Biscuits, cake mixes, confectionary are fine to get sent. Hash brown mix isn't though. I had a box of dried shredded potato with whatever else gets put in hash browns, that you only had to mix water with, confiscated by customs about 2 years ago that I'd bought from the US. Other things that you can't bring in are fruits, grains, dairy products (including yoghurt), eggs, raw wool, plants (and plant material, like leaves) and eggs (there are more, but they are the ones that come to mind at the moment). If you went overseas and brought home a wooden statue for example, it would have to be treated prior to you being able to take it home. Usually it's done by gamma radiation.

I wanted to import some tulip and daffodil bulbs a few years ago and to bring them in they would have to stay in the quarantine centre, where they would be planted and grown. Once they were grown they would be tested. They had to stay there for a full growing cycle, which would have been close to a year, so each stage of the growing cycle can be tested. It was going to cost a small fortune for that to happen.

Chicken breeders like to import eggs for breeds we don't have here. There are a few certified farms around the world where you can legally import the eggs, but you have to have a permit to get them in. You have to jump through all sorts of hoops. Often people will go into a syndicate because last time I had anything to do with it, it was going to be around $30,000 to import them.

When Mr Tippy went to the US last year, they took a can of coke off him before he flew out from the US to come home. They didn't say why, they just said he couldn't take it. When he landed he couldn't remember what food he had in his bag, so he ticked yes for everything on the declaration card. They let him keep the biscuits, lollies and chocolates, but they took the muesli bar that he had. It had fruit, seeds and grains in it.