Shipping stuff to Australia - what to take?

[HighFibreDiet]

Just as the thread title says, what would you recommend we take and what can we buy when we get there? I am sure there will be as many different opinions as posters on this one, but I thought I'd start it off anyway .

Are you moving here permanently? Where are you moving? The answer is very different if it's Sydney or a station in the outback, after all.

Yes, we need more info. Basically though the exchange rate is pretty shit now - we moved three years ago (for good) and brought very little with us except personal stuff. We were really pleased as it meant we could buy furniture that suited the (usually bigger) Aussie houses, nice new white goods and didn't have to wait for stuff to arrive before we had beds etc. but the exchange rate was 2.4-2.5 and we found good quality furniture pretty reasonable. I was talking to a recent arrival (Sydney) the other day who was moaning about how expensive it is to furnish a house - exchange rate is now around the 1.6 mark. Remember if you are renting on arrival the majority of rentals (other than holiday or short term) are unfurnished, and that generally means a cooker and nothing else.

We have come out for 2 years, and were in the lucky position that my OH's company paid for our shipment, and I wish we had brought more of our stuff with us. As sunnydelight says, the exchange rate is awful, and we have found that we have had to spend a small fortune on furnishing our rental (which came with a cooker, a dishwasher and a microwave - so more included than some). We managed to get a second hand fridge/freezer and washing machine - the cheapest we found them new for was about $400-$500 each. The house we moved into was much larger than we had anticipated, and so the small amount of furniture that we brought was just not enough.

You can pick up some (fairly) cheap furniture packages if you are in one of the big cities, although the quality of some of it isn't great, and some of the big cities have Ikeas for cheap furniture (luckily, we have one very nearby, which has been very useful), although again, Ikea furniture here is more expensive than in the UK - it's handy to compare the Aus website to the UK one to get a comparison.

The little things, like small electricals and kitchen stuff also add up very quickly - we bought the cheapest stuff we could find (as we knew we wouldn't be here long), and even then it added up to a scary amount of money.

Having said all that, shipping costs are high, and if we hadn't had the company paying for our stuff, or if we were moving out here long term, I think I would have been more inclined to sell our UK furniture and buy newer higher quality stuff out here. (Mind, it is like Christmas when the container arrives - my two year old was so excited to see all his toys again!)

Nothing electrical because you will need converters for everything. We got everything we needed pretty cheaply but it was 4 years ago and resold it in a garage sale when we left so the net cost was negligble. Garage sales were terribly common - loads every weekend so easy to pick up extras. Our 'furnished' rental came with only the big things like beds and the kitchen stuff but otherwise expect to buy everything - from bed linen to teatowels and cutlery. Tbh it was quite good fun shopping for it all and bargain hunting and deciding what we could do without or asbolutely had to have. We didn't take much with us but the main things were photos, special toys, a few books til we got up and running with the library, that sort of thing.

Thanks for the responses and sorry I didn't put enough info in. It's 2 years, initially, in Sydney.

Dh's company are paying a certain amount towards relocation although he's trying to negotiate it upwards as currently it would pretty much only cover our flights .

I don't think we would want to bring our beds etc. as they are big wooden things and would probably cause problems with customs in any case. But I'm wondering in particular about kids' clothes, toys and books. I have loads of clothes from ds1 and ds2 which wouldn't be worth selling on eBay but would cost a lot if I had to get rid of them and clothe ds3 from scratch. And there's other stuff I think we might miss - like bikes and the jogging buggy. But would it be easier to pick those up on eBay?

Clothes were very cheap and although we took quite a lot it was very reasonable to stock up on shorts and t shirts; actually preferred the Oz ones as they were all elbow length sleeves and below the knee shorts which meant less sunscreen on young skin. We bought bikes in Toys R Us v reasonably but got adult bikes for next to nothing in yet another garage sale. We had very few toys and to be honest, they played more and better with those few than the cupboards-full that they have at home; less can be more! (Can you tell I have cravings to go back ?). You need to factor in the shipping delay and living without things at either end for a few weeks if you go down that route. How old are your boys? We took our old Mothercare stroller and it did round the world in the year with our 2-3 yo no problem.

They are 8, 6 and 2.

We are currently living in a tiny flat here (having work done on the house) with most of the toys in storage so I am already a little tired of the minimalist approach.

HFD - we are also in Sydney. Will you be paid in dollars or pounds? If it's in pounds, the exchange rate is a killer at the moment, and things that were cheap don't seem so much so at the moment. We regret not bringing more of our sons old clothing with us (DC2 due in Feb). A cheap T-shirt from Target costs about $5 and is about supermarket quality. On the plus side, you don't need so much clothing as it dries pretty quickly outside year round (unless you get a really wet week - we have only had one that's been a problem in 6 months!)

There are lots of garage sales about, but they were hopeless for us as we only have a tiny car, and didn't want to have to hire a van every time we saw a sale advertised. Bikes and buggy you would easily replace - it's a pain to bring things like that in anyway as they have to be so clean for customs. We have found sydney.gumtree.com.au/ to be really useful - got a TV for next to nothing from there, as well as the fridge and washing machine.

I wouldn't bring bikes or a jogging buggy tbh because as Eralc says they have to be SPOTLESS for customs, otherwise they will fumigate and charge you a few hundred dollars for the privilege. Bring shoes, and buy the next size up, as kids shoes are expensive and crap here. Make sure your DH negotiates LAFHA (living away from home allowance which is a tax saving thing) in his package, it costs the company nothing but makes a big difference to his take home pay. If the company aren't willing insist - some are lazy or just don't understand it so can't be bothered but you are probably talking a couple of thousand a month on the kind of salary people move for. You need three weeks in a furnished rental on arrival too to give yourself a chance to get yourself sorted. I've just realised you are the person I've answered on the school thread so I would try and get the company to cover the NSW school fees too - I know quite a few people who have managed this.

just wanted to add, make sure you bring some warmer clothes for the winter months. although the temperature outside is quite a bit warmer than the UK (and you probably won't need warm coats - neither of my kids have more than a hoody and warm hat for the winter), the houses are freezing as there is usually no heating, no double glazing, old windows and doors with huge drafts. all this is made worse if you've got an open plan place, as its very difficult to heat them with an oil radiator! i have never been so cold as i have here in the winter - quite often i can be wearing more layers inside than outside. pack warm PJs/sleepsuits if you have them for the kids (and yourselves!).

also, we brought over a lot of electrical stuff - just cut the plugs off most of them and rewired with Aussie plugs. if we couldn't do that we just bought a plug converter for a few dollars. much cheaper than replacing all kitchen appliances/ hairdryer etc etc, particularly if you can get the company to pay shipping. i have found most things to be more expensive than the UK, which was a bit of a shock when we first got here.

agree LAFHA makes a big difference to your take-home pay - we didn't get it and definitely noticed a difference compared to friends who did have it.

good luck with the move - Sydney is a lovely place to live!