Perhaps it's the silly season...perhaps it's something to do with a stressful year...some New Zealanders have strange ideas about what they can take on a plane

Things like toy guns, fireworks, and cheese knives are regularly confiscated by Aviation Security.

One man tried to bring a giant metal pizza shovel, and another was determined to smuggle peanut butter in his underwear.

Civil Aviation Authority group manager Karen Urwin says some people have wanted to carry cans of petrol on board.

She says it usually turns out to be people who've used a rental car and think they've been cheated out of the last bit of petrol in the tank - so they siphon it out hoping to take it home.