vunklawx

Hello you all, especially those who have moved from the U.S. to Austrlia...

Finally my OH and I are making the big move to down under in a few months and we have some silly questions we hope any of you can answer:

- Where would be the best place to buy a big load of clothes (putting aside luggage cost) AU or US?

- What about electronics?

- How much in cash would be advisable to carry with us during the trip?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated...

scrubbedexpat020

1. US
2. US but remember you will need to use an adapter.
3. I think the max allowed to bring in is 10,000AUD. We brought 500AUD and used our UK credit cards until we had made contact with our Aus bank and picked-up a cash-card.

Best thing to do is to open an Aus bank account and transfer some cash so that it is here when you arrive.

I think all the main banks allow you to open a bank account over the internet: NAB, Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac.

For transferring the money to your bank account do a search here. Different people have different recommendations.

Ian

melbournegirl

Hi

Buy your clothing in the U.S. at it is probably cheaper though anything you need you can easily buy here.

Where are you going to be living?

comet555

We bought our laptop computer before we left Canada. It was a lot cheaper there and since it was dual voltage we only needed a $5 adapater. So as long as it's dual voltage (almost all are) then you'll have no problem using it here.

As for clothes, it depends on what you like. If you wear a lot of designer or american brand clothes then you'll want to stock up before you come. But if you just wear average stuff then it probably won't make too big a difference. Personally, I'd probably bring over a good chunk of clothes because it probably is a bit cheaper and you're more familiar with the stores & sizes there.

As for cash, you probably don't need a massive amount. I would open up a bank account the first few days you're here. Then I'd transfer over the rest of your money. We used our Canadian credit cards for hotels, meals, etc, but then we had a relative back in Canada who could pay the bill for us when it was due. So that helped out.

vunklawx

Hey! Thanks all of you guys who replied.

We'll be more likely to settle in Sydney first.

Yes. We recently ordered a laptop from Dell (We noticed a HUGE difference on what we paid here and what we would have paid down under) and we got ourselves one of those converters, too.

About the transfer of money, we are almost all ready to do it except that we still need to sell some assets. We wouldn't want to get caught on the official recession announcement in this country since I believe that would dramatically affect the exchange rate.

About the clothes, what about the business-like attire for daily work, i.e. suits, khakis, ties, etc. Would it be cheaper to get a good load here before moving, or wait and buy them in Sydney?

Thanks again!

comet555

You shouldn't need a converter for anything unless you're trying to run a hairdryer or other small appliances that aren't dual voltage. Personally, I won't run anything on a converter (especially anything expensive).

A converter will change the voltage so you can run the appliance but it won't change the Hertz so your machine will run faster or slower than it normally should. It's not good for long term use. So my advice would be to make sure all your things are dual voltage and whatever is not replace when you get here.

We brought our digital camera and laptop with us since both were dual voltage. Printers are usually dual voltage as well, and some new tv's might be also. As long as your appliance is dual voltage all you will need is an adapter to be able to plug it into the wall. We don't even own a converter.

Don't know about the sydney business attire but I'm thinking suits, or at less dress pants and dress shirt. My husband had an interview in the cbd and was wearing khaki pants and a short sleeved collared shirt. The rest of the building was definitely more dressy then he was. Didn't matter though as mining engineers are not typically known for their fashion sense!

comet555

Be careful about tv's too. Even if you have a tv that is dual voltage the video system is different here. In the states and Canada it's NSTC and here it's PAL. A lot of newer tv's will handle both.

scrubbedexpat020

The Aussie dollar is pretty strong at the moment due to China + ROW taking minerals, etc, at nice prices no thanks in part to speculators helping to run up the prices of all sorts of commodities not just metals. Look at the price of gold, oil and staple food stuffs.

We have just had an inflation hiccup today hence the renewed strength in AUD due to a potential inflation rate rise. Given the banks have been hammered and are trying to re-build their balance sheets it seems it doesn't matter whether their is an increase in base rates as they have gone risk-averse as reflected in their market rates.

In short, I wouldn't be rushing to transfer all my cash today. Bad news from China or somewhere could see speculators getting burnt very quickly with a positive (from your perspective) effect on the Aussie dollar.

Drip it over.

Ian