Jowindsor

Hi everyone!!!
Jus joined the forum and hope everyone is keeping well!!
Me,My husband and 2 little ones are moving to Sydney in December.
I am in need of some advise,
1)Would anyone recommend a removals company,I am getting quotes from Robinsons,Britannia,Excess International,TeamRelocations,&Pickfords.Has anyone used any of these recently?
2)Planning to buy/rent apartment in a safe area nearer to good state schools or Catholic schools?Any suggestions?
3)Good schools for a 10 year old Girl and 5 year old Boy?Preferrably a co-ed?
4)Planning to export my BMW 1series,Is it worth doing it,Although I fancy selling it here and buying a convertible there,Any thoughts?

Looking forward to hearing from friendly members-

Many Thanks in advance...

Kapri

Hi Jo

Welcome to B.E.

I'm sure someone who lives in Sydney will be along to help when they wake up but in the meantime there is a great search facility. You'll find lots of really useful threads.
Warning: Be prepared to spend hours on here looking at them

paddyo

Jo, welcome to BE.
1. We used Pickfords but they were our company's Preferred supplier, having said that they packed and moved all our stuff with no issues at all. We also had a Air Freight allowance of 500kg which allowed our smaller and most needed items to arrive quicker.
2. You will hear so many opinions of good suburbs but it really is down to your own preference and needs. Look at where you or your husband is going to work and then see what the commute is like. Do you want to live near the bush or near the beach? Do you prefer inner city or outlying suburbs. My initial thoughts are for you to look at the Northern Beaches and North Shore which would cover most of your needs. Places like Gordon, Pymble, St Ives etc would be good and might fit in with the 'Windsor' style of Anglo Saxon demographic. For beach towns look at Avalon, Curl Curl, Newport. Lots of good schools there (Public/Private and Denominational), and lot of ex pats around for meet ups etc.
3. No one can advise of schools until we know where you are going to live. Sydney is MASSIVE area and can stretch for 100k long to 70k wide!!! Most of the Private tend to be single gender but you do get some co-ed. If you are coming on a 457 Temp Business Visa then you have to pay for public schooling ($4500 per child per year).
4. Sell it in UK and get a car out here. The cost to transport plus getting it registered and licensed in Oz is hardly worth it. Get a Novated Lease off of your salary package which is a cost effective and tax effective way to get a car when you arrive. Reconsider your thoughts on convertible, they are lovely in the rare days of UK sunshine but in the summer here it gets very hot and you do NOT want lack of cover when driving. Air Con was invented for Sydney!!

moneypenny20

Welcome.

RedT

Hello and welcome!

We used John Masons last year and absolutely couldn't fault them. When the boxes arrived in Australia they looked like they had never been touched, let along come half way around the world! They were considerably cheaper than other quotes we had too (including insurance).

best of luck!

Therese

carolinephillips

Welcome - I second the advice given regarding cars and areas to live. I live in St Ives, and places round here are very family friendly, reasonably close to transport and have good schools. Blocks are bigger here although there are more apartments going up, and there are plenty of parks, shops and swimming pools within a few mins drive. St Ives has no pubs, but does have a wine bar and some restaurants.

Snap Shot

Good luck with all your plans. We moved to NZ (yeah I know, not Aus). We used PSS and thought they were good.

We used to live in Woking. I catch myself remembering how nice Windsor was to visit.

Jowindsor

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words..Really really so helpful!!!I really want to be in the beach side,so will look into one of the areas mentioned above..Point taken about movers and cars!!!

Could someone recommend nice beach areas closer to Hurstville,NSW2220?And good Catholic Independent school and private school near that area,may be around 15 to 30 mins commute??I think there is a possibility of renting/buying nearer to NSW2220 based on our needs!!

Many Thanks,
Jo

paddyo

Ah.......right. Hurstville is a busy suburb and a hub for transport (bus/train) and has the largest percentage of Asians in Australia. That's not a bad thing, just a fact. If you want beach suburb with a commute to Hurstville I would look at Cronulla or the other suburbs nearby towards Sutherland.
Commute in Sydney is weird....well I think so. People think nothing of commuting every day over an hour each way, sometimes 2 or more. Anything less than 30 mins is rare, traffic can be bad so for Hurstville I would seriously consider public transport i.e train. I live on the southern beaches and Hurstville is just over halfway towards my place of work in the CBD.
In fact, I'll cut to the chase.....don't live in Hurstville!! Especially do not live anywhere west of there towards Bankstown, ignore the cute suburb names likes Beverley Hills and Padstow as they are NOTHING like the UK or US versions.

Jowindsor

Thanks PaddyO!!!

Ok will tak the advise on Hurstville!!!I have arranged for Pickfords to give a quote for the move tomorrow!!!Hopefully all goes well!!

I have promised my kids to live near the beach as thats something we dont get to do often here in UK,SO I have to keep up my promise as they are bit upset to leave their freinds-

Could I ask you something?Is there a departmental store similar to NEXT and a toys store similar to TOYSRUS there?I have all their summer clothes all ready ,but not sure if I have to get more here or I can come there and get it?

Which will be the popular car there,I need leather interiors and more boot space??Any thoughts?

Also how about Mobile phones?I am on Tesco network here with 5000 text and 500 calls and unlimited internet for 10pounds a month?And I use Lycamobile for International calls?Is there anything similar there,I have an unlocked Iphone,I can just get a SIM and start using I suppose???

Many Thanks,
Jo

paddyo

lol.....Jo, calm down. There are LOTS of department stores and Toy stores all over Sydney. As I said its a huge place!!
In between Hurstville and Cronulla there is a suburb called Miranda which has a huge Mall and should have most of what you are looking for.
For the kids....do NOT promise anything you cannot keep, you are the adult so be the 'tough cop' and make the decisions. How old are they?
For their clothes and toys they have Target, KMart and Big W which are large department stores. We used to get our sons clothes from Gumboots which is more expensive but good stuff. Once you get here and find a place then explore and you will find all you need.
Car...wow....whatever you like in UK then its also here pretty much. People are more into 4WD SUV's here, Japanese and Asian cars are obviously in abundance but pretty much all European makes are as well. Again, once you get here then it will all become clear.....you will miss some UK things but you will adapt, you have to otherwise you will go mad!!
Like UK there are LOTS of mobile phone providers, I use Live Connected which is $25 per month for $1500 of calls, 500mb of data and free social network and gmail. Telstra are their equivalent of BT here but there is a lot of choice. Your iPhone will be fine with any providers Sim.
Your priority will be to get here, find some Temp Accom while you look around for a place to live. Then sort out schools and then the rest will fall into place. Has your husband got a relocation package which includes a relocation agent? That would be invaluable and was a massive benefit for us as they took my wife and son around all the different suburbs and houses whilst I settled into work.
House...rent first, either 6 months or 12 but that will be the best way for you to get to know an area and also see other surrounding places and get to know your commute/shop/school options.

paddyo

oh....and by all means canvas other opinions....mine are just based on my personal style, which is of course flawed!!

Jowindsor

Ha ha...Yeah..Feels like its all happening so soon...I am nervous that all should go well!!!Had a look at all the shops online and wow yeah all good...Many Thanks.My kiddos are 10 year old girl and nearly 5 Boy..No relocation package,us jus doing it all-Yes of course ,accommodation and schools are the top priority..We land on the 9th and the schools close in less than 2 weeks for holidays and I am not sure if I will make the right decision-Also dont think we will be able to rent a place in 2 weeks and get the bills sorted out and get the school admission sorted,it seems impossible..I am sure all schools ask for utility bills and lease agreements!!!Kids might miss few weeks of school I suppose!!!

Thanks for the phone info,I am jus trying to get an idea of what to expect!!!

paddyo

No point putting the kids into school for less than 2 weeks. Brand new place, you won't know the area, jet lag etc etc.
I suggest plan for at least 4 weeks to get here and find a place and get the keys. If you are lucky. A good house will be sought after and it is very competitive here, have a look at Domain.com for house prices for both rental and buy for the areas you want to look at. It is very expensive in Sydney.
They will NOT let you sign up for a place until you have viewed it so you can't plan until you get here, it is for your peace of mind as well as there's, believe me a palace in a picture can be a dosshouse in reality! Have a amount in your mind of your optimum weekly rental and use that to get an indication of what you can afford in various areas.
Have fun!

Lisa and Martin

Hi Jo,

I relocated from Burnham, just down the road from you, to St Ives in Sydney 3 years ago. I've been back in the UK for the past few weeks for a wedding but can't wait to get back to the Sydney sunshine! On the flight on Sunday...

We got shipping quotes from a few of the usual suspects, prices can vary quite a bit but they are all negotiable, get a few to see how accurately they estimate the space you need.

We used Doree Bonner in the end, got them to match a lower price from another shipper. The reason for this is that we needed to do quite a lot of sorting ourselves - vacuum packing duvets and clothes, making sure cupboards etc were filled rather than shipping dead space. This is quite time consuming, and as you go through your years of detritus you will also be sorting out what to clean/treat, sell, throw away etc. It's a bit overwhelming to think they will be coming in to collect it all at once. Our contact at DB estimated it would take 3 days to pack and load, so we asked them to split the 3 days across 3 weeks. This meant we could mark up the stuff we could do without with a sticker, they would come in and pack that and take it to their warehouse in High Wycombe, it would be out of our way, the house would be a bit emptier and give us space to deal with the next lot of stuff. The final pick-up was 2 days before we left, when they took the last of our furniture, essentials etc and we were left with just suitcases which we took to stay with family.

I don't know whether this would work with other shippers, but because DB were only transporting as far as Wycombe each time it wasn't a problem.

Hope it all goes well,

Lisa