Fruit & veg within Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone

South Oz is a state that that is a law unto itself. It has part of the FFEZ in it but it does not accept fruit from the eastern part of the zone. SA does not allow you to carry fruit the border from any direction. There are permanent inspection stations at Ceduna and near Renmark that confiscate fruit and vegetables from arriving travellers. There are seasonal inspectors at Bordertown and Cockburn. All other places where you cross you are required to bin your fruit and veges in the bins provided.

The definitive regulations when travelling from state to state are contained in Quarantine Domestic

Yes the quarantine situation going in to SA Riverland is clear - fruit & veg will be confiscated.

But what happens if I buy an apple in Mildura and take it into NSW, which is the question here?

The Quarantine Domestic website just says "You need to obtain an appropriate permit or certificate or provide more information to carry this item with you when travelling to NSW/ACT". Hardly the information needed by the everyday traveller.

Thanks
John

There is a Fruite Fly inspection station in oodla wirra in SA on the Barrier hwy just after Yunta some 258 k from Broken Hill

They will ask you for any fruit or items like that be handed over

There is a check point in oodla wirra and all traffic is stopped

Now one day the normal flow of traffic was halted there why
A person in front of me bought some fruite in Broken Hill and argued that Broken Hill is in SA and ok to take past the check point ( There is a huge sign on the Border in Cockburn saying welcome to SA how he missed that I have no Idea )

There is no other check points on the road to Mildura just a yellow bin with a sign asking to dump fruit bin and the road to Sydney has a same yellow bin bin as well

Dried fruit is OK by the way going into SA.

This pic might be of use for people entering the SA riverland area .

yes it is not good handing over good uneaten food but the cost to the industry would in effect take food out of other people s mouths who are in the fruit growing industry .

I would say they are doing it hard and tough enough now

Many find it hard to get pickers to pick the fruit these days

The cost of the water to feed the plants

The job of the inspectors on these inspection places is to protect them

Most of us are honest and put items in the bins but all it take is one person and a entire industry can be wiped out

Can't help I'm sorry John.

Suffice to say that Ww fruit 'n veg (from the very same source as 'your' purchases in Broken Hill) is waved through by inspectors with nary a thought about the inconsistency of that approach. Individuals simply can't be trusted to tell the truth about where they got their produce (apparently) so a blanket ban applies.

you should have rang local council

Hi MH

I don't agree "the regulations for each state make NO allowance" for where a particular fruit or veg is purchased, just that what allowances are made for the casual traveller are not clearly shown on the quarantine web pages, which, as you say, are mainly written for commercial quantities. And yes, maybe a call to their DPI would give an answer, but I wouldn't bet on it.

As for purchase in Buronga, etc, my searches didn't look promising - even Wentworth looked limited compared to Mildura. There is also the further complication that Mildura is in the Sunraysia Pest Free Area (PFA) which extends northwards into NSW, up to Pooncarrie, so you have to watch what you bring through that area as well. You'd have to wonder though why fruit purchased in the FFEZ and PFA areas (eg at Mildura) can't be taken anywhere in Australia!

With a bit of luck though, we will get the opportunity to check this all out before we have to buy any fruit and veg, and head out to Lake Mungo. A short drive should give the answer, if we haven't been able to discover the answer earlier.

Thanks
John

Hi John, do let us now progress reports of what you find out. I appreciate that you are being very thorough, as not everyone is as careful.

Breakdowns do occur, and even with their strict policies, South Australia has several recent outbreaks of fruit fly in the state. These can only be caused by fruit being brought across the border.

Common sense can prevail with a good deal of trust on the part of the inspector but a docket alone does not prove that the fruit presented was the fruit purchased at that store. We had a common sense approach re-entering WA when we had to unexpectedly return to Kununurra after a day or two in the Keep River National Park, having stocked up on fresh produce for our Tanami trip.

Breakdowns can hurt. We had all our apple and pear orchard removed and burnt following an outbreak of Codling Moth in our area, and discovery of just one moth in a trap down the road from us. This can only have entered the area in fruit inadvertently or deliberately brought into Western Australia.

Once the region where I live was fruit fly free. Now we cannot grow stone fruit due to constant re-infection, and to have fresh local we buy from orchards who have to use strong chemicals.

You can't be too careful.

Even if you have to go without fresh fruit, I'm sure you will enjoy Mungo. There is a new visitor centre since we were there. Read about and take in the amazing discoveries and feel the antiquity, even though you cannot see them all. I have a 2009 My Blog on our visit to Mungo.

I went from Wentworth to Mungo via Pooncarrie last year. As we started in Wentworth we were already in the zone so fruit purchased there was OK - however the road to Pooncarrie leaves the zone for a short period but then comes back in and there are signs and a bin. So in theory as you left the zone and come back into it, you have to dump the fruit you just bought in the same zone - but as you have left the zone in theory if could get infected so has to be dumped.

As we did not stop we kept the stuff we had just bought but were in theory in breach of the rules.

A map of the zone

Thanks garrycol for that very useful information. To be very technical, Lake Mungo is within the FFEZ, but outside the PFA zone, but the latter now seems to be the where the most restrictions are in Vic & NSW. As we are planning to go up to Mungo from Buronga, then when we return to the Pooncarie road (and turn north), we can expect to find signs and a bin. So it looks like the only solution is to buy fruit & veg in Wentworth, but just enough for the Lake Mungo stay. Have to hope we can pick up more later in say Wilcannia.
Was it the Wentworth IGA where you purchased your fruit?

And thanks also to MH for your comments. Yes I agree care needs to be taken by everyone (though I wonder whether the fruit fly range isn't expanding regardless of quarantine resrtictions?) I saw there had been a fruit fly outbreak at Mildura recently.

Cheers
John

Yes it was the Wentworth IGA - normally don't like IGA but they are a necessity outback - the Wentworth IGA would have to be one of the best supermarkets I have been too anywhere.

Thanks again garrycol. Yes, we're never sure what we'll see an any given IGA store either.

John

Hi Allan
What odds would you even give a poor traveller departing Ceduna westbound, with newly purchased fruit, who had to make a U turn and go back to Ceduna for some reason?

But at least with that checkpoint, most people know where it is, and what the "rules" are. Not so with bins etc out in the middle of nowhere, as per garrycol's experience above.

Cheers
John

We used to camp on the coast of SA west of Fowlers Bay and west of the check point.
We had no trouble coming back east if we told them we had not been across the border.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome.

'
Thank you Peter.
Well it did not work for us when we told them we had come down Goog's Track.

Thanks Peter

See also terryt's reply below.

Cheers
John