hi
dont ship it whatever you do.... all takes too long
the season is pretty crappy at the moment so you dont want to miss out on a great breeze if you can help it
they are usually pretty good though with fragile stuff.... just tell them when boarding
i wrap all my stuff with that bubble wrap after getting a huge chunk taken out of my board
have fun

I took one kite and board from Perth to Emerald (QLD)and back (yes Emerald)... LOL. Kited Lake Marraboon in central Queensland. Locals looked a little confused. Anyway, I flew Qantas and had it all packed into a good surfboard bag. I had heaps of other luggage as was working over there for a short while. Qantas did not charge me any extra but said they are a little hesitant in taking anything longer than a surfboard bag. I saw them trying to load my board bag onto the aircraft loading conveyor in pouring rain at Sydney. They seemed to be fairly careful with it.
My main advice would be to get there early, smile politely at the check in chick, and have someone handy to grab anything extra to take back home should they get a little upset.
Good luck

Remove all fins and footstraps. Bubble wrap boards well (3 layers). Last trip to QLD I packed my kites into a suitcase (large) along with wettie, harness etc.

Qantas economy class has 20kg limit per person. Having boards doesn't seem to worry them as long as they are under about 2.5m

I flew Syd => Perth on Qantas in O3, with a Wipi 190cm roller bag at 27kgs and a small backpack at 11kgs. I had to check the big bag at the oversize counter and claim it there at the other end, but they had no problem with the weight.

I was worried so I was early, polite, smiling etc. It can't hurt.

How big are these golf bags? Sounds like they must be the size of a shipping container.

quote:

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Originally posted by airhead

Remove all fins and footstraps. Bubble wrap boards well (3 layers). Last trip to QLD I packed my kites into a suitcase (large) along with wettie, harness etc.

Qantas economy class has 20kg limit per person. Having boards doesn't seem to worry them as long as they are under about 2.5m

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No!

If you call Qantas you will get the answer: domestic passengers are allowed 1 piece up to 32kg. If you are a frequent flyer you are allowed another piece. Normally bags are much less than 32kg so you can normaly take more pieces but this is at the discretion of the staff. Beyond 1 (or 2) pieces they charge $11 for each of the next 3 bags and $33 for the two bags after that. Each of these bags can be 32kg. I moved to Perth this year and on one trip had about 100kg of stuff and wasn't charged. Know the rules before you go and the you can travel with confidence that you won't get run around by the staff who probably don't know the rules as well as they should.

Virgin is different. They have a weight and bag limit but my experience is that they are so nice to you that they ignore it.

Either way domestic travel in Oz is a dream for kiters compared to most countries

Mike

Busfreight is awfully handy though. $32 for 20kg bag to anywhere in Australia with Greyhound/Pioneer. That was their upper limit, and I had 2 kites and one board in that bag. If circumstances don't permit having your kit travel with you it is very affordable, less than half the price of commercial road freight.

When one has to detour via Hell in the Great Sandy Desert and arrive in Broome on a packed Cessna Conquest there isn't much room for kites and boards.