Part 2 : Preparation
An American citizen needs an ETA (Electronic Visa) to enter Australia which can be purchased online, but as has been discussed, there’s a member of Flyer Talk who offers this service for free. I would recommend double checking the ETA after it’s finished to make sure all the details are correct. (I caught a mistake in the passport expiration date of my infant that could’ve posed a problem.)
It was a bit tricky to figure out what to pack since the second half of this trip would be pesach in America. But it mostly worked out as I was able to send a suitcase to the states about 2 weeks before our trip which included all our yomtov clothing, jewelry etc.
We wrote out a list of our entire trip and made a cheshbon of where we would have access to kosher food and restaurants, and had a detailed list of how many breakfasts, lunch and dinners we needed. For breakfast we brought along breakfast cereal bars, as well as cheerios and instant oatmeal, for lunch we brought tuna cans/packs, salmon cans, cod liver, mayo packets, chips, wraps etc. and for dinner we schlepped an assortment of shelf stable meals. We usually have other dinner options on our travels which include bringing a freezer bag with schnitzel (tastes great cold with mayo) and cold cuts (to be eaten with chips and mayo inside a wrap). We then deposit the bag into the hotel freezer upon arrival, and remove items as needed. However, Australia has very strict customs regulations which prohibit these types of items. So instead, I stocked up on various shelf stable Meal Mart and Kiryat Joel meals, hoping we would be able to use the hotel microwave (double wrapped of course). I’ve never had an issue with a hotel not letting me use their microwave, especially after informing them of the religious issues involved. However, this was a bit of a problem in Australia since they apparently have extremely strict rules about guests entering the kitchen even if escorted. Suffice it to say that if I would do it again, I would bring La Briute self heating meals, even though they leave a lot to be desired taste wise.
We thankfully got a very nice customs agent, who after inspecting the meals, decided that they didn’t quite fit the regulations of what’s allowed in to the letter, but said that common sense would prevail and he allowed it in. So I guess YMMV. For the kids it's important to have all types of snack bags available at all times, such as bamba, nish nosh, pretzels etc, as well as 'treats' (taffys and the like). My baby was still nursing, so we didn't have to bring shelf stable milk.
Our plan was to spend 3 shabbosim there. One in Melbourne, one in Sydney and one in Port Douglas. For the Port Douglas Shabbos, we had to bring shelf stable food, and we found Meal Mart whitefish, gefilte fish, chicken soup, kugel, chicken, liver and cholent. We also brought along a cheap ‘plata’. It’s always a good idea to have some masking tape with you to tape up the light switches. And don’t forget besamim. It’s also wise to bring along a Shabbos clock to control the light/lamp situation.
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, we travel quite heavy.