Yesterday, Monday 4 May, I went out to the airport. The international mail centre next door is where all incoming post is scanned and cleared. There they let me use a customs x-ray machine, like the ones that scan bags at the airport.
The resulting images were awesome.
Unfortunately, however, the quality wasn't anywhere near as good as I would have liked. I'd hoped for a similar file size to the black and white x-rays, something I could use for a large scale (or life-sized) screen print. However, unlike the super high definition scanners at the airport gates, this was an old machine which they use for training purposes. The resulting images are tiny and very low-res, and there was no way to increase the size/DPI.
It was still incredibly useful to talk with someone about how the system works, what the different colours indicate, the importance of biosecurity, etc, and I was very grateful for their willing help.
