On the verge of leaving Australia...my only excuse for not blogging (besides being a terribly infrequent blogger to begin with) is that I've been having fun, and that too, offline. Always a good thing, isn't it? :)
I was wondering yesterday what it is about NZ and Australia that draws me here...big, wide, open, PRESERVED spaces definitely come to mind. These countries have a way of keeping their oceans blue and their lands litter-free. Which brings me to my experiences of boot laundering, and this is not the laundering of the money kind. When I entered NZ, their routine custom check required that I not only give up all fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat from another country but also have my bag and hiking shoes inspected for dirt. My hiking shoes were found wanting (not for dirt) and taken in to get chemically laundered. This happened again when entering Australia from NZ and there was another chance of it occurring when leaving Queensland and entering Western Australia, i.e. a state transfer. I thought it was pretty awesome...especially since I get shoes that smell like a chemistry lab after it's been cleaned, in the bargain.
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