Where do you start? I can only find firms that give you little cardboard boxes max 30 kg to send by sea. I don't want to send furniture but I would like to send bulk clothes and a few smaller electrical items. Otherwise you literally arrive with nothing else except your suitcase, is that how everybody else emigrates to Australia? Start all over again with nothing except the contents of your suitcase?

Do some googling for "international removal boxes" - you need stuff like these
https://smartpackaging.direct/?gad_s...YaAuw3EALw_wcB

Strong, double-walled boxes. You can buy them and then choose a company to ship them.

Alternatively, check out some actual international removal firms, who can give you a quote for either shipping your boxes, or can provide you with boxes. You then either pack yourself, or they can pack for you.
I'm a bit out of touch with current UK removal firms, but I can recommend Britannia as they handled the UK end of my move back last year and were amazing. I would not recommend Anglo Pacific.
https://www.britannia-movers.co.uk/i...ional-removals

Also, do some searching back over the last few years on this forum and you'll find a lot of hints and tips about what its best to take or to leave behind and replace.

Helpful, thankyou. But what was the problem with Anglo Pacific? Typically, they are the only firm that I had found, they were the cardboard boxes that I referred to, which make up pitifully small quantities.

I don't feel it would be too fair to detail all my issues now as it was 20years ago, but among other things their communication was non existent, once the ship sailed they basically didn't want to know and did not inform me of delays at either end or en route. In contrast my stuff came home with Chess who sent frequent updates of the ship's position.

Do some googling, there are many more companies out there; try Crown, Pickfords, PSS, Seven Seas, and Britannia (I mentioned them earlier & can give them good reviews) and there are many others out there. They can all supply boxes, but you can also get boxes from places like Amazon or the other company I linked to before. Remember, even if the boxes seem small they have to be strong enough to cope with the journey and with a few loads/unloads, so cannot be too heavy. For instance you may think using one large box for books works, but when you or the mover try and lift it you'll find three small ones much easier. Getting strong boxes matter more than getting big ones!

I would also suggest making sure you use a big company, however tempting it is to use someone small and local. A big company will do the shipping themselves, a small one will have to hand your shipment to a larger one to actually move it internationally. Also big companies can help better with the import rules for Australia, and can generally give better advice.

Thankyou for your help. I have taken your advice and searched back, there seems to be two opinions, forget shipping (because it was too stressful) and buy everything again, or not quite sure what other people did. Can you still use your small UK electrical items in Oz? I definately want to have as much of my clothes shipped, and shoes, even if you can buy them in Oz, unless ofcourse that is being really stupid, perhaps to know which items of clothes are harder to get, or I should say which ones are more expensive to buy? I have got a lot of coats and shoes that I am very fond of, but I am hoping to head for mid to north VIC, Echuca direction, or Benalla north east VIC so maybe not needing coats or warmer clothes?

All your electrics will work, but take powerboards and adapters as the actual plugs/plug sockets are different. Its not like the US where the current/voltage is different. Many of my small electrics went out 20 years ago and just came back
Don't dump your warm clothes - many Aussie houses have little or no heating and appalling insulation and believe it or not you will acclimatise and need warm clothes mid-winter.
As regards other stuff, prices in Australia have rocketed n the last 5 years or so and now its often cheaper to pay for a container than t replace everything, unless its really all cheap furniture. Personally I always found British & European stuff better quality anyway, but thats just me!
Google is your friend. Do some research as to which shops exist in Victoria selling furniture, kitchen stuff etc, and look at current prices to replace everything. Do'nt underestimate the cost of replacing your life possessions from scratch, every spoon, plate, jar of herbs, pillow case etc. Its a very personal thing to decide, and also involves thinking about how you live until the container arrives if you ship everything, as well as costs of replacement vs shipping. Try doing a huge spreadsheet and working out what you have and all the costs - thats the way I did it coming home.

A few places to start - Kmart, Target, Coles, Woolworths, Ikea, Mitre10, Bunnngs, Good Guys, Amazon - the Aussie version,

Of course all this assumes you are either a citizen, or have a visa allowing you to import all your possessions (eg not a tourist)!

You just need a moving company, same as if you were moving within the UK, OR if you have a relatively modest stack of boxes - say 3-4 pallets stacked 6ft high, so say 6-8m^3, you might find a "freight forwarder" would be a better solution. Google <freight forwarder "your town"> (without the <>), and look for one that does residential service.

Whether you use an international removal company or a freight forwarder, they will arrange collection, loading, shipping, and do the paperwork. Then they will arrange a shipping contractor at the other end to receive your shipment, process the customs documentation, and arrange storage and/or delivery to an address of your choosing.

Be wary of trusting them to pack and do paperwork for Aus though. You need to check what is packed in which boxes and how its labelled, emphasis being on things like wood and food. Thats why you need someone familiar with importing personal possessions, not just freight, to Australia, and work with them to check the paperwork - don't just leave it to them or quarantine/destruction fees could be huge. They need to be aware that what they are packing is permitted. And they need to let the owner of the possessions know what sort of cleaning needs to be done (garden tools, shoes etc) or thats more fees.
Freight forwarders are less on top of rules for personal imports for Aus as they deal more in commercial/large scale on those routes - companies such as Maersk for example may seem economical, but are not used much for personal imports. Many shipments also require unloading and reloading at ports en route to change ships, which international removal firms deal with easily without the customer even knowing. Not sure how freight-forwarding works with shipping to the USA but its not an everyday option for Aus.
Fussy creatures, Australians!

Have you thought about a Move Cube? We sent our stuff from UK to Aus in one - just right for lots of boxes, a little bit of furniture perhaps (we didnt) and any other random stuff. Smaller than a container, obviously. We got a large cube with Seven Seas and cannot fault their service.

NE Vic, yes, you will need your winter clothing. Houses in Australia are not well insulated! You might also want to bring your gum boots or waders - been a lot of flooding in that area of late.

You have just described, in great detail, what a freight forwarders job is, like if someone had asked a medical question and I had recommended seeing "a doctor", you have just listed the areas of expertise and curriculum to qualify as a doctor. ..... It's not like the FF is just wrapping your stuff to a pallet, slapping a label on it, and putting it on a lorry to Harwich!

My point is that when shipping between UK and Australia, "freight forwarding" is not a common term and people talk of "international removal firms". For someone who clearly has no idea where to start, like the OP, using the terms which are common on the route she would be using makes things a lot simpler. In over 20 years on here the Aus forum has stuck to the terms used in that country.

Not saying ypu are wrong, of course you arent, they do the same job, but its just that as in other fields, migration UK/USA and UK/Australia use different terms and reference points for many areas.

Alongside the personal recommendations above, A great place to start for shipping is to check out FIDI website for a list of FAIM-certified international removal companies that serve your area to make sure whoever you're using is fully qualified, licensed and independently vetted for overseas moving and will handle the shipment competently door-to-door.

If you're not looking to take all your furniture then ask about 'part load' or 'groupage' services where you share space in a larger container with other customers moving to a similar destination to reduce your costs of shipping.
We find that many of our customers either take the majority of their household in a full container OR like you take the essentials and then replace larger items on arrival. As others have said it's a bit of a research process to take that decision - you need to consider:

• What you CAN take (considering bio-security requirements/restricted/prohibited items)
• What might not work
• What might already be provided / built in for a typical Australia property
• Cost to dispose and buy new vs. cost to ship
• Sentimental value

Definitely look at seven seas. They ship boxes or move cubes of various sizes. Better than a shared container as your stuff is in it’s own sealed cube box within the container so less likely to lose stuff or get mixed up.
Son used a small move cube and you can fit a surprisingly large amount of stuff.
we had a full 20 ft container with furniture and white goods as well as clothes etc.
Not cheap but when you add up the cost of replacing……