I've a friend that has taken a job over on your bit of the Pacific and I've been threatening to visit in the next year. He's more of a fisherman than a hunter so he couldn't really tell me and the police firearms pages don't seem to say much. Is it a pipe dream to think a yank could hunt over there with a Contender pistol or I'd be better served not thinking to hope to try?

Handgun hunting is not legal here , but if your Contender has a rifle stock and is long enough to be classed as a rifle then you could use it.

My suggestion would be to plan on using something other than your Contender and avoid the hassles that you might encounter otherwise.

Sounds like I'll just bring one of the already long .300s then and a .223.