KeelsH

Hello,

I was wondering if people could give me some advice..

My partner and I will be moving to Sydney on a 457 visa and we can't decide whether to just sell all our furniture before we go and start again in Oz or ship everything over.

Nothing we own is really worth anything - it was either given to us or we bought it for next to nothing - which makes me think we should just cut and run.

But at the same time, if we had to buy all that stuff again in one go it would cost a fortune.

There are certain things we will HAVE to ship over - clothes, shoes, my partner's tools - but I'm stuck on what to do with all our white goods and furniture.

We plan to rent somewhere when we get to Sydney - but is it much more expensive to rent a furnished (rather than unfurnished) place?

Also, can anyone recommend a shipping company? And how do they work out the price? Are there any hidden costs I should look out for?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!!!!

freebo

We did lots of research and ended up going with Atlas. I think it cost about £4,500 for a 20" container (must check, Mrs Freebo dealt with it) including insurance so if the value of stuff you're bringing over is less than that it may not be worth it, this was for a 4 bed det housefull of stuff, mostly newish. For us its a no-brainer as the beds, TV's & computers alone would cost more than that to buy again.

Its worth remembering that the moving guys pack everything for you, otherwise they can't insure it. They where packing at our house for 3 days!


HTH

EDIT: We've been looking at rentals, almost all are unfirnished, best bet is to look on domain.com.au, prices are way higher than the UK, although direct comparisons are difficult.

KeelsH

Thanks, I'll look into Atlas!

freebo

Sorry, I got the name wrong, it was Crown, not Atlas!

guygrace

I would not recommend Allied Pickfords!

We suffered theft of belongings using them.

Watch out

elice_in_oz

It really depends on how long you are planning to stay. As temporary residents, you can be subject to the whims of your employer and have to pack up and leave quickly. If that's the case, you might want to put your stuff in storage in the UK (just in case) and rent furnished here for a while. Unless you can get your employer to pay for shipping both ways (I've seen it done).

Exactly. You need to work out which is the least costly option. There are lots of threads on here about costs of furnishing a house, white goods, etc. Do an advanced search.

Could friends or relatives store/use some of it while you're away?

When we came 7 years ago, we rented an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment with tiny balcony for $325/week in St Kilda (Melbourne). We rented furniture and appliances for around $90/week so a total of $415/week. 18 months later, we got a furnished much smaller 1 bedroom ground floor apartment with small courtyard for $380/week just one street over in the same suburb. I guess looking at it now, it was more expensive to rent furnished.
*Disclaimer* The above are figures from 7 years ago, for Melbourne, only provided for comparison's sake. They do NOT reflect the current rental market!

As we did, you could rent unfurnished, hire some furniture for a while to see whether you like the place, the job is OK, the employer good, and then decide to buy new stuff if you are sure you can/want to stay.

chan012

We used Robinsons and didnt have any major issues. we only had about 15 boxes of mainly clothes and personal items. We only brought over 1 bed, 1 TV and a Microwave and a few other random kitchen items. Pretty much everything else we own was sold with the house and we just decided as it was a fresh start with the move we would have a fresh start with everything.
There was a delay in the container leaving England, although this turned into a good thing as it arrived after we had been here about 6 weeks and arrived in port the day we signed the contract for our new house so it meant it turned up to the new house less than 4 hours after we picked up the keys so it felt really good being able to put our own stuff in.

I would say only you can decide if its worth shipping stuff over or starting again when you get here.

And do be carefull when you read fully furninshed and find out exactly what is meant by furnished, we got an unfurnished place when we arrived as we didnt intend to be there very long, but we did view a furnished place and the aussie idea of furnished was curtains, carpets & a fridge !!! all aussie rentals must include a cooker / oven of some kind. Although with this in mind i have friends who went into a rental in a gated complex and everything down to bed linen & towels were included in the rent which is fantastic if you arrive with nothing

Sunbound

We used Allied Pickfords..and they were FAB !! No issues whatsoever with them.
To be honest you will get good and bad opinions on all of the shippers as most of the process is down to the humans involved...
My only advice would be to ship everything, i find replacing everyday stuff, such as rotary dryers, kettles and the like expensive here, and ensure you get good Marine insurance, Letton Percival come highly recommended on here.
Good luck !! Sunbound