Doc Holiday: Can I bring my own wine to New Zealand?

New Zealand is famed for its world class wine, but are you allowed to BYO?

Escape's Doc Holiday, Dilvin Yasa, answers your travel-related questions.

Am I allowed to take a couple of bottles of Australian wine – unopened, of course – to New Zealand? I’m not sure if I’ll be able to buy my favourites there.

My patriotic side wants to give you a hug for supporting Aussie winemakers, but it would be terribly irresponsible of me if I didn’t say, “but you’re going to one of the finest wine regions in the world!” 

You haven’t mentioned where you’re planning to travel exactly, but New Zealand has more than 45,000ha of vines across the major wine regions of Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay, Waipara, Martinborough, Auckland, Canterbury, Nelson, Central Otago, Bay of Plenty, Northland and Gisborne.

While you should definitely spend some time investigating New Zealand’s pinot noirs, syrahs and sauvignon blancs, you’ll be pleased to know you can take up to 4.5 litres of wine or beer into the country, or three bottles of spirits or liqueur (if each bottle holds no more than 1.125 litres).

If you’d rather not lug bottles of wine across the Tasman, Australian vino is readily available across New Zealand. A quick search for Australian wine at Liquorland NZ’s website revealed more than 8000 products, although some locations offer more variety than others. Of course, if you happen across a fantastic Kiwi drop that makes you want to shout its name from the rooftops, we’d love to hear all about it.

Evendo has a four-hour Airport Layover Colombo City tour that includes airport pick-up and drop-off. Picture: iStock.

I have a 13-hour stopover in Colombo on my way back from Europe. Are there city tours I could do?

You lucky duck – I love Sri Lanka. But before we get into details of tours on offer, you might like to know that if you’re flying Sri Lankan Airlines, you may be eligible for complimentary hotel accommodation and meal vouchers. Although certain conditions have to be met (see srilankan.com for details), this offer is available for passengers who transit in Colombo for between eight and 24 hours.

If you’d rather not see the inside of a hotel room during your time there, you have quite a few options, depending on what you’d like to do.

Evendo has a four-hour Airport Layover Colombo City tour that includes airport pick-up and drop-off from about $160 per person, while Safari to Lanka Holidays, via Expedia, offers a five-hour tour for $150. Note that the Town Hall rather than the airport is the departure point for this tour. Be sure to check out Sri Lanka by Car, which will customise an itinerary just for you. This one’s priced at about $155.

Note you’ll need to apply for a visa in the form of an Electronic Travel Authority (you can apply for this before your trip at eta.gov.lk), but these are free for transit passengers.

If you’re planning to stay away longer than 28 days, you need to contact Services Australia.

I gather that those on the disability pension can only leave the country for 28 days a year. Is that per calendar year?

Australians who receive the Disability Support Pension (DSP) are entitled to up to 28 days’ travel during any 12-month period, whether you take your four weeks all in one hit or across several shorter trips. If you’re planning to stay away longer than 28 days, you can still do so, but you need to contact Services Australia so they suspend your payment during any extra time away. Once the suspension is put in place after your 28 days, you won’t receive any further payments until you return to Australia. Alerting Services Australia to your travel plans (preferably six weeks in advance through your Centrelink account online) is key – you don’t want your pension to be cancelled, because trying to get it reinstated will be a nightmare.

There are exceptions to the “28 days within any 12-month period rule” when it comes to continuing DSP payments, of course, and these include needing to travel internationally for eligible medical treatment that’s not available in Australia, or due to a family emergency overseas. In such cases, you may be able to be paid for a further four weeks, but you will need to contact Services Australia to see if you qualify. You may also be able to get DSP for a lengthier period if you’re heading to a country where Australia has a social security agreement and said agreement covers DSP, but this only comes into play for those who are severely disabled and meet all the rules under the agreement. Holidays will not get any additional payments over the line.

Since the holiday you’re planning falls within 12 months of your previous four-week holiday, I recommend either waiting a little longer to take your trip, or – if financially feasible – calling Services Australia to suspend your pension while you’re away.

Originally published as Doc Holiday: Can I bring my own wine to New Zealand?