Comprehensive packing list for Oz ?

[Mosman]

Hi there,

I am just in the process of ebaying anything not nailed down and am wondering if anyone else has made the move with children and what they wish they'd taken over and what they should have left ?
I have a nearly 2 year old so am thing of getting rid of cots, prams, etc.
The older ones are 8, 10 and 12 so not so many toys these days but I'd planned to get them ipads for the journey and thought maybe their bikes, scooters etc should come.
I would be so grateful for any assistance, I'm doing this on my own really so it's quite stressful.
Thank you

That's good to hear, thanks.
The trampolines is coming then

Boden is definitely uncommon here (even in Mosman!). DD was the best dressed kid in pre-school when we arrived, I was always being complimented on her clothes, now I struggle to stop her looking like every other Aussie kid around living in short shorts and tees! Gap and Zara have both opened up here recently, and there is a shop called Gumboots (not sure if you have it in the UK) that has nice stuff. Pumpkin Patch is everywhere, I loathe it personally but it's obviously popular. I tend to buy one "nice" pair of swimmers every year for the kids and a few cheapies from Target or KMart. The chlorine stuffs them if you're swimming daily.

Don't know about JL. Amazon have stopped offering free shipping over £25 unfortunately now they have lured everyone away from bookdepository (still free). David Jones is the Aussie equivalent.

Oh, and you might already know this but you have to remember to haggle if you're buying anything big. Very un-English I know, but all the shops expect it especially for things like electrical items. You should aim to get a minimum of 10% off the ticketed price.

Crossed posts with Savoy - it's prime MNing time here

YOu can get MUCH cheaper swim suits that that! I pay around $20 for my girl's last ones.

We moved out here in Aug 2009, when DS was 20mo. I brought pretty much everything and still regret what I had to leave behind as we were using it and couldn't envisage living without it for the couple of months between shipping our stuff and leaving.

Bikes and outdoor toys - WASH them very carefully. Any mud and you will be done over by the customs people - they will have them cleaned and charge you for it. This goes for all your shoes and boots, especially wellies as well. I didn't bring any outdoor stuff - couldn't be arsed to clean it all - and had to clean all boots and shoes with a nailbrush to be on the safe side (they WERE inspected).

White goods - buy new here.

Clothes - bring them, especially baby clothes - they cost so much more here and aren't necessarily as good quality. I have been back to the UK several times so far and always brought back clothes with me because they're much cheaper in the UK.

Toys - again, bring what you can because the prices of toys here are more than in the UK. Ditto books, DVDs etc.

I did however bring things like the iron, the kettle, food processor, toaster, vacuum cleaner and stereo - and brought several 4-plug extension leads as well. That way you only have to change one plug (the extension lead one) and it means that anything with a special transformer plug doesn't need a whole new lead buying.

We brought all our furniture except anything with horsehair (amazingly, I had a chair stuffed with that) and only brought the cot mattress (my one extravagance when DS was born) - got rid of all the other mattresses and bought new here, but they were due to be replaced anyway.

Amazon did a free delivery on orders over £25 from the UK before Christmas but that has stopped; M&S had a £10 delivery charge to Australia for a while, don't know if that's still the same. Book Depository do free delivery but don't have such a good stock, I've discovered. Books here can be heinously expensive.

I think linens etc. here are more expensive if you buy the decent quality stuff so bring your own good stuff. I brought all mine, and the pillows.

And yes, for goodness sake don't bring anything "natural" - like untreated bamboo, cane, decorative shells, feathers, natural wood ornaments - chances are they'll be caught by Customs and either impounded and destroyed, or cleaned at vast expense (which may also destroy them).

If you are into natural healthcare, buy Rescue remedy in the UK, it's much cheaper. If you need antihistamine cream, buy it in the UK (you cannot get it at all here). If you like a drystick deodorant for yourself, buy it in the UK - they do one here and it's shit - doesn't keep you dry for more than half a day in the summer!

Don't ship alcohol - they will charge you excessive duty on it. You are allowed to bring in 2.25L per adult (3 bottles of 75cl each) but bring it in your suitcases.

If you're flying out BA (if they're still doing the Australia run), consider getting extra cases - I did that on my last trip back in March this year and it cost me £34 for an extra 23kg, which was fantastic and meant I could bring back my massive haul of G&B milk and almond chocolate which I had bought at 2 for £3

My biggest regret is not bringing my airer. Mostly because it could have doubled as a tent for DS, as my mum's identical airer did for us when we were children - it was needed while we were still in the UK and then was ridiculously expensive to bring airfreight because they charge on volume as well as weight, so we didn't.

Car seats - they're a funny one - they have an extra fixing point in Australia and UK seats just don't cut the mustard so your car seat could be illegal here. Apparently they're still debating whether the Isofix is "safe enough" and afaik it's not been approved yet.

Bring cold weather clothes - do not be fooled, it gets cold here in winter! We had the open fire going last night, and extra blankets on the beds (Ok, our house has shit insulation but still).

I think that's the full wealth of my emigration experience - if I think of anything else, I'll add it later

Very sound advice here. I'd bring everything bar the white goods, which I'd ponder. Aussie fridges are better at handling the heat (they are actually manufactured to a slightly different standard apparently). Aussie tumble dryers are, frankly, rubbish and you will need one a bit of the year when it rains a lot, so you might bring your UK one (although we still can't find anyone to vent ours outside properly)....

But seriously, bring everything else. In the grand scheme of things shipping it is easier than hunting for new. I totally underestimated the red tape associated with the move and the last thing I'd want to add to that is racing around buying a kettle and a toaster.

By the way, you can no longer bring anything in your car, so that's not a good way to bring extra. Also shipping your car is hell. Ours has been in AUstralia since 30 March and apparently it will be at least another 2 weeks before we are reunited with it!

Thank you for the tips, exactly what I needed.

I'm having a serious wobble as I keep doing the maths and feel we will be skint on $200,000 which feels very odd.

I doubt we can afford a blardy toaster at this rate.

I just saw your post on the the other thread (about living in Syd on 90k). Yes, it is very expensive here but it sounds like you have your head screwed on about that. And a lot of the best things about living in Australia are free. We find we do spend less on entertaining the DCs because we can chuck them out in the garden most of the time, or go to the beach, or innumerable playgrounds.

Once you are here you will work out other ways to save money (ie suburbs that are lovely but more affordable, etc etc).

It's the schools that's causing me the biggest issues, I have one in grammar here but i'm not convinced she'd cut the mustard compared to all those super smart asian kids she would be up against in Sydney so I suspect I'll be paying 4 sets of fees eventually.
Not something I'd budgeted for.
I'm going to be a cow though and get them into mosman primary and then move out a little bit further for more space, i'm sure I won't be the first or the last to do that.

What are travel costs like, bus passes that kind of thing ?

Thanks again, I am really grateful for all this information I like to be organised.

I am in Perth, not Sydney, which is more expensive for some things and cheaper for others (foreigners don't pay school fees, for example). I find public transit here pricey but I think it is cheaper than Syd.

I wouldn't assume that the compeition is stiffer for grammar either - might be, might not be. ANd of course you may find that there are other state schools that suit you. Are you going to be in paid work or not? Because of course if this is a long term move and you're not in paid work now, you could always go in to later when kids are bigger.

I don't know how bad it is within Sydney but certainly I have found the trains to be infinitely cheaper than the UK (unless you go to the Airport, in which case you get utterly ripped off) - put it this way, a 2h trip to Sydney on the train for me costs $11.20 return. That's 4h for $11.20. That's aMAZing value!

However expensive it is for travel though, it can't be any worse than London prices, can it?

Are you in Newcastle thumbwitch ?

I love the look of Newcastle but tbh I am pretty crap at getting out the door in the morning and am worried I'll never make it.

Bring sudafed - it costs a bomb here!

no, I'm south of Newcastle but it's nearer to us than Sydney is. :)

Cheap ibuprofen isn't available here either so stock up on that as well - and Bisto! (if you like it, that is... I do and can't do Gravox because it's all wheat-based)

Body Shop products are 3x the price here.
Dairy Milk choc is made to a slightly different recipe so tastes fine, but not as good as what I grew up with in England! :o

Marmite - can buy in Coles but pricey.
Re. the cold, it is more duvets and jumpers and things you'll need for the house rather than warm coats. I have worn jumpers and jackets outside but never needed full winter gear like in the UK. It's a milder winter outside; it's colder inside the houses here!
Might pop round to Thumb's for the fire one night! :)

It will do me no harm to go off diary milk chocolate. DS is made up of fruit and nut I must have eaten that many bars.

Cornish, you'd be welcome! Sometimes we have it going in the day as well, when it gets to June.

If you plan on going to the Blue Mountains or Snowy Mountains or anywhere like that, you will definitely need heavy coats though - it's MUCH colder up there than on the coast. I even had to buy a woolly hat!

You certainly won't be paying four sets of school fees out of $200k Mosman. Yes, it sounds mad doesn't it as most people would think that makes you really rich, but trust me it doesn't around here! LAFHA used to mean much higher take home pay for expats but it's currently changing and my understanding is that it will be gone for most overseas temporary residents from 1st July. Your employer can still give you things like an accommodation allowance but that will be subject to fringe benefits tax. Is there any chance you could get fees as part of your package? One of the good things about Sydney though is there is a wide range of private schooling options. Systemic Catholic are only a few grand a year, then it goes into the "mid tier", usually affiliated to some religion but including Steiner etc, then up to the "top tier" $20k a year plus schools. Fees rise 5-8% a year. We now pay the same for two children as we did for years ago for three in one of the mid range schools - we couldn't even begin to think of the top tier schools on an income higher than yours.

As I said on your MIL thread, be aware that there have been stories of Mosman public refusing kids on 457s. Not sure how true that is but I have heard it from a few different expats; I think it's probably because for most people here you have an absolute right to a place at your catchment area school, but if would like an "out of catchment" school and they have spaces they will take you. On a 457 however out of catchment schools don't have to take you, even if they have spaces. Mosman is a magnet for well paid expats so there will be pressure on school places. Unlike citizens or those with PR you can also be asked to take your kids out once you move out of catchment (and put them in their new catchment school which is the only one they have a right to) although I don't know how often this happens in practice so I would be pretty careful of making long term plans based on moving and keeping them in Mosman.

On a personal note one of the things that most surprised me was how quickly we got "attached" to our new area. I think after such a big move we all needed needed stability. When we bought after two years renting we only moved one suburb away so nothing had to change for the kids (and the school bus now stops right outside our house). We made a bad choice of high school for our eldest and ended up pulling him out after seven weeks which was really difficult (and expensive) so my best advice would be to take your time with schools, really look around first THEN find a rental in the catchment if you are looking at public schools.

Costco will save you LOTS when you get here. Perfect for picking up all the things you left behind. Also think about buying major appliances for a "seconds" retailer - can save you lots and they still come with a full warranty.

Do clean anything with mud on it - I got the toothbrush out on the buggy wheels! If they find one thing that's dirty they go through EVERYTHING. If they find a few well cleaned items they move along.

Mosman is v nice, but you may well be rather skint on $200k especially with 4 kids. At least 3 of them are school-aged though. Will you be on a perm-res visa or will you have to pay school fees?

Sorry - missed the school update!
No way you'll be able to pay 4 private school fees on $200K. You'd be hard pressed to pay for 2 kids. Crazy huh!?

We brought most of our stuff with us and ebayed the things we didn't need once we got here. Nothing worse than moving in somewhere and thinking about how your old table would be perfect but you left it behind and now need to buy a new one.

We'd have to pay two sets of fees out of $200,000 immeiately, plus we'll have bonus' and rental income at some point, by the time we get to paying for the last two hopefully one will be at work.
And we'll be residents pretty quickly, I hope.

Bubbaluv I have all DS's boden clothes from the winter, would it be worth bringing them out with a view to ebaying them ? They do fit at the moment but he's not going to need them for long once we arrive - again I hope.

Mosman, when are you actually moving out here?

I have said I'll start at the end of July, your winter.

How big are they? I'll bid for them!