Shipping to Australia?

I cant give much help about which company you should use but the golden rule of less is more unless of course you have amazing furniture etc. Sentimental stuff to bring, just box up. Good luck...

I disagree with Chloe (sorry Chloe). I was really surprised how expensive Australia is and wish I'd brought a lot more stuff with us (even little things like baking tins/ craft stuff quickly add up). We'd planned to just buy stuff from Ikea over here, but even some of that is substantially more expensive - I guess it depends on the age of your children etc. (mine were totally up for shipping all their toys - these are v.v. expensive generally over here - at Christmas it was cheaper to buy in the UK and pay for shipping over here for stuff like Playmobil and Lego).

We used Anglo Pacific coming over - and can heartily recommend their full packing service. We shipped over 250 cubic feet of stuff, not much really so it went into groupage, and the 3 guys had it packed beautifully in about 3 hours.

I'm getting ready to go back the other way now (yay!) and am looking to use OSS but I'm not sure if they are global (ie also based in the UK).

If you want insurance on your stuff you need to itemise and value it. This was a massive pain in the arse...

We have used PSS twice and have absoloutley no complaints. I agree with scone about bringing all your stuff. It is very expensive over here and you tend to just end up with make do stuff instead of nice stuff.
Good luck, where are you heading to??

Google Move Cube, I really really wish I had known about this service and I agree, ship everything not nailed down.

We did the same move 3 months ago, used John Masons international movers. They did the packing and unpacking too. I can't recommend them highly enough, not one single thing broken or lost. It does make a difference when they pack though, if you can, I would always use the packing service. Unpacking is just very helpful and quick, but not really a necessity.
I agree with Scone, bring everything you can! London looks cheap in comparison!

We used Grace, and they weren't great. However, my dh company paid for it. They literally just wrapped and threw our stuff into boxes. A couple of things arrived broken, but nothing worth claiming for. Some stuff is pricey, but you really need to shop around. Where in Oz are you moving to? What stuff will you need to buy at other end? Pm me if it's Perth x

Oh yeah, and Grace just bought the boxes in and never bothered unpacking our boxes. Just put them in the appropriate rooms and dumped them on us me

I agree with Scone, pack everything you can, my regret is getting a 20ft container rather than payking 3k more for the 40ft. We have certainly spent more than the extra 3k replacing the stuff we gave away, it's expensive here!

We used Anglo-Pacific who are very good indeed. We took everything: all house contents bar the fridge, for forbidden coolants reasons, pets and car. Having said this, DH's employer paid for the lot. Take as much as you can.

John Mason- excellent service and did all the packing and unpacking (or would have done- I said I wanted to unpack). Call them a few months in advance and be aware if you need less than a full container and go somewhere other than Melbourne/Sydney it may take quite a while. I agree to just bring everything- you may as well if you have it! It is less effort than offloading everything and then buying it at the other end.

I agree with the others. Who wants to go out and buy another mop bucket?

The trouble is of course that you will need a mop and bucket in the three month period whilst you wait for your stuff to arrive.

We used John Masons. They managed to squeeze all our house contents into a 20ft container (original quote was to fill a container and then send any extra separately). Get them to do a full packing service. It's worth the money not to have the extra hassle at customs. Our guys spent 2 days with us packing and guys at other end unpacked and reassembled furniture for us. Our only disappointment was the ship was running late so decided to skip Adelaide (where we were) and head straight to Melbourne and Sydney so our things took 3 months to arrive.

When you're waiting for things to arrive you can pick up cheap stuff at k-mart or target. I now have 3 mop buckets!!

I've got 3 different shippers coming to give me quotes for a move to Perth on Friday and Monday, I can give you any feedback we get from there if that would help re timescales / costs etc? I've got Pickfords, PSS and Anglo Pacific all coming, so happy to let you know what they offer and who's cheapest.

Anybody got any key questions I should be asking them?

Solittle- just check they are happy with you packing. They packed mine SO much more carefully than I would have done and were ultra careful. Just check they are happy to insure it if you pack it... They may be happy to pack from storage so is worth an ask. I am sorry you are leaving for sad reasons but Australia is clearly much better so is good you are coming back!

We used Crown, DH bartered them right down! They are one of the more expensive.
We had an issue as ours was on a shared container and the other family pulled out so our stuff was delayed, but overall quite happy with them, especially at this end.
Absolutely being everything you can, we got this advice and are so happy we did. The only things we didn't bring were the fridgefreezer and the garden stuff. Now I'm pregnant with DC2 and relieved at not having to pay for new cot, pram and other baby stuff because it is so expensive out here. Although carseats shouldn't be used here!

we used Doree Bonner, with no complaints at the UK end - very good and efficient packers, very competitive price. However I wasn't initially impressed with Grace, who they use at the Oz end to deliver and unpack. The head removal guy was rude - clearly disliked women and especially Poms, although after giving back as good as I got, I managed to win him round. They did redeem themselves in the end by going to great lengths to sort out the replacement of a very small but unusual peg needed to fix a table top to the base - they got a mate to carve a new one. So would probably consider them again.
Re stuff - yes Oz is ridiculously expensive now, especially for white goods and furniture. Ikea is not a cheap option at all, especially compared to the UK.
Just a couple of things that spring to mind - if you're thinking about bringing your fridge, really think about whether it will cope with Australian summers. Our lovely new fridge-freezer from John Lewis just couldn't cope and broke within months.
Also, big tip - don't underinsure your things. For items like glasses insure each glass for the cost of the most expensive glass if you see what I mean. I stupidly estimated the cost for each glass and put the total. But some of our expensive wine glasses broke and what they do is just divide the total by the number of glasses. So we lost out on that. If in doubt, overinsure.
Finally, when you get your quote ask them to say which length of container you'll need (either shared, 20 ft or 40ft). If they say you'll just need to go into a 40ft then you might consider not bringing a few items to fit into a 20 foot.
And yes, you can't bring your car seats because Australian ones have to have an extra strap that attached to a clip in the boot.

We are also headed back the other way in 4 months so guess I need to sort this out this end too!

Best of luck with your move.

We used Doree Bonner too, competitive price, and not arrogant like the Anglo Pacific guy who came to quote! Only one broken glass thing but couldn't be bothered to claim anything... Efficient unloading of boxes by Grace.

Papooser, we used wridgeways coming back and requested John masons for the uk end. Packing was completely different coming back because we didn't have all the same rules so foodstuff was allowed to come back with us, and we didn't have to be so vigorous looking for plant matter, etc.

aimum, thanks for that tip - I have an initial quote from wridgways so will definitely get them to come and do a more comprehensive quote. Just out of interest, how long did it take to ship back? I'm hoping it'll be a little quicker because customs checking won't be so rigorous.

solittle, I've PM'd you with some info from the quotes I've just had done. Let me know if you want any more info.

my 40 ft container is on the high seas atm and I packed almost everything. However when the packers Clockwork who were great, told me to put anything I did'nt want packed somewhere safe, I did'nt think of moving the potty as dd was still using it over the 3 day pack. Guess what, its packed away not even clean, not looking forward to opening that box[shocked]

Papposer - we also used wridgeways who were brilliant - very efficient ans fast, and no breakages at all :). Can't remember exactly how long it took (all a bit of a blur!) but I know it was through customs in a day!

Just a quick money saving tip!
Get a quote for insurance from someone other then the removal company. We have had our insurance rate drop from 3.1% to 1.5% . we are only shipping 20o cubic feet but it's saved us £80 and I imagine of you are taking a 40ft one then it would save loads.