A court has refused to cut the 11-year jail term given to a New Zealand couple for trying to obtain more than $A2 million ($NZ2.6m) of drugs from South America.

Jennifer Romero-Maya, 30, and Geoffrey Kennedy, 53, claimed they agreed to receive the drugs hidden inside mechanical parts after Colombian drug lords threatened to kill their family.

However, a Brisbane Supreme Court jury found them guilty last year of attempting to possess 1.86kg of cocaine.

They were each sentenced to 11 years' jail, with a non-parole period of seven years.

During the trial the court heard the pair travelled to the Gold Coast from their home in New Zealand in August 2008 to collect the drugs.

They were caught after police intercepted the packages and attached listening devices to them.

The couple appealed their sentences in March, arguing they were manifestly excessive.

However, in a written judgment published on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal in Brisbane ruled that although the sentences were at the high end, they were appropriate.