While up in the Solomon Islands a few months ago, I was given a delightful woven flax bag by locals in a village and I wasn't thrilled about taking it. I couldn't refuse it, but I also knew that getting it firstly through Australian security and then a Kiwi airport would just be annoying and it would likely be confiscated.
It was checked and sprayed before departure from Honiara - at a cost of $20 - and at Brisbane and Auckland airports I declared it and had it ready to show officials.
Each time it passed the tests and I could return to the Bay knowing I wasn't bringing it something containing nasty little critters. Unfortunately, I know a few Kiwis who have brought in plant seeds from Australia and this infuriates me because they do so knowing the dangers involved for agriculture and horticulture.
Need we mention the importation and wildfire-like spread of Psa? How many billions has that cost NZ?
Now, once again, we are assaulted by the pesky little Queensland fruit fly.
At the time of writing this column, four had been found in Auckland, including a female and a large number of pupae. This is really serious as if a breeding colony has established itself then that spells huge danger for our avocado and kiwifruit industries.
And it isn't the first time they've been located - it is the fourth time since 2012. From memory there were two in Auckland and two near docks in Whangarei.
To me, that means controls are not secure enough and that people either do not understand - or care about - keeping this country free of introduced nasties.
In my opinion, people need to be scared into doing the right thing.
The current fine of $400 is clearly not enough. Double it and make it automatic for any trangressions.
Groups of tourists who hide behind not speaking English will need to be given the rules in their language on the planes and, if they are then found with illegal foodstuffs, then they should be fined.
No excuses.
And the Government needs to beef up biosecurity by having more officials at airports and marine ports. No vessel should land without it being checked. And cost should not enter into it. For the sake of a few million dollars, Wellington could properly protect multi-billion-dollar industries.
My suspicion is it won't and will keep on with the glorious Kiwi tradition of "She'll be right".
Only one day it won't be.
While driving to a wedding in Masterton late last week, we came across an extraordinary sight. Beside the road was a truck. Well, it used to be a truck.
By the time we passed it, the vehicle was an ex-truck lying flat on its side with emergency crews trying to get the driver out.
Looking at the tyre marks, squished farm fence, crushed grass and the badly damaged truck left on its side you knew the driver was lucky to still be breathing.
And you also had to thank God that there wasn't a car coming the other way for it would have been flattened.
I raise this because down Papamoa East way we have a tidal wave of big trucks that zoom along our roads with scant regard for children, animals or anything else that may cross their trajectory.
The other day I noted at least five trucks within a half hour period that were barrelling along doing speeds of at least 30km/h above the 50km/h limit.
On another day, I was approaching a roundabout when a truck and trailer appeared out of nowhere before me and raced around the corner.
The driver was not going to stop for anything and only made it around his quarter-circle route by rolling over the roundabout itself.
Bad luck if there had been a carload of kids heading through at the same time.
Message to truck drivers: Papamoa is not your private raceway; it is a residential area filled with children, animals and people.
Companies using truckies need to rein in their drivers so that they travel within the speed limit and are mindful of other road users. The police should target speeding trucks and fine the living daylights out of them for driving dangerously.
If they don't there will be a fatality.
-Richard@richardmoore.com
Richard Moore is an award-winning Western Bay journalist and photographer
