lynnbrooks

For those that have made the move....

Is there anything during the preparations of making the move to Oz that you wished you did/didn't do?
Any paperwork or plans you wished you had considered or regretted doing?

I am trying to do as much homework as poss to gain as much info to help us in our plans to move to oz and realise there is a lot to consider,making it easy to miss something.
We hope to go next year to WA and wondered if those that have made the big move to Oz ,have any 'pearls' about anything at all that may be easy to overlook or overdo in the run-up to moving.
My timeline is up to date if you want to know where we are at........
Cheers,
Lynn

lynnbrooks

i'm bumping this so our ozzie expats will catch this 2nite/2moro a.m.

louise orme

Hi Lynn,
We came to Wa in March 2005, the only things I would have done differently was maybe send our furniture sooner, it only left 2 days before we did and 6 weeks here without any was hard, it would have been easier having no furniture in the uk.
The thing we did right was have a great leaving do and quality time with good friends and family before we left, we found geting bank accounts and driving licences easy here, so far we are loving it here, although really looking foward to summer
Cheers Louise xx

lynnbrooks

Thanx for the reply,i was starting to get paranoid about my question,seeing all the people reading and not replying.
I wondered about sending our furniture out when we sell and move out our house,and go into holiday acc here for a few weeks.
I take it that furniture can be held at the docks untill people arrive.
Did you organise your house rental before you arrived in oz?
How easy was it to get a rental?
Lynn

lynnlovessun

Hi Lynn

You will find its quieter here at the weekend - you will get more replies tomorrow I'm sure - anyway though I'd through my 2 pounds worth in!

We moved out of our house on the 24th June - Crown came and packed up our house on the 23 rd June and have stored our belongings free of charge for 6 weeks - you can negotiate something like this when the estimator comes round - or negotiate free storage at their facilities in Australia if that suits you better - storage is all climate controlled anyway. We have been living at my mums since we moved out of our own house - only 9 weeks till we fly now - we are coping fine with just the stuff going in our suitcases - will probably have to leave a lot of toiletries and stuff but we can buy all that out there. Our shared container is now at sea as we speak - left Rotterdam on the 25th August and its estimated to arrive in Brisbane on 7th October - will still need to clear customs and after that it will go into storage in Brisbane until we phone to arrange a suitable delivery date - we arrive in Brisbane on 5th November and we have booked a fully furnished apartment for the 1st 3 weeks till we find an unfurnished rental property - only then will we get container delivered so we are looking at end of November - at least this way we should be able to get our stuff almost straight away.

In answer to your other question I wouldn't book a rental house before you arrive - IMO would be better to check areas out when you get there - you could end up in a rough part of town or with awful neighbours.

Anyway hope this helps and good luck!

Lynn x

lynnbrooks

Cheers for that Lynn.
Is there anything else you can think of during your planning a year leading up to your departure,that you wished you had considered or done differently?
Is there anything that is important for us to remember that someone had to tell you about?
Lynn

Loopy

It might sound silly but one thing I regret is not taking more photos. I wish I'd taken them of familiar places back home, favourite walks, the town, the house etc. as well as more of people too.

One good thing was giving my F-I-L power of attorney so he was able to tie up any loose ends for us.

Loopy

nfernand

Pay off all your credit cards and stop all store cards. For 6 months it will be hard to get a credit card from AUS. Make all accounts on internet enable.

Moody Cow

Paperwork wise...bring the docs from the sale of your house in the UK inc how much you got for it and how your money was transfered to Aus (copy of the wiring instructions from the bank). Luckily, I am a human squirrel and keep that sort of stuff anyway but I was asked to provide proof of funds and how I got them when we applied for our first mortgage.

Hope this helps.

MC

Bix da Boss

Hi Lynn
There are a few things I wish we had done in the last few weeks.

Made the time to see my Mum and Sister more, always TOO busy, regret that now!!
If you are able to CLEAR and CANCEL any credit cards you may have before leaving do so - pain in the ... waiting for the statements to come thru (if no on-line a/c)!!! We got done $60 for 'late' payments cause of the post! So, set up those on-line facilities if poss so you can pay it direct from your bank account or whatever!!

Keep a UK bank account open - cld come in handy till you get sorted in OZ, we have found it so anyway.

I agree, better to wait till you get here re renting a house - unless you are lucky enough to have someone check them out for you! You really need to be aware of the area surrounding the house - varies just like in the UK.
If your 'stuff' is not going to arrive for a while - try and stay in a 'fully furnished' apartment or something. After just emigrating, it is VERY hard to do without all those 'home comforts' as we found out! Expecially if you have kids! Need to keep them occupied to help them settle into their new life.


Good luck
Take care
Gill

J+J

Hi
My regret is not putting the house on the market sooner. We came out still having to pay the mortgage back in the UK and rent over here. (ouch!)
We sent our belongings a good 4 weeks before we left and just borrowed from friends and family. We thought it would be better to struggle in the UK rather than struggling in a country where we knew no one. It worked well for us.
We stayed with Destination Brisbane when we got here that offer a meet and greet service and fully furnished house. If you are aiming to be in the south side of Brissie there house is located in the Birkdale area which we found to be in a good location for looking around.
Hope this helps
Joe

lynnbrooks

Hi Loopy,thanx for the info but could you tell me more about the power of attorney stuff please?
Lynn

lynnbrooks

" "


I wondered about this.
We opened an account with the HSBC for the sole purpose of the money transfers etc. and wondered if it was worth applying for the credit card with thr offer of first 6mths free interest,about 1-2 months before we go,so we access to a card when we get there,would this work or not?
Lynn

lynnbrooks

"

Glad you told me that because I'm the opposite to you,I chuck and keep chucking things,cheers
Lynn

Kangablue

Hi Lynn,

You may want to consider the Inland Revenue. It seems to be policy that when you leave the country and have been paying at a high tax bracket that they want you to a Self Assessment (if you have not done so before) for each year you have been paying tax at that level. It's a bit of a nightmare doing this from Australia (if they can contact you) and going back several years of your accounts. It may be best to deal with this before you leave and anyway you may entitled to a tax refund.