Pine Cone

Paranoid I know. I'll get over it

saoghalbeag

I just moved back to Oz from NZ for financial reasons and just wanted to add that the cost of living seems a lot less in Australia, but I've not done scientific research on it - I just know that even tho i'm in a more 'lowly' job in Oz, I'm earning stacks more and things in shops cost less. Especially furniture and clothes - I'd be assessing whether it's worth bringing stuff with you and don't forget the costs of getting things stuck in quarantine. Can't help on that level as I sold everything (except my car, it's still sitting in ChCh, dammit) and just brought clothes/books back.

And the UK is probably where you should go if you really want to avoid natural disasters - with the exception of snow/cold snaps, the Isles get off pretty damn easily!!!

Pine Cone

We've got solid wooden furniture that we saved like mad for when we were younger rather make do with MDF stuff, so we'll definitely be bringing it all with us. It's not so much that we don't think we could get replacement stuff easily enough - it's more a sentimental issue. We find it comforting having our own stuff around us and it helps the kids settle being surrounded by all things familar.

We are having a major purge of all the junk and stuff we've acquired though, and trying to sell it all on trademe so we are able to get everything inside a 20ft container again.

I'm assuming Oz quarantine is not that different from NZ MAF? In which case I'm not worried as we left all the house plants and pine cones from the xmas tree back in the UK, last time we moved internationally. Must remember to scrub the soles on all the shoes though as I don't think thats a job dearest hubby will volunteer for

Buzzy--Bee

Yeh you can't bring plant material or anything that might be plant material, I even heard of someone who got charged to fumigate a hat with plastic flowers on its top! You can bring garden tools etc as long as they are spotless. I even brought garden hoses.

BB

Pine Cone

Us too, lawn mowers the lot. We even brought our outdoor plant pots with us to NZ - I just scrubbed them out with jeyes fluid first and made sure I wrote that down on the MAF forms. They did get inspected but nothing got fumigated or confiscated so me must have got it right. And despite Crown telling us we couldn't bring any of our wicker, cane or seagrass stuff, we brought the lot which all got inspected by MAF and again no issue. A bit cross that they somehow lost our stepladder though

JAJ

You can apply for it - but if you don't meet the requirements at the time you WILL be refused.