Woo hoo off to NZ on the 30th Dec until the 27th Jan.

How realistic is it to take the bikes with me…? A pain in the a*** with customs and their strict no soil and seeds policy.

Any experiences with Korean air?

They got a bit silly with my surfboards and had to lodge a deposit to ensure I took them out of the country again. NZ immigration and customs aren't nearly as friendly as the rest of the people I met there. Just doing a job I guess.

Even if it's spotless, they'll disinfect it for you on arrival. Budget this into how long you'll end up hanging around the airport. Can take a while if it's busy. The dirtier it is, the more arsey the staff will be and the longer it takes. My walking boots were, apparently, filthy….. 😉

Clean the bike immaculately – making it look like new is your best bet for low hassle …. We had some shoes taken for washing when we got there – didnt charge but i dare say they would for dissinfecting a bike

Bike (and any other outdoor kit you're planning to take) must be absolutely free of any mud/soil. Easiest to buy new tyres, then go over the rest cleaning as carefully as possible, including less obvious places like up the steerer tube, around the BB, etc.

Not sure I'd bother unless it was specifically a biking holiday. You've got at least two flight legs for it to get lost/damaged and in the likely MTB areas there are hire shops that seemed to have decent bikes.

I have taken bikes to New Zealand about 10 times. If it's not too late go via USA you can have 2 pieces at 35kg each.

In regard to cleaning – get it pretty much shop clean, I always put new tires in. Its a good excuse to do a job you should do anyway. I have never had a bike taken away for disinfecting thats just nonsense. They might spray it a bit, especially on the tires to make sure. And clean your shoes they sometimes ask to see those. (washing machine job)

And have your story straight about where you have been riding e.g. nowhere near any farms, trail centres only etc, in fact it almost never goes offroad I just use it to get to work etc etc.

P.S I have never had a bike damaged on Air New Zealand either.

Not that it helps you, but it is great with Air New Zealand, they let you take bikes for free, and are lovely about it.

The customs stuff, clean it with a toothbrush until there is not a speck of dirt on it, especially on the tyres. Then clean it a bit more. Then bag it. They will still spray it, but if it looks like you have made an effort to clean it yourself, they won't charge you for doing it (and I hear the charges can be quite big).

The second time I took a bike into NZ, I did this, and it was dead easy. The first time, I had it pretty clean, but not perfect, and I had to do the whole sorry I'm a stupid foreigner act in order to avoid paying out money. Whatever you do, don't get angry with the customs people – if you are lovely and friendly and slightly confused, they will be much more likely to help you out than if you are a grump. Expect it to add about 30-40 minutes to the time you take getting out of the airport.

Joe

Air New Zealand are fantastic at everything, I would never fly with anybody else if I had the choice. (OK thats not true the movies they have are a bit behind the time, but that just prepares you for the culture)

Hels bless your little heart.Is it any wonder poms like u are disliked world wide

I travel in and out with bikes (and lots of other gear) pretty regularly. As has been said up there ^ they do have to be very clean. In maybe 40 trips I have never had my bike cleaned, shoes yes, bikes No. Fwiw i alsways now use a Serfas hard case having had 3 bikes munted on various flights while packed in non-solid cases/bags with corflute etc , for me when i am racing I want to know my bike will be OK.

Top tips:
1) Clean the living crap out of your bike and make sure you scrub the tyres until they are absolutely spotless and I mean spotless. Not even soil spray marks are permitted really. Get in about all the nooks and crannies. Pick the dirt out the cleats on your shoes. Clean it, then clean it again.
2) Last thing you clean it with shoudl smell of disinfectant.
3) When you get to Akl (likely) go to the Red channel and declare it. For one its much faster to get through in the red channel 🙂

There is a reason for all this parlaver you know and it gets on my goat when people moan about the extra 10 minutes it takes to then go and 'sightsee'. If they didn't enforce such strict controls we might have some of the pests that would make your sightseeing less pleasant !

Have fun when you get here.

Needs to be spotless and depending on how you value your time but my friends returning to NZ just gave the tyres away rather than spending hours toothbrushing them to the required level.