7.  Book Tentative Quarantine Accommodation: A couple of days prior to the end of our waiting period, I received an email from DAFF stating that the quarantine facility was fully booked through the first of the year.  I had the choice to accept that they may be delayed slightly or have them sent to Sydney instead.  Since Astrid and Gizmo weren’t  eligible to leave the US until 3 January, I accepted the delay.

A few days after I accepted the potential delay, I received another email stating that the import rules had changed.  If my sister was willing to keep Astrid and Gizmo for an extra month, they would only have to spend 10 days physically in quarantine.  I would not have to re-apply for my permit, since it had not yet been granted, instead DAFF would change it’s status for me.  Again, I accepted the change (especially after I did the math on how much money it would save me!).

Then I didn’t hear anything for 2 weeks.  Finally, on Dec 12, I submitted a query against my application; if you remember right, I was looking forward to Nov 29 as my import permit grant date.  It was like I reminded them to finish processing my applications, because that very same day my permits were granted.  To say that I cried tears of joy would be an understatement; my tears were also of relief, anxiety and excitement.  This entire process was very hard on me (and Ben).  There were days that I would cry just because I missed my fur-babies and was unsure what was happening.

At this point, I was also looking ahead to the transportation steps and I ended up Debbie at Animal Transporters.  A friend had used her to import her dog and highly recommended her.  I had some struggles with her, felt at times that I was being kept out of the loop or that things were being held to the last minute, but in the end I’m not sure what I would have done with out her.  She handled booking quarantine, the travel arrangements and the final vet visit on my behalf.

Finally, I had resolution to Step 7.  It was later than I had hoped, but Astrid and Gizmo had a reservation at Spotswood Quarantine Facility in Melbourne for Feb 19 – Mar 1.

8. Check General Vaccinations: This was an easy step!  They really just needed to update their DHPP and Bordetella Vaccinations.  Because I have the best vet in the world (Dr. Carolyn Karlin at Westgate Pet Clinic) and the best sister in the world, I barely had to think about this step.  They schedule the appointment and took care of everything!  If you need a vet, I highly recommend Dr. Karlin.

9.  Check Canine Influenza Viris (CIV) Vaccination: This only applies to dogs being exported from the USA, of course.  CIV is not something that we have in MN or much of the USA at all, which made finding the vaccination extremely hard!  Dr. Karlin could only purchase it in lots of 20.  We only needed 4, but would be responsible for the entire lot of 20 because the clinic did not have a need for the vaccination.  Here we enlisted the help of Ben’s sister, who is a vet in New York.  She was able to work her network and find it at a clinic in Wisconsin (also called Westgate Pet Clinic).  They, fortunately, were willing to sell these to Sarah and ship them to our vet.  The vaccinations must be issued and followed with a booster 14 days later.  Thank you to my wonderful sister for making the long drive many times over late Nov – early Dec to get all of these vaccinations completed.

10 – 12. Testing for things that I’d never heard of: Dr. Karlin found a panel of experts that specialize in the export of animals and was able to submit Astrid and Gizmo’s blood samples all together and in smaller quantity than under the original rules we were working with.  Again, she went above and beyond in researching the export process and ensure that everything went off without a hitch!

13. Not relevant for Astrid and Gizmo, because they’ve never been to Africa.

14. Internal Parasite Treatment: They had to have two internal parasite treatments at least 14 days apart with the second being within 5 days of export.  This is where we had to start backing into when appointments needed to happen, but it was quite fortunate that we were operating under the new rules, because it formerly was within 4 days of export.  Dr. Karlin and my sister worked some calendar magic and figured out how to combine appointments.  We also had to demonstrate proof that we’d issued these, so she saved stickers off of the bottles that things came out of.

15. External Parasite Treatment & Ehrlichia Testing: I believe she combined this test with the ones above because the panel she found was able to expedite the process.  The external parasite treatment was literally Frontline, but had to be applied by Dr. Karlin to meet the requirement.

16 – 17. Pre-export Clinical Examination & Completion of Veterinary Health Certificate A: This must take place within 5 days of export, so many of these last steps were combined together in a single appointment where they could.  I believe Jackie and Dr. Karlin spent a lot of time together in the last 2 weeks.  Astrid and Gizmo also had to fly to LAX to see a USDA certified veterinarian to complete an additional Health Certificate prior to export.  Somehow this visit fell under the same steps as their visit with Dr. Karlin.

18.  Travel to Australia:  This is where I started freaking out, because I’d read so many horror stories of how United treats pets.  My perception was that Debbie was withholding their flight information from me, but I had been quite clear before hiring her that I did not want them on United.  They were booked in with Delta.  Their travel kennels are massive and all of their bedding was thrown out upon arrival in Australia.  I wanted them to travel with toys that they knew, so Jackie sent the only toy Gizmo came with in his kennel and Astrid’s favorite ladybug toy.  When they were due to arrive at Spotswood, I called and was told that they had travelled well and were resting comfortably in their pens.

The 4 days that they were traveling were the worst 4 days in the entire process.  They were under the care of people that I was unfamiliar with and I was receiving very infrequent updates.  My sister, it turns out, fell in love with my babies over the 4 months that they lived with her.  She was devastated to see them go and just as concerned about them through the travel as I was.

We were both very concerned about Gizmo having two microchips; when we collected his kennel, I saw that she’d put a sticker just above the door that says, “I have 2 microchips.  Please scan the one in my left shoulder.”  Thanks for making sure it was clear, sis!

19. Arrival in Australia: The quarantine official collects them from the airport, and you are not allowed to visit them until an official visiting day, which would have been Tuesday for me.  They must stay in quarantine for 10 days before they can be collected.

We chose not to visit them. Because I must be in Geelong on Tuesdays,  it would have been Thursday before we could see them and we were able to collect them on Saturday.  We were so excited to pick them up on Saturday morning, that we could hardly sleep on Friday night.  We thought we’d head over so that we got there exactly on time and ended up a few minutes early.  They will make you wait.  Its like going into a prison; we had to go through a wire cage just to get into the facility.  While we were waiting, all the dogs were barking and crying.  I swear I could hear Astrid over the rest.

The girl who finally let us in was very nice.  After signing all of the paperwork to collect them, she took us out to their pens.  They were staying side-by-side in 3 foot by 3 foot concrete boxes with cots.  When she opened Astrid’s pen, she excitedly came running out to the girl, until she noticed me.  Then the hugs and kisses were on.  When she opened Gizmo’s cage, he was scared and reluctant to come out.  When he saw Ben, he livened up a bit.

Now that they’re here, they’re settling in nicely.  Astrid loves the beach; Gizmo hates the sand.  My biggest concern through the entire process was how Gizmo would respond.  I knew that Astrid would be fine; resilience and adaptability are her strengths.  But with Gizmo, we were essentially re-homing him twice in 4 months with one of those homes containing small children.  His transition into our home wasn’t exactly smooth the year before, but we were in it to win it when we took him.  I think spending time with Jackie and the boys was actually really good for Gizmo.  He is no longer aggressive towards Astrid and he fell in love with my 3-year-old nephew Jaden, my sister and her dog.  We put him in the pet hotel, sharing a room with Astrid without worrying about it.  The girls at the pet hotel say love having them; he’s a lover and she gets all the other dogs riled up.

Alright, this isn’t Christmas, but you must admit Melbourne is pretty at night.

The story of Jesus on a wall.

I do have to say, Melbourne, I was a little disappointed.  I mean, Christmas in the USA is over the top!

On Friday, we had a Christmas party at work.  I was introduced to poppers and got to wear the Christmas crown with my new friends Rosa & Carly.

And then, amazingly, Totes Awks was in the lobby.

Last night our amazing new friends, Aaron & Carrie, hosted an ugly sweater party.  Some of the costumes were amazing, but most of my photos did not turn out.

Now we’re off to the USA to see some real Christmas cheer.  Merry Christmas, my friends!

First stop: Torquay.  This was our first exposure to the amazing shades of turquoise of the South Pacific.  All we could say was, “Oh wow!” over and over again.  This expression continued for 2 days.

I’m  certain that I’ll never cease to be amazed by the rainbow lorikeets just hanging around in the trees.  In my world, these birds exist in books and zoos, not the wild.

There was a little festival going on and fireworks planned in Torquay for that evening, but we had a lot of The Great Ocean Road left to see and the day was young.  Also, how could we not move on immediately to Bell’s Beach, especially when we realized just how close we were.  As a side note, I will be watching Point Break as soon as my things are cleared from customs and I purchase a TV.

On the road again!  Next up Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet.  For my Minnesota friends, I think I called this Split Rock about 93 times.

Not really sure what’s happening here, but I found the picture quite amusing.

Time to move on again, we’ve a lot of ground to cover!  The Australia Travel Book mentioned a turn gully with a waterfall that was only about 10km off The Great Ocean Road.  We weren’t sure what a fern gully was, so figured we’d better have a look, especially since I’m kind of obsessed with waterfalls.  In the words of an unknown 14-year-old girl, “What’s the big deal, it’s just falling water!”  One of our major missions of this trip down The Great Ocean Road was to find Koala Bears and Kangaroos.  According to the aforementioned travel book, we should have seen Kangaroos in Anglesea, but we didn’t, so we were a little wary when we started down the road to Otway Lighthouse in search of Koala Bears.  Fortunately, we were not misled.  They were EVERYWHERE!

After stopping many times to look at the adorable koala bears, we just missed the lighthouse.  No matter, I’m sure we’ll do this again sometime soon.  At this point, we realized that if we hit the road we could make it to The Twelve Apostles for sunset.

The closest town to The Twelve Apostles is Port Campbell, so we went in search of food and somewhere to sleep.  Our accommodation choices were a seedy looking motel or Waves Luxury Suits.  Waves was quite luxurious; in fact, we had a jacuzz in the middle of our room.  J-Ro was very lucky, as her single “bed” pushed right up against the jacuzz.  Luxury!

Sunday morning over breakfast we decided that our first stop would be London Bridge, after a little shopping in Port Campbell.  On our way our of Port Campbell, there was a man in the middle of the road with a trash can who sort of pointed to the left.  We took it as, “hey, sorry I’m in your way” or “please drive that way and give me a little room.”  Turns out he was a police officer trying to indicate that we should stop.  He accused J-Ro of drinking at 11:00 AM and gave her a breathalyzer test.  WHAT?!?  We were laughing at him because we didn’t think he was serious!  I only wish that I’d been faster with the camera…

As we drove away from London Bridge, I consulted our trusty travel guide and realized that we must stop at Loch Arch Gorge.  Worth it?  I think so!

On our hike about Loch Arch Gorge, we saw this secluded beach and decided that we must figure out how to get down there.

Turns out, it’s super easy!  They’ve built a staircase.

Suddenly, I realized according to the pictures, there are no people on this trip….

Back in the car, I read about Wreck Beach at Moonlight Head.  Ben was interested in the anchor left over from a ship wreck, so we decided to stop.  The road was single lane gravel with crazy drivers that refused to share, but the view from Moonlight head was totally worth J-Ro’s white knuckle driving.

We stood at the top of the trail down to the beach and decided that we were “In it to win it!” and began the decent to Wreck Beach.  As we hiked out to the anchor, we began shell picking.  They were completely undisturbed and in nearly perfect condition.  Many of the shells still had their residents, so we gently put them back in the water.

It took about 45 minutes, but finally we found the anchor and a masthead from an ancient ship wreck.  Considering they’ve been in the on the beach having waves wash over them for over 100 years, it’s pretty amazing that they’re still there!

After climbing 366 stairs back up to Moonlight Head, this was definitely our last hike of the day.

Needless to say, we three NAILED The Great Ocean Road.  We will definitely be going down it again, especially when you come to visit us!

After all of that, still no Kangaroos.

]]> http://bohopunk.com/2013/12/14/the-great-ocean-road-in-2-days/feed/ 0 http://bohopunk.com/2013/11/25/can-i-move-my-dogs-to-australia-part-2/ http://bohopunk.com/2013/11/25/can-i-move-my-dogs-to-australia-part-2/#comments Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:48:48 +0000 http://old.bohopunk.com/?p=327 I thought I’d catch you up quickly on the state of Astrid and Gizmo’s import to Australia….

After the USDA reopened at the end of October, we were able to proceed with the process:

5. Official Government Veterinarian must complete the Rabies Vaccination and RNAT Declaration: Turns out the girl at the vet’s office was wrong.  I had to wait for the USDA to re-open at the end of October to get the RNAT Declaration from a USDA Vet; they charged me a ton to fill out a piece of paper with the information on my RNAT Laboratory results.  They also informed me that they are not the ones responsible for the final step in the process, which caused a lot of stress since they could give me no information on who is responsible for this final step.

6.  Apply and pay for the DAFF Import Permit: By the time we had all of the paperwork we needed, it was 3 Nov before we filed for the import permits.  These were quite tedious and expensive, but we received a small discount for our second dog.  I realized after I’d submitted the applications, that I accidentally included an extra “0” in Astrid’s microchip number.  I immediately emailed DAFF and never heard anything back.  Hopefully, they received my email and corrected my application.  They do not have to respond to any emails about my import applications for 20 working days after I’ve submitted them.  29 November, I am waiting for you.

7. Book Tentative Quarantine Accommodation: they won’t even talk to me until I have an import permit, which is stressful since I did receive an email from DAFF stating that the Melbourne Quarantine Station is fully booked through early-January.

8.  Commence Travel Arrangements: again, I cannot do this until I have received my import permit.  29 November, I am growing impatient for you…

9.  Check General Vaccinations: Here again, I need to say that Dr. Karlin rocks.  She has gone above and beyond to ensure that Astrid and Gizmo are set to go and ensure that this process is as safe and economically feasible as possible.  Astrid and Gizmo are not due for DHPP yet at home, but the Australian government requires that they be vaccinated for this within 1 year of export.  We’ll do this at our next appointment.

10.  Check Canine Influenza Virus: CIV is not something that we have in the mid-west and is quite rare in the US in general, but my dogs must be vaccinated against it.  We had to enlist Ben’s Vet Sister’s help to find this vaccination, since it was not available in MN.  She located it and had it shipped to us, which is AMAZING.

This is all the further we can go in the steps until we know when Astrid and Gizmo can be exported.  Again, 29 November, you cannot come soon enough!

I’ve been very clear for weeks that we need to be out of our apartment on 10/31, so the movers must come on 10/29 because the cleaners are coming on 10/30.  Last Wednesday evening, I receive an email from the relocation agent stating that the movers will be coming on 11/4.  Very matter of fact, like this won’t be an issue at all.  Naturally, I fly off the handle a bit; I write her back a strongly worded email indicating that this is unacceptable and the movers must come on 10/29.  She proceeds to inform me that I’ll need to extend my rental period until 11/5, without regard for the tenants that may be scheduled to move in on 11/1.  Fortunately, the landlord didn’t actually have someone lined up to move in yet, so he agreed to extend our lease until 11/5.  Or so I thought.

Fast forward to Saturday morning: I’m tired, crabby and a little hungover from our going away party on Friday night.  The landlord informs us via text message that we need to move out on 10/31.  WTF? We have an email agreement that we’re moving out on 11/5.  Naturally, I fly off the handle again.  He avoids my phone call, probably because he already thinks I’m a bitch.  Finally, I get him on the phone and explain to him that it is not my problem that he forgot to tell his wife that he rented the apartment to us until 11/5.  He’ll need to get in contact with the people his wife rented to starting on 11/3 and work it out because I’m dealing with an international move and customs in two countries.  I am not relinquishing keys until the 5th, unless of course, he wants me to cancel the cleaners that I can expense.  Then cleaning carpets, ovens, cabinets, etc. will be his problem.  I’m sure if the new renters are crazy about nail holes, they’re going to be even crazier about cleaning.  Now we really do have it worked out.

I can’t believe the relocation agent still is being so causal about this whole thing.  This move is costing Target AUS much more than it needs to because of her lack of urgency.

Now the movers come on Monday, the cleaners come on Tuesday and we fly out on Wednesday.  Wednesday is the day that I was SUPPOSED to start my new job.

We are fortunate to have an amazing vet who has been very willing to help us figure the process out, and has done a ton of research along the way.  If you’re looking for a vet, I highly recommend Dr. Carolyn Karlin at West Gate Pet Clinic in Edina, MN.

Over the next few months, I’ll take you through the step by step process of importing our dogs to Australia.  Here is where we are at:

1. Confirm Eligibility – you must have been the owner of your pet either since birth or for a minimum of 6 months; we’ve had Astrid since she was a puppy and Gizmo since last December.  Neither are a prohibited breed.
2. Verify or implant a microchip: While Gizmo already had a microchip, it did not meet the international standard, so both had to have these imported.  Dr. Karlin is drafting a letter to prevent confusion when Gizmo is imported, since he’ll have two microchips.  Confirming whether or not his chip met standard was quite difficult because it looked like it would in online research, but when we actually spoke with HomeAgain, they we quite clear that it did not.  Astrid has never had a chip, so this was very clear cut for her.  Here is were Dr. Karlin began taking very detailed by the minute notes.
3. Check for a rabies vaccination – must be current to within 12 months of export.  It is not clear that the vaccination must be conducted prior to implanting the microchip, so I called Dr. Frank at the USDA and he confirmed that it did not.
4. RNAT and Quarantine Begins – this is where I realized just how long quarantine was for my babies – 180 days.  RNAT is expensive, but an easy blood draw for my dogs.  Dr. Karlin drew their blood just after scanning their microchip to ensure that everything was being done in the correct order.  Assuming the test comes back with desirable results, this begins the excessively long quarantine period.  150 days of quarantine can be done in the home country, the last 30 must be done in physical quarantine in Australia.  It doesn’t matter how detailed your pet’s health records are, there is no way around this.  This test took about 30 days to come back.
5. RNAT Declaration – this caused a lot of confusion for me.  What is this and how do I get it?  Turns out your test results magically come with it!  The poor girl assisting Dr. Karlin, I think I called her 3 times to confirm.
6. Apply for an Export Permit – this is where we are stuck.  Once Congress figures out how to do their jobs, I can proceed in the process.  Fingers crossed that this will be soon!  We are stuck – we cannot even arrange quarantine without an export permit.

Astrid is my little champ; she’ll take all this really well.  I feel kind of terrible for Gizmo, he just started to like, respect and listen to us in the last couple of months.  This will be particularly hard on him.  This is also the biggest favor we’ve ever asked of someone. My sister has graciously agreed to watch my babies until Ben and I come for a visit at Christmas.  We’re hoping to have a export permit by then, have arranged quarantine and will be able to take them back with us.

Oh shit!  We’re doing this!