too?

I'm probably just being thick reddo, but why does the spare backpack only get used on the return journey? Is it gunna be overstressed THAT much? :p

Enjoying myself immensely. I have managed to catch up with a lot of people. Thanks for that.
Back to winter on thurs, QF 31 ex SY at 22:15.

Does any one know when the GST refund booth closes at Sydney airport?

From my experience with the GST refund, Reddo, be prepared for a loooooooooong wait.
It is obvious that it is NOT in the Govt's interest to refund taxes, and the service offered reflects this..again from my personal experience (and an email stating the same, sent to them.)

I joined a queue in BNE - the queue being about 8 or 10 ahead of me - served by 2 Customs officers.
The processing seemed, to me, to be deliberately slow with the computers taking about 3 times longer than it would have, had they been using carrier pidgeons instead!!

Non-Australian visitors seeking a rebate were refused a rebate on what has since been proven to be an incorrect interpretation of the rules. I have the email stating such.

To elaborate:-
Dear XXXX XXXXXXXX

You are correct in that travellers may purchase a number of goods totalling $300 (GST inclusive) from the same store. The tax invoice does not have to contain a single item totalling $300. The goods must have also been purchased within 30 days prior to the travellers departure from Australia.

For TRS purposes, it is a legal requirement that Customs can only accept an invoice for the purchase of goods where the total on the single invoice is $300 (GST inclusive) or more. If travellers present tax invoices at the TRS facility that are less than $300 their claim will be rejected, however, normal procedure is for the traveller to be advised that Customs will review their claim subject to them asking the retailer for an invoice consolidating their purchases onto one tax invoice totalling $300 (GST inclusive) or more.

I will refer your email to the TRS Supervisor at Brisbane Airport with a request to take appropropriate action to ensure that TRS officers do not misinterpet the tax invoice requirement.

Thank you for your concern and taking the time to write to us.

So Ms Snail, my recommendation would be to allow yourself at least 30 minutes prior to BOARDING TIME to complete your claim -if not longer.

Cheers.

Just think of as a contribution towards the funding of the next Redfern fraca Reddo. :mad:

Cheers Kap M,
I had planned an extra 30 odd min and I was only going to claim on 2 things. The boots (+$300) and the computer (+$2000). Thanks for the info.

Tinpis, it will be interesting to see what has been reported in the UK... :hmm:

No wuckers, Reddo.
Don't forget that the items you are claiming on must be available for sighting by customs, to verify that you are exporting them.

One of the Japanese ahead of me, was taking a surfboard out of Oz and had obviously checked it in, as you might decide to do (claim on as much as you can!!), but there is some arrangement you have to make in that case. Can't help you with it, but a call to customs, or an email to:- [email protected] should provide you with any info you need.
You can have the tax credited either to a credit card, or into an Oz bank account, so have the info handy in the latter case.

You may as well claim for the whip and suspenders, if you're gunna hit 'em for the boots. :cool: