yafm

Just an update on the list of ‘to do’s’ In the light of our
Experiences

Arrange the ‘house cooling’ goodbye party
Make your wills (travelling is dangerous)
Arrange an Australian address (friend, relative, thread member)
or get one of these to organise a PO Box in Australia (in their name and empty it for you) They are quite hard to get so think early – go on waiting list.
Update your address book including tele nos and email addresses
Cancel your ISP service IN WRITING (I did it in email and phone and they continued to charge me for another 5 months said I did not cancel.) Also advise C/C payment they should stop the standing order. (belt and braces cover)
Get copies of some utilities to use as evidence of good payment for same in Australia (otherwise you may have to pay a large deposit $100 or so) PS Australian utilities go in ONE persons’ name Mr or Mrs they don’t like Mr/Mrs and therefore the person who organises it gets the bills in their name – so utilities should match.
Arrange a Nationwide Credit Card (or possibly Halifax) No annual charges and they do not charge extra for foreign currency purchases.
Arrange Standing Order to pay credit cards while you are travelling and getting organised. (we still use our uk c/c and get a better rate than the money we took over originally.)
Organise all change of address details with everyone in the uk. (Credit Card Co.’s and other financial institutions sometimes will not accept this change and ask you to verify by phone to a 0845 number. This is difficult once you have left uk. (They write to the Australian address and say they cannot accept your instructions!!!!!) This includes Share Certificate holding companies.
Cancel uk telephone
Make arrangements with Credit Card companies and other financial institutions for on line working (they often need this instruction confirmed by phone)
Have Boot sale
If you are taking a container or part load –
Scrub shoes and disinfect – they get through ok.
Ditto garden tools – if necessary paint handles/blades – no problems
You can ignore pessimistic threads re difficulty taking garden things (except lawn mowers) SO LONG AS YOU CLEAN THEM wipe with Jeyes fluid and mark them that this has been done
Same for bicycles and childrens garden toys.
Sort out Christmas decorations, throw away pine cones and etc. Mark the box ‘tinsel, tree ornaments an d fairy lights’ NOT Christmas decs. (can mark NO PINE CONES etc.) No problems then
If you have store cupboard don’t throw away. You can take anything that is not opened. Jams, Pasta, pickles, sugar, sauces coffee tea and etc. (BRING MAYONNAISE – Australian type UGH)
If you use Decaf Coffee you may wish to bring lots of this Not readily available only Nescafe and the price is extortionate – not just one pound more than the same size ordinary coffee.
Stock up with your favourite ‘over the counter’ medication inc. multi vits, cod liver oil and sea sickness pills etc. (very expensive here compared with the Super market’s Own Brands in uk.) Include Nu-skin (not available in australia)
Arrange Post Office redirection to Australian address.
Leave couple of pages of labels addressed to a friend/relative in uk for odd bits that get through then and later for the new owner of your house to use. Then they can sort out and pass on if necessary to you.
Get details of your medical records from Doctors (Max charge 50 sterling – but my doctor gave me a copy of the print out he would take on a home visit for free) and this is sufficient for most people.
Get a couple of months supply of medication to cover you while you get sorted with a GP in Australia.
Cancel Car insurance and get letter of confirmation of your NCD to use in Australia.
Cancel house insurances
Cancel TV Licence and ask for refund
Ensure that you ask all refunds to be paid directly into your uk bank account as they send you cheques to Australia and this is not much use. (or make arrangements for a friend/relative to have a paying in bok and get the refunds sent to them)
Organise Travel insurance for the trip (your annual one may not cover one way travel)
Open an Australian Bank a/c (We found HSBC cheapest and best. Not many branches outside large towns but ALL post Offices are De Facto branches) Get forms from local uk HSBC and then arrange via HSBC Canary Wharf – very helpful people.
Open a/c with currency exchange people (HIFX have easiest and quickest forms but DO NOT ALWAYS give the best rate)
Get your eyes tested if the annual test is due – take copy of result
Go to dentist for same
If you have private health insurance get copy of your contracts as some Australian companies will accept a ‘roll over’ and not make you have a ‘waiting period’.
Organise your plane tickets – CHECK that they will give you migrants’ extra luggage allowance. (or go via USA on USA airlines who give 64 kilos per person in two cases)
Arrange for the movers (if you are taking a container)
Make a list of the items it is worth insuring (only insure breakables etc. most things only cost you unnecessary money)
Download and save anything crucial on your computer (they do not like to travel) Unplug everything yourself (the packer broke pins out of our printer plug when he wrenched it out and we did not know for some time) had to purchase new plug.
If you have the facility burn your photos onto CD’s for safety and take them with you in luggage.
Get your mobile phone unlocked (can be done cheaply on line if necessary) Then purchase a pre paid pack in Australia to keep you going until you decide who to go with for the best cover for your chosen area. ($30 inc. $29 calls for a pre paid sim)
Cancel your mobile telephone contract.
Get copy of last years’ Christmas card list – surprising who you have forgotten to advise of your move.
Update your birthday book and include dates like mothers and fathers day for the uk (they are different here)
Photocopy passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, driving licence and keep in a separate place.
Advise Inland Revenue of your plans and fill in form for tax rebate.
Advise authorities re family allowance.
Don’t throw away your winter coat (it gets very cold here at night in the few weeks of winter)
Ditto the above for blankets and hot water bottles
If you have an electric towel rail BRING IT we do miss warm towels.
Go to web site for driving licence test questions and answers (the equivalent of the highway code is $38 and difficult to read.
http://day.uws.edu.au/~97070694/car-c.pdf
Take a few practice tests on line
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/...est/index.html
Bring all your coathangers – not much in the way of drawers in built in’s nor space for them in bedrooms so everything is hung up. I am still buying more coathangers after 7 months.
Get childrens test results and standard details for australian schools.
(I don't have school age children so do not know anything about your requirements - perhaps someone will extend the list of such needs.)

Jaykay

Hi Yafm

I drink International Roast Decaf Coffee - much nicer than Nescafe, and yes it is more expensive than regular coffee. I pay about $4.20 per tin and it is a small one (100g), but as I only drink 1 or 2 cups a day, it does seem to last.

ABCDiamond

We drink International Roast Coffee, but not decaf !!

Last time we got some it was $9.99 for a 500gram tin. Either Coles or Woolworths.

We prefer it to Nescafe too.

Woolworths Online prices are:
International Roast Coffee 100g $3.77
International Roast Coffee 200g $4.98
International Roast Coffee 500g $14.03

International Roast Coffee Decaf 100g $4.58

ohippy

That's an excellent list - very comprehensive - thank you

I've printed it out in the hope that I don't forget to do anything but I guess that's wishful thinking.

How easy is it to get a PO box from uk ? I dont have any contacts at all in Oz so no one to do it for me.

jerzy

Yafm,

Thanks for all that, must have taken you ages.

Whilst on the subject of coffee can you gey Illy coffee out there, their Espresso is the best I've tasted.

bundy

LOL! That's made me laugh! Excellent list yafm, bound to come in handy later on

Larissa

Thanks Yafm, have added more to my own ever-growing list... very helpful

bundy

I think we should produce a book from this site, made up of all the useful contributions such as this. Could make a mint!

Larissa

Lol, what a good way to put the waffling to good use! Maybe we could set ourselves up as Aus relocators... pass the fake tan please

bundy

Good idea!

With Carianne's info lists, and this one from Yafm, we've almost got a book already, and I'm sure I could come up with enough waffle to fill the gaps

Troood

Brilliant - thanks so much for taking the time out to do this. As I've only got 4 months to go it's good to have a checklist to make doubly sure I've covered everything.
And even better knowing about decaf as thats all I drink

maxpaxx

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yafm
Just an update on the list of ‘to do’s’ In the light of our
Experiences

Bless you this must have taken ages to type!

Did you pack the unopened food in your shipping then? I have got some icicng paste colours and they are expensive so would like to take them.

Thanks

Max

Stewie

Phew!

Is that all we've got to do before we go?

What an excellent list. It's enough to make you change your mind about emigrating!

I'll print it out and tick it off as we go.

Thanks for all the effort.

leanda

Thanks for the information especially the decaf which keeps me going, don't want to go all hyper in Oz, I sent you an e-mail asking you to print it out for me, this was meant to go to my Hubbie but somehow went to you!!! so apologies, don't expect you to send it to me LOL

sunchaser

Hi Yafm,

Thanks so much for that list, it must've taken you ages to type it out! We've already made a list but we now have a few new items to add to it. Very helpful indeed as we're pretty much on the home run now, only 8 weeks and counting to go! The removals are packing us up at the end of the month so we need to have pretty much everything done by then.

Sunchaser