Really desperate for sound advice over what to ship or not.
We have found so many pieces of info on Customs/Forums/ExPat sites that to be honest are plain confusing!!
It is quite clear that the Oz Customs are mega protective over soil contamination and sounds like they will open ANY container that they suspect may have soil in it. Someone mentioned having to clean 41 shoes.....that's a worry as I have a wife and two teenage daughters...they probably have that many EACH!!!!
Therefore, any advice would be great against the following list of what we have thought of bringing.......
Leather Sofas
Dining Table and Chairs
Mirrors
Memories
Bikes
Books
TV's
DVD Players
Freeview Boxes
PC's
Laptops
Clothes (coz it will never all fit in a suitcase!!!)
DIY tools
Microwaves
Kettle
Toaster
I will probably think of a thousand other things as well, but have people just got rid of basics such as cutlery/cups/crockery and just started anew?
Also, any nightmare scenarios with customs related to items not mentioned above would be good.
It's such a quandary having to think of all this on top of redecorating the whole house!!!
Hi, The only thing on your list we didn't bring was a freeview box. We brought garden furniture and tools, toys, washing machine, dryer, I'm a bit of a collector of crockery so we brought all that, glasses that I didn't want to part with (my really nice ones) - nothing damaged.
Despite bringing it all we've still had to buy stuff here.
Ali
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"POZZIE" - HAPPY AND LOVIN IT!
I'm sick of following my dreams, I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later
Everything you listed will be useful or can have a use in Australia - IE will work in one form or another. It's better you bring with you and discard or giveaway when you know you don't need it, than pay more money here to replace what you already had.
Garden equipment & bikes & boots (hiking, working or gardening) must be thoroughly cleaned and placed at the front of the container (doors) to save Quarantine emptying the container to retrieve and check these items.
Becareful of wicker or any soft wood items or those that do not have highly polished and varnished surfaces - this will be inspected and may have to be treated, placed at the front of the container.
Fully back-up your PC systems and take your hard drives out and bring with you in your suit cases as safe keeping (X Ray will not harm the information) at least you will have the most important components !!
Therefore, any advice would be great against the following list of what we have thought of bringing.......
Dining Table and Chairs
Mirrors
Memories
Bikes
Books
DVD Players
Laptops
Clothes (coz it will never all fit in a suitcase!!!)
DIY tools
Microwaves
I will probably think of a thousand other things as well, but have people just got rid of basics such as cutlery/cups/crockery and just started anew?
It's such a quandary having to think of all this on top of redecorating the whole house!!!
Help much appreciated
Geoff & Katherine
I have kept in your list the things that went in our container. We also took a washing machine, tumble drier and an electric piano. Furniture wise we have taken out pine side unit, pine double wardrobe, pine chest of drawers and 2 pine bedside cabinets that we had custom made. As a teacher I have heaps of books - all packed with no problems, we took a filing cabinet and all of my shoes that didn't fit in the suitcases. Lots of clothes have gone as have 4 duvets, OH bike leathers and my wedding dress.
We have taken all of our cutlery and plates and stuff but will still have new when we get there. I also stripped my dyson down, cleaned it and put it back together.
Hope this helps a little - we had a part container with Masons and it will be in Oz by mid-October (it left yesterday/this morning)
Felicity
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Felicity + Michael - We're 'Pozzies' - Happy and Lovin' it!
Melbourne since September 07
We had 3 shipping companies come out for a free assessment, funnily each of them gave us different but very useful tips for what to take/do, i.e one said to put tools through the dishwasher to clean, all said leather settees were fine, as mentioned below they put all the outdoor stuff by the door of the container so that they can inpect these - We have a 12ft trampoline to start cleaning - they said to use Jeyes fluid because the customs officers will smell it when the open the doors and know that stuff has been cleaned!!!!
Liz
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Liz, Paul, Jake (6) and Dylan (2)
hi, the only thing we fell foul of was some of our christmas decorations were quarantined as the crib had moss on the roof and a wooden door wreath with dried berries. The removal company packed the items with no comment and we only found out there was a problem at this end. We could get them treated at cost of approx $200 or destroyed. The items weren't valuable so we told them to destroy but the cheeky gets even charge you for that too!!!! $80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beware.
Carol
i think its all personal choice. Some have gone with nothing and some have shipped their whole house contents. We arent going to bring much with us, will bring dishwasher, washing machine, dryer and maybe the leather sofas. other than that it will be personal items only (plus bikes). The rest we will sell in the free ads, ebay, and car boots. Less to ship, so less cost, and more money to spend on new stuff when we get there! like Tom the pom, we're up for a fresh start.
How much did it cost you to ship all your contents over, because it sounds like you have taken almost everything? Don't know what we're gonna do yet, depends on the cost, would it be cheaper to buy new? My sister-in-laws pals in qld, spent £4,000 to ship over their belongings and decided when they got there that they wanted new after all.
