Robbo2

Hi to all,
I really need some advice from all you expats who have experience!
I hope I don't sound completely stupid, but what do I need to bring to Oz and what do I sell here before I come?
My predicament is as follows: When I arrive in Oz I will just have a suitcase of clothes, (as well as Hubby and two children!). I am hoping to stay in accommodation especially rented out for new immigrants (for approx 3-4 weeks). In the meantime, my "stuff" from UK will be on it's way over. When I get a rented house, approx a month or so from arriving, I hope (is this realistic?) I won't have my "stuff" to go in it. What does one do in the meantime? Beg, borrow, steal? Or do I just not bother bringing anything and buy it all when I get here?
I'm not talking about big things like book cases and tables etc, cause I can live without them until they arrive, but what about the basics like bed linen, towels, crockery and cutlery etc???
Am I just worrying unecessarily, or are my fears realistic guys?
This emmigration thing is such an emotional rollercoaster. Hope you can help.
Thanks in anticipation.
Robbo2.

Chris Mitchell

Hi Robbo,

Not done this yet, so probably not the reply you wanted. We are a long way off going yet but have given this some thought along with what to take.

Plan to buy some new essentials when we arrive as things like my quilts are needing replacing. Will carry towels with us. I believe there are companies you can hire things from when you arrive.

Its a real emotional rollercoaster isnt it so many ifs and buts shall we shan't we???

Good luck, hope someone comes along with how they managed

Chris

Robbo2

But you understand! That helps immmensley!
Thanks for that Chris. Good Luck with your plans.

jskogsta

It's not like we're there yet, but we finally got all our visa stuff sorted yesterday. We're planning to leave late may and take nothing but our few bags with us.

We know this is going to be a costly way of doing it, but the way we see it; it is a chance to get a clean start. A little scared as well since we have two children: 2.5+ years and 7 months, but we'll manage.

Will probably be scared shitless when we land in Melbourne though, but it is one of those few occasions in life you really see what you are made of. Either you buckle under or just cope with it.

Cheers,
Jørgen

Chris Mitchell

Where you heading, we originally looked at South Australia they have a 'meet and greet'scheme, differing reports on these but they provide you at some cost with basic accomodation furnished with the essentials, might be worth investigating if where you are going offer any thing similar.

Chris

sheila and joe

Are u shipping your stuff out on a particular date? ie when leaving the UK? if so how long do the shipping company expect it to take to get thru customs etc? are u saying your 1st 3-4 weeks is in furnished accommodation and then u are going into unfurnished?? -- if this is the case and u are shipping then why not spend the xtra dosh in the first (furnished?) accom for longer, as this might be cheaper than buying new or renting other furniture??

sorry if I am confused by your thread, or mine is confusing but am drinking a rather lovely south australian white (what else!!)
sheila

JAJ

In my experience you should bring everything you have except:
- junk; and
- stuff which obviously won't work in Australia (TV normally falls into this category)
- stuff which is impractical to take (eg cookers or something that may fall foul of quarantine).

If you need something to tide you over in the period before your shipment arrives, buy something cheap and when your goods do come you can decide whether to keep it as a spare or give it away.

Buying high quality items is expensive in Australia, and it's a recipe for stress when you won't know exactly where to get things. Also, familiar items (when they arrive) will be a source of comfort.

Jeremy

Rich and Angie

We have been saying this for the past few weeks what do we take!! What do we leave!!

We went through every room in the house and said well wardroveas are fitted and we need new beds so thats the bedrooms sorted... by the time we finished I think we got down to the leather 3 & 2 seaters a unit thats from IKEA the kids toys, the puter, oh and us with suitcases of clothes.Obviously there wil be a few boxes of personal stuff like photos etc...

Anyway if you're stuck Brisbane have a very good IKEA so Im told and they sell everything all under 1 roof.

Good Luck anyway with whatever you decide to take with you.

Ang

hevs

Take everything that you can and clean it!! customs checked our dyson our shoes, bikes and xmas decs.

I have read some advice on here that i wish id read before we moved. Ship your stuff four weeks before your due to leave, its easier to borrow off friends and rellies while in England, at least you have some

Our suppose 4 weeks took nearer 9 due to xmas

Friends of ours packed a case of linen, and essentials.

hevs

Our TV works fine overhere through an aussie video.

Strass

Head for the nearest Dollar Store!!!!! Spent a lot when we first arrived here, but it goes a heck of a long way!

Flying Banana

What to bring...what to leave....

A difficult question as it will depend on the quality of stuff you have, it's age, how attached to it you are etc etc. Often having those familiar items around you whilst you are settling in can help.

Again another factor is your removal plans, if you're going to pay for a sole use container fill it to the brim as it doesn't cost you any more. If you're only sending a part shipment then obviously you want to bring less rather than more.

I would say leave the fridge as they don't travel well and Aussie Kitchens generally have space for a larger one than in the UK. If your washing machine is newish and or decent then consider bringing it, all the fittings here are the same so all it needs is a new plug on the electric string. Same with a tumble dryer, if it's decent and not too old. I worked on the premise that looking around in the UK you won't get much for second hand furniture/whitegoods etc and I had already budgeted for a sole use 20' container, as it happened everything fitted in barring 2 boxes which came shortly after on a part shipment.

I have heard of quarantine having problems with vacuum cleaners, I spoke the AQUIS when I was over here on reccie trip and they recommended dismantling it and scrubbing it with disinfectant, if they can smell it when they arrive should avoid problems. Fridges, if older with CFC's are not allowed for import (was another thread recently). Garden tools - mower is pretty much a nono as you'll never get it clean to Quarantine standards. I left all my garden tools as the people buying my house bought them off me for a decent amount.

I also sold my UK TV as everywhere I looked it said that wouldn't work here but reading here it would appear that it would have worked fine (not too upset as it was only a cheapy Bush one from Tescos anyway and got nearly what I paid for it from a guy I worked with)

Regarding what to do when you arrive here, I was in the same boat as Hevs, due to xmas, my stuff left my UK house on Oct 12th, I arrived in Melbourne on Nov 14th and my stuff was finally delivered on Dec 30th.

There are hire companies out there who will supply rental furniture but they are expensive and will usually only rent for 1 month minimum. Also have heard they don't exactly supply the greatest quality stuff.

You have several options depending on how furnished you want the place to be. Go to Kmart and get air matress(es), towels and bedding there are cheap too, I just got the bare minimum to tide me over. I went to Ikea, bought their kitchen starter pack for about $100 (might have been a little bit more but not much) contains everything you need to cook for a few weeks. Also got a cheapo cutlery set and some plates/mugs glasses.

Obviously wanted a decent Aussie Barby so got one which gave me more cooking options and needed outdoor furniture so bought that as well.

As the place I'm renting in is bigger than the my place in the UK and there was a second 'family' living area I ended up buying a sofa bed when the delivery date for my stuff was pushed back over xmas, and after the cats came out of quarantine and punctured the air matress twice I got fed up of waking up on the floor lol, I got a nice full double bed metal frame sofa bed for $500 delivered the next day.

Really I'd say your decision on what to take or bring depends on your removal plans, container/part load, and how much you want to spend here to tide you over. Doesn't really help much I know.

I suppose the best thing regarding deciding what you buy here to tide you over is wait till you're here, and have a delivery date for your stuff. Once you have that and find a rental property you can gauge how long you need to manage before your stuff arrives. Getting a rental property here can be pretty quick but you need to be fairly pro active. Most agents have a property list which comes out either daily or weekly, however the best way is to check www.realestate.com.au every day and get round and view as soon as possible. Here in Melbourne at least places in good areas will go fairly quickly. Assuming you find somewhere you like that is vacan it is as simple as putting in an application and once this is accepted by the agent/landlord you can be in in a matter of days.

Some more info is at:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=293354

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291000

Just try a search of the forum and I'm sure you'll turn up plenty more info.

Good Luck with the move, hope it all goes well. And don't worry you'll be so busy settling in and getting everything sorted out you won't even notice the time before your stuff gets here.

jensteve

One of the best things we did was to send all our stuff over before we went, by the time we arrived the container showed up a few days later, and we where there to do the paperwork that needed doing, signing customs forms etc as your container cannot be processed until that has been done, and we managed to get it all done within 2 weeks of arriving, rented a house and got the furniture delivered a few days later.
So if at all possible try and send out your container before you leave, its easier begging off relatives in the UK than over here, plus a couple of weeks in a bed and breakfast wouldn't kill.
We found this to be the easiest thing but people have different ideas.
Jenny

lauralollipop

we took 8 boxes of stuff and crammed as much as we could into them, bedding, hoover, personal belgings.....

best thing i brought was my quilt, and i wish i had of brought both of them and not just one, as they are crap over here and expensive! (And my PC)

worst thing i brought was tonns of bedding (sheets, quilt covers) as it all doesnt fit the beds here!

I wish that i had brought more towels as we have hardly got any and they are quite expensive here too!

In hindsight I wish I had brought everything now (execpt electrial items, as we cannot get the plugs changed and its a pain having to use convertors all of the time). If anyone know where they sell plugs in Melly please let me know as i desperatley need to change the plugs on my stuff!

So my advice would be unless you wanna live in an Ikea show room like me, bring EVERYTHING except electrial items and as someone has already mentioned ship them over before you leave Uk.

I thought that selling all my stuff and buying new would be great fun, but its a pain in the ass walking around the shops all day looking for stuff that you have just sold for a pittence, when you could be out exploring your new home country. Plus all of the shops were far apart from each other here and the furniture is all old fashioned and expensive for what it is, we had to buy all cheep ikea stuff as it was costing a FORTUNE to replace everything that we needed, and some stuff we still havent got yet, for example a bedroom digital alarm clock, and we really need one of those asap! But we can only buy a few bits each payday as it all mounts up!

good luck

laura
xxx

hevs

ermmm, bunnings, mitre 10, IGA, etc etc?? At IGA they are $2.50, much to Bunnings horror where they're $5 and i got my 15% price match You'll need about 100!! My thoughs exactly[/QUOTE]