Anyone in Australia?

[TheBlackStuff]

Just wondering if there was anyone in Australia? I'd like to know more about how managed to get your things over there, or did you buy new? Also, has it worked out or have you returned to the UK?

Yes, we're in Australia. All a bit new for us, been living in Adelaide for just a couple of weeks. We're only here for a year so have left all of our furniture in the UK. We've shipped several boxes of toys, books, clothes etc though, which are yet to arrive. Although we've been here a short time, things generally seem much more expensive here so if we were moving over permanently we would definitely ship everything over. People I know who have made the move permanently say the same. HTH

Thank you, it does!

Any chance you can CAT me?

hello, we did bring a container to aus but really probably should have just sent a few boxes instead. It takes a long time to get here and we didnt own antique expensive furniture and we didnt intend repacing with expensive furniture either. We ahve been here nearly two years and dont want to leave..It can be hard to settle, get used to new stuff etc...depends alot where you are heading i think...and what you expect and want to achieve!

We used Britainnia

Were very good, no damages. Packed up valuables. Took 12 weeks ish to arrive. Cleared customs no trouble.n All boxes/items put in rooms that I stipulated, packaging taken off bigger itmes & taken away (thus saving a visit to the household dump - where you pay to dispose of waste of any kind)

Was important to me that I had some familiar things around me. It was a huge change & upheaval so I wasn't prepared to leave anything that I wanted.

Also, from my pov, I was leaving the house that I brought while I was earning, and as I had been (and still am) a SAHM I felt my belongings, brought with my earnings (not just dh's) were important to hold on to! Don't know why...doesn't make a difference now, but at the time keeping the stuff was very important to me.

It would have cost us more to replace everything to the same standard, far more than sending it out here. I am pleased that we did it this way, dds face was a picture as she unwrapped all her 'home' stuff!

We've been in Sydney just over two years now. We brought half a container load with us (we used GB liners who I would reccomend), just a couple of bits of furniture of sentimental value, kitchen things like good knives and coffee machine, clothes, personal stuff - dinner service, paintings etc. - and ALL the kids' toys etc. We bought all new whitegoods here and a lot of new furniture. Tbh for us it was the perfect balance, most of our furniture would have been too small (bigger houses here) and you can get very good deals on most household stuff. You need to remember that you NEVER pay the advertised price here - buy as much as you can from one place and bargain hard (it feels really strange at first but you get used to it ).

The most important thing for us though is that we knew it was a "no going back" scenario. We sold in the UK and had permanent residence before we arrived. We lived here for a year a long time ago and had always wanted to come back so even though it's very different 20 years and three kids later, we had a fair idea of what we were getting into. We absolutely love it here - even though DH is on a lower salary than in London our quality of life is miles better, the kids are all doing really well in school and we will definitely never go back to the UK (I'm not British anyway so it was never really home). If you're not totally sure then maybe put some stuff into storage and just ship what you think you can't live without to start. Where are you headed?

We're in Perth. Waiting on our container to come and it should be here at the end of the month. Really missing our stuff. We've used Anglo Pacific. No problems so far.

Def bring your stuff if you can. Quite expensive for stuff here but you can haggle prices down. There is Ikea though if you want to start again and build up but it depends on how you see your furniture - ours is still pretty new so for us it was cheaper to ship out than start again.

I brought everything. We were going to only get half a container and just bring a few things but it wasn't that much more expensive to get a whole one so we went for that in the end. I'm glad we did as I love having my own things and it was good for the dc I think to be using the same towel and hairbrush. It made them feel like they lived here.

Hello Cousinit, we've been in Adelaide a few weeks too! Have you got house and everything sorted? We've found it all really quite straightforward and still waiting for the culture shock to hit, perhaps when we get some proper Ozzie weather it will!

In answer to the OP, we're shipping a load of stuff over, have used Anglo Pacific who have been great so far but not expecting to see our things for a good few weeks yet. Looking forward to getting it because we feel a bit like we're camping at the moment as we've just bought the absolute basics to see us through a few weeks, we it arrives it will feel like home I think. It's all working well so far!

hey. not in Oz. Did live there (Sydney) for 15 months or so, but when it came to the crunch I couldnt stay, although DH would have stayed and still wants to go back.

We didnt ship anything out because we didnt have anything - but we shipped quite a bit back! I think we used excess baaggage, who in turn used britannia at this end I think, and the only things that got broken were a couple of glass photo frames. All my handmade ceramics turned up in one piece!

When packing, I was obscenely organised, listing exactly what was in each box. I photocopied the lists so I had my own record for when they arrived. It made it sooo much easier unpacking at the other end and finding what I needed. Had no issue with the appliances either - just changed the plugs (or used adapters)