tony_russell

Just in process of sorting all my stuff to send out to Aus and i'm looking at all this stuff thinking "is there any point in sending this or shall i just give it all away and buy it again when i arrive?" Somthings like personal stuff, music cds, certain clothes and golf clubs have to go but everything else?, fridge freezers, furnature, beds, tvs, crockery, music system, is it worth it? Do british TVs work in Aus and are flatscreen Lcd tvs cheap? -you can get 42'' ones for less than 500 quid here.
Have any of you gone to collect you containers 3 months later and thought why the hell did i bring that? lol
Looking at average prices, half containers go for anything up to 3 grand which seem a bit OTT when i could probably get all me necessarys into the space the equivalent of the back of an escort van Has anyone sent this size of stuff and how much did you pay?
Also, tradies, as far as ya crown jewels are concerned is it worth sending them out? I know 110v tools are useless but with my battery tools all i need to do is change the plug. Are decent powertools available at a good price? (De-Walt, Bosch, Makita) i remember working in Aus yrs ago and they were all using crap gear compared to what we had back home. Sorry for soo many questions, Brain is in overload! all help appreciated. Thanx tony

esperanza

Our stuff is being packed up in a couple of weeks, we're going through the same process of trying to eliminate excess crap.... In fact we are in the lucky position of not paying for our shipping, so could theoretically take everything (in fact could take twice as much as we have, seeing as we are young and haven't accumulated much 'stuff' yet!) but I see this as a good chance to jettison crap.
So we will be doing a lot of sorting!
One easy decision is to leave fridges and freezers unless they are brand new and you still have all the paperwork - in Oz they have to comply to regs about ozone/CFCs etc - old UK refrigeration units will not comply. So we're leaving our fridge and freezer. (Anyone in the UK want to buy?!)
Other people who have gone without much stuff have found it expensive to replace all the little things - each individual item might only be 60p but when you add it all up it's expensive. Also unnecessary hassle & disorientation. Take anything that is useful & in good nick. Dump anything that is ancient, broken, or you don't like!

busterboy

Best piece of advice on packing yet!

esperanza

EXCEPT VALUABLE ANTIQUES! Obviously!

sparkley23

In my opinion, given that you are not paying for shipping), take everything you think you might use/need. You can always chuck it when you get here. Better to take it than not and regret it.

mish & al

We brought everything apart from our fridge (buyers of the house bought it from us at the last minute) and i think for us, it was the best option. We had so many other things to sort out, like getting jobs and all the other nitty gritty things when we arrived (medicare, licenses, tax file numbers) it was a great relief to know everything was going to arrive very soon.

It also made the whole settling in part easier!
Just take the lot and like another poster said, if it's not costing you out, send the bloody lot!! Makes more time for chilling out in the sunshine later!!

All the best with the move!
Mish x x x

wmoore

We flogged some stuff at a car boot, sold some stuff and gave some stuff away but we wished we had kept some of it after we landed. Follow the advice of the others and bring everything you can if it works and is useful.

As for the TV ..... If you bring one it may or may not work. There are two problems:
1) Some Oz channels are on frequencies that some UK TV's can't receive
2) The sound standard is different here so you could end up with pictures but no sound.

We brought 2 TVs and one had problem 1 and the other number 2. However, one is in the bedroom plugged into a free-to-air digital decoder ($75 from Coles) and the other looks after the PS2 so both can still be used.

As for buying a 42" LCD, WOW Sight & Sound have one at the mo for $1399. Also some of the terrestrial channels are broadcasting in HD here now so it may be wise to look for a HDTV if you're buying now. I bought an LG 42" HD plasma from Good Guys recently for $2125 (Good Guys give you discount for cash ).

cherry6

We sold pretty much everything. Our stuff was fairly cheapo anyway, MFI, Argos and such like, so wasnt worth paying the extortionate amount removal companies charged. We just bought what we needed from equivalent cheap places here and as time has gone by replaced with better. We only came with $8000 anyway, so we learnt to get by with little. now we have too much!
My mum brought everything but the kitchen sink with her. She underinsured because the removals had cost so much and half her stuff turned up missing/broken. The removals company didnt give a sh*t and obviously the insurance didnt cover it. Very sad. Plus half her electrical stuff doesnt work here (cos its from the ark!).
To be honest some stuff is a lot cheaper here, so we are glad we sold the stuff we did, got that cash, plus saved on removals to buy here. Plus when the stuff turns up it always looks crappier than you remembered it...

Spikey

I remember this dilemma! In the end we didn't ship loads as we only had it shipped the week before we left. As it is we've been here a month and it's looking like at least another month before our furniture will be here. We figured that we'd need to buy/rent stuff in the meantime.

I wouldn't bother with tvs as they're not too badly priced here, ours was on the blink anyway. We sold our house to first time buyers so sold them a lot of the furniture/kitchen goods. I wouldn't bring things like wardrobes either as a lot of the houses have walk in/built in robes.

The only thing I would have had shipped with hindsight is my Bosch washing machine - I've ended up with another Bosch here and my one at home was a better model. I was under the impression that it was all top loader machines here but it isn't. However, I'd still have needed to rent one in the meantime.

All we shipped really was our leather lounge suite which is only a couple of years old, our bed (we've bought the kids new ones here) and a couple of chests of drawers. Other than that just crockery/cutlery and personal effects. While we're waiting for furniture we've borrowed some things from my sister in law and also bought cheap things from ikea marketplace.

esperanza

Valid point about needing to get 'interim' things whilst waiting for your container to arrive. That should make a difference to a lot of people's decisions.
For us, our things will go mid-Feb, we will go mid-April - expect to get it fairly soon after arriving. (Fingers crossed! And better hope we don't change our minds in March!)
On the whole, if we can't decide then we will take it, but I don't want to instantly fill up our garage/loft/spare room with boxes of crap that we don't want or need. It's a life-style thing!

jazzys

Regarding shipping stuff over to Oz, is it a case of using like half a container or nothing?

What if we wanna just take like a hi fi, my computer and a few personal bits for instance?

Jazzys

Abso

We did a big clear out before we left the UK and I now regret getting rid of some of those 'sentimental value' type things, and odds and ends.
If you have a continer then why not fill it! its not going to cost you much more. But then I am a bit of a hoarder

jazzys

Yeah but I don't need a container really, I'd rather there was an option of taking a very small container.

Is there nothing between a suitcase and half a container?

Jazzys

Abso

Yeah, I think you can just take crates and share a container with others, check out with your removers.

jazzys

That would be the thing for me, crates. Thanks

You'd think I would know wouldn't you, as I've emigrated before.

Cheers

Happy new year

Jazzys