rumbletum

To anyone contemplating taking their moggies over to the other side, I thought I would let you know how it went for us

Steve delivered them to Golden Arrow on 18th June and was very impressed with the set up there in Shropshire. I spoke with Mr Sorenson on the phone on Sunday 20th and was reassured that they had settled down ok over the weekend and that they would travel to Heathrow on Tues for their flight out to Sydney that afternoon.

They arrived in Eastern Creek Quarantine Station in Sydney on Thurs 22nd (the day we arrived in Singapore for our stopover) I rang them on the Friday from there and again had reassurance that they were ok.
We arrived in Sydney on 29th and went to visit the cats the following Tues at the quarantine station. It is very clean and well attended, although the holding cell was quite small. Having said that, me, Steve and the two girls fitted in and stayed there for about half an hour with both cats. They looked healthy, clean and well. Felix appeared to have lost a bit of weight, which he needed to do anyway. Molly looked at us and went back to sunbathing on the roof of the cell. I am calling it a cell, I dont know the proper name for these rooms. Felix enjoyed his heated fleece on the floor of his kennel, dont know if he let his sister join him!!
Anyway we visited them regularly during their time there (24th June till 24th July) and always found their room clean.
We collected them on Saturday 24th July after paying the final fee of $925. We drove them home in the crates which had been made for them and they settled down reasonably well.
Mollie was a bit more unsettled initially than Felix and would try to get into any cupboard space that she could... I think she just wanted to be in a small dark spot. This was only for a couple of days, they are fine now and are enjoying their new environment.
I bring them in every night before it gets dark, this doesnt seem to bother them, in fact I think they feel secure being with us.
Felix is a bit scared of the big birds .. especially the big black cockatoos, they are pretty noisy things!!
I would recommend Golden Arrow to anyone thinking of bringing their pets, we are so glad to be reunited with them and to see them looking so well. It is expensive, but because of the children, I dont think it was an option for us to leave them.
Hope this is useful info for anyone who may be feeling a bit anxious about it all.... I know I worried about them from start

ecando

HEATHER!!!!
HIYA!
Thanks for the update ... and nice to know you still remember us stuck in Ol' Blighty!
I took your advise ... many moons ago, and we too will be going with Golden Arrow ... Although, when we moved to our rented house, we lost a cat , but we still have Storm .
Great to hear from you.

rumbletum

Hi Jez

Sorry about your other cat - that must have been terrible. It is a very worrying time waiting for them to get out but they seem to do ok. Havent been writing much lately. Been a bit homesick and not really felt like it! My brother has been here from Germany though over the weekend and will be back at the end of the month when he finishes his travels around the east coast.
Going for an interview this morning at the Royal North Shore Hospital. The agency had nothing for me in the last wo weeks or so - so decided to ring the hospitals direct and sent them my CV. I want to work on the pool for a while and then see what happens. They have a very good neonatal ITU apparently there, so I hope to get back into that area again.
I will let you know how it goes.
The weather here is beautiful - I still feel it a little cool in the evenings although the days are hot around 20 but the sun feels much hotter than that.Most evenings my cheeks are a bit pink from the sun, I think its easy to get caught out if you're not careful.
Kids and Steve very settled. We also sat our drivin test at the RTA last week and passed - it was a very simple process, just 45 multiple choice questions that we had already practised on the website. Having said that I did get one wrong
Bought a BBQ yesterday - these things are so cheap out here!! We will be testing it out on Saturday.
By the way, how are things going there with your application???

Regards

ecando

It sounds wonderful !
We've had our acknowledgemnt (yesterday! )
however, our meds got to ASPC beofre our application, and now they can't find them, and say they "hope they'll turn up in a month"
... as to what to do next ....

rumbletum

Sorry to hear about your medical forms... I hope they turn up soon

After 6 weeks here, we have been desperately waiting for our shipment and today received a letter to say that Customs had done their inspection but they are required to clean 5 pairs of shoes and dispose of some Xmas decorations - at a total cost of $198.00
I thought we had gone through everything very carefully but it goes to show that some things can slip through!! I had also packed a heat pillow - you know the sort that you warm in the microwave which are great for aches and sprains. It was really nice, filled with lavender. Anyway they are charging me $33 to destroy it!! So be warned, it is very easy to forget that these sorts of things are a 'no go' Still I guess it could have been a lot worse really. It is just a case now of authorising payment and then Customs will check that they have been disposed/cleaned and delivery will be made....cant wait!

AngnPaul

Hi, was wondering if I could ask you loads of questions about shipping? We are starting to think about what to take/leave. Who did you use? Did they advise you on what was allowed in? We want to take beds and the 3 piece suite but they are timber framed - will this be an issue? Were your company reliable - would you recommend them? How much did it cost you?
If you could answer some or all of these questions it would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Angie

rumbletum

Hi Angie

No worries about all the questions - ask away I will be glad to help.

We used PSS International Shippers and found their price to be similar to Pickfords, maybe a bit cheaper. They were fantastic in England, the two guys who packed for us worked from 6.30 am until 6 oclcock in the evening. They only stopped for a bit of lunch, they were very professional and respected our belongings, wrapping everything very carefully. It took them two days and at the end of the second day we realised that they had underestimated the amount we had. We filled one 20ft container and needed a little bit more to go groupage which cost an extra 400 pound - total of 4,500 approx (pounds - sorry dont have a pound symbol on my aussie keyboard )
With reagard to beds and three piece - we brought ours without any probs. Set of solid pine bunks and cabin bed and also a pine garden table and benches which passed inspection without any further need for cleaning or fumigation.
If you look on the AQIS website there are very comprehensive lists of what can be brought to Australia and what is considerred high risk. We also brought some food items - again you need to check what is allowed. My kids adore Hellmans mayo so I brought two jars which was allowed cos they contain less than 10% egg.

We had our belongings arrive on Thurs - delivered by OSS, which is the PSS group over here. Again the guys were great and worked from 8am till around 5 unloading and unpacking boxes. Every piece of paper and cardboard box was removed and they will return when we have finished unpacking the remainder of the boxes. They would have unpacked everything but there were some that I wanted to stay packed for now as we are in a rental and will be moving on again in 4 months.

My computer desk had a broken leg and so far that looks like the only thing broken - which is not a major prob as it was an old desk from IKEA so not really bothered. I brought out a load of Stuart crystal (wedding presents) and not a isngle piece has been damaged. My fridge looks great too, I expected a little bit of mould, but I did put a load of those little silica gel bags in... you know what you find inside a new handbag, they were very useful too to put into the kettle etc. or anywhere that might get damp.

As well as your quote in the UK you need to think about what you will pay here - inspection costs from Customs $375 for our first container and we have just had a bill for another $165 for our second amount which includes kids scooters and some garden chairs, but it isnt a lot of stuff really. Its good to just be aware that there will be extra costs. And as I mentioned before if somethings do need to be destroyed or cleaned, they will charge you for this too!!

I hope this has helped and I wish you lots of luck.