Dealing with Australia immigration--grrrr
24 August 2014 | Noumea, New Cale
Donna / Cold and rainy again
It just gets worse! New Caledonia didn't charge us to remove all our fresh and frozen food but Australia isn't so nice. It will be $380AU for the privilege of having them remove all our fresh and frozen food. It is STILL lower than what our Visas cost.
For our visas, I went onto http://www.immi.gov.au/ while in Fiji and wrote up my application for the $20 visa. When I got to the end, they said we didn't qualify for 'that' visa, proceed to the next type. When I got to the end of that one, the charge was $130. I was shocked but recently we had been talking about how NZ can charge $160 to RENEW their visas so I figured that was just the cost and went on to applying for Scott and Celeste paying $390 total! I started asking around and then questioned online but the response was that I had to talk to an Embassy Officer. We weren't planning to go back into Suva so we visited New Caledonia's Embassy as soon as we arrived to ask for assistance. Unfortunately, they can process a new visa but they didn't have an immigration officer to help with my overcharge problem. To make a long story short, I have tried at least four times online and each time they won't address the overcharge, just say they don't see the error but we have visas ready to go! SO BEWARE!
Back to N CALE, we have enjoyed our month here. The Amedee lighthouse and the Ilot (Islet) Casy were especially nice. Be sure to check out the pictures in the Gallery. We lost almost two weeks waiting for less wind and/or rain so it feels too soon to be leaving. For our picture, I chose me using a COAT to try to enjoy our walk Ile Amedee. The Port Moselle Marina has been a great location for showers, getting to town and internet. We went to the central park and got free internet there also when we weren't paying for the marina in the middle of the month. They have a fountain called the Celeste Fountain so we had to get pictures of Celeste by 'her' fountain! We found the French and the Kanaks pretty friendly when we got to know them better. Now to see what foods we are left with in Australia......