Which shipping company is best???

[mackemsok]

Hi Sharon.

Thanks for the info. We're hoping to fly out to Perth (jobs in Kwinana) at the end of April. Just waiting for the e457 approval now and then unfortunately need to give 2 months notice at work!! . I'm hoping this should be any day now as my Health Requirements were finalised on 2/2 (e457 lodged 23/1). Just hope we can sell the ruddy house now!

I think I sent you an e-mail earlier re your extra baggage allowance with Emirates. Have they definately accepted your 457 visa ref for the Extra allowance? If so that's great news.

Thanks again
Eva

Hi Eva
Yeah the visa was accepted so I got the 50kg's.
We are going to Rockingham so very close to Kwinana, I got a job as a dental business manager in Perth and Scott my OH has a job in the University in Perth as a dental technician. We will end up having some lengthy commute to and from work but we have friends in Rockingham so really want to go there. What jobs have you got? Have you got somewhere to live yet
We have 2 daughters 12 and 18 and they are not coming over until June to give me and Scott time to find a house, get our furniture, get the dogs out of quarentine find a school......the list goes on. That will be hard but necessary to ensure the girls settle in ok.
My furniture went a couple of weeks ago so we are left with a shell here - but would rather be inconvenienced here than over there.
I am really getting excited now cant wait to get there, I am on garden leave from work now so have loads of time to think about our new life...............
Sharon

[EVA74]

Hi Eva
Yeah the visa was accepted so I got the 50kg's.
We are going to Rockingham so very close to Kwinana, I got a job as a dental business manager in Perth and Scott my OH has a job in the University in Perth as a dental technician. We will end up having some lengthy commute to and from work but we have friends in Rockingham so really want to go there. What jobs have you got? Have you got somewhere to live yet
We have 2 daughters 12 and 18 and they are not coming over until June to give me and Scott time to find a house, get our furniture, get the dogs out of quarentine find a school......the list goes on. That will be hard but necessary to ensure the girls settle in ok.
My furniture went a couple of weeks ago so we are left with a shell here - but would rather be inconvenienced here than over there.
I am really getting excited now cant wait to get there, I am on garden leave from work now so have loads of time to think about our new life...............
Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I'm really excited for you - I'm checking my application daily for updates (getting a bit obsessive!)

We both work in waste management and have jobs when we arrive. Haven't sorted a rental yet, but will probably need something furnished for the first 2 months. Hopefully the company will help advise us on areas and help us get something. Seems quite limited on realestate.com. Will also need to sort a cheap car rental until we're settled. God there's so much to think about! At least we only have to look after ourselves at the moment - not got children yet and we are rehoming our cat as she is getting on a bit and we don't think it would be fair on her with all the critters (as she's used to being the hunter!! lol)

Anyway, hope everything goes well with the move and new jobs. Good luck!

Eva x

[AudBod]

If I was to do this all again, I would sell everything and come with hand baggage only!

This was exactly my idea. New Country... New Life... New Everything.

I reckon that it would cost just as much to ship over things that I have looked at in the house for a few years, as it would be to replace them brand new in Oz, so why bother. Anyway, the likelihood is that we'd rent furnished accomodation to start with.

My plan is to sell everything via ebay, car boot sale, local ads etc. and turn up with whatever clothing we can fit in our cases and a few DVD's and CD's for my daughter. You never know some fool may even give me a couple of Quid for Hubby.

Does anyone have any opinions on whether they would have done it this way in reflection, or are there any things that are relly expensive or difficult to get in Oz, that would be worth bringing along.

The one thing that I would like to take is the chef in our local takeaway, but he might not appreciate 2 weeks in a storeage container. Still, there is a sign up stating £1 extra for home deliveries over 2 miles, I wonder if that stretches to Oz.

[slipshot]

This was exactly my idea. New Country... New Life... New Everything.

I reckon that it would cost just as much to ship over things that I have looked at in the house for a few years, as it would be to replace them brand new in Oz, so why bother. Anyway, the likelihood is that we'd rent furnished accomodation to start with.

My plan is to sell everything via ebay, car boot sale, local ads etc. and turn up with whatever clothing we can fit in our cases and a few DVD's and CD's for my daughter. You never know some fool may even give me a couple of Quid for Hubby.

Does anyone have any opinions on whether they would have done it this way in reflection, or are there any things that are relly expensive or difficult to get in Oz, that would be worth bringing along.

The one thing that I would like to take is the chef in our local takeaway, but he might not appreciate 2 weeks in a storeage container. Still, there is a sign up stating £1 extra for home deliveries over 2 miles, I wonder if that stretches to Oz.

I think it all depends on how much you have and the 'value' of it - but personally I could never have replaced all our stuff for the £6,000 is cost to ship it. Given we insured it for a value of £40,000 and that was fairly conservative, there's now way 6k is going to cover it in Aus, and furniture is in general more expensive here than anywhere else.

If you want to start again that's fine, but I think people forget how much they need to start again. Live in an empty house for a while with nothing and you soon realise...

[slipshot]

Hi
We used a company called White and Co. They came and took all our stuff within 5 days of giving us a quote as we completed on our house sale quicker than expected. They held it in storage for us for two months and only charged us for 4 weeks storage. Shipped out to Oz 15th November, arrived in Oz 23rd December. We were asked to pay quarantine fee of $374 on 20th January as it had cleared customs and we took delivery of it today. We didn't charged for any storage fees while it was in Oz. Everything was there, it had been really well packed, just a couple of broken glasses (which I had wrapped!!). For a 40ft full container including insurance we paid just under £3k. Everyone told us that was too cheap and it would all go wrong, but couldn't fault the guys at either end. Really corteous in the UK and checked everything I had packed and they re-packed quite a bit of it. The guys who delivered to us this morning were really helpful and put the boxes wherever we told them to and also offered to help us unpack everything. I was so excited about getting my stuff I said no, I wanted to do it all myself. It certainly feels like home with all my belongings around me.

Tracy

I have to say - are you sure it was a 40ft container, since that price seem wrong? Sorry, but having just gone through the process in Dec and Jan, £3k would be fine for a 20ft but a 40ft - there'd be losing money at 3 grand and a fair bit as well. To say it included insurance - well, for a 20ft it's a good deal but not 40ft.

The average for a 40ft at the moment seems to be between 6k and 8k - we had a quote as high as 8.5k and a quote as low as 5.8k but the lowest was a local company who had no experience and it was not worth the risk.

[JoanneHattersley]

We've been getting quotes in and so far Simpsons seems quickest to talk to us, politest and cheapest... so although we've not actually got any one in and round the house so far, they're ahead by miles on our scale!!

We used Simpsons back in 2005 and CazBEckham (mum!) used them last year! No hassles at all! Brilliant service. PM Mum if you want to know anymore

[gary12]

Hi we used Excess international and the guys who came to pack were great. We only had a small amount (76 boxes!) and so shared a container, we were told it would be 6 to 8 weeks to ship which was spot on, it has now been in customs for over 2 weeks so we hope it will be delivered soon. The only downside of this was they told us that they had a lot of shared containers go to Melbourne each week so it wouldn't be long before ours went. They packed it up on 9th December and it wasn't shipped until 2nd Jan. We also dropped a small (car boot full) down to them and again it has taken about 5 weeks to be loaded.

I WANT MY BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE IT ME NOW... please

so my point is, that although we had allowed an additional 4 weeks grace we are still waiting. If you are sharing a container send it as early as you can before leaving the UK, we thought we had done, did I mention I miss my bed?

best of luck
Michelle

[gary12]

This was exactly my idea. New Country... New Life... New Everything.

I reckon that it would cost just as much to ship over things that I have looked at in the house for a few years, as it would be to replace them brand new in Oz, so why bother. Anyway, the likelihood is that we'd rent furnished accomodation to start with.

My plan is to sell everything via ebay, car boot sale, local ads etc. and turn up with whatever clothing we can fit in our cases and a few DVD's and CD's for my daughter. You never know some fool may even give me a couple of Quid for Hubby.

Does anyone have any opinions on whether they would have done it this way in reflection, or are there any things that are relly expensive or difficult to get in Oz, that would be worth bringing along.

The one thing that I would like to take is the chef in our local takeaway, but he might not appreciate 2 weeks in a storeage container. Still, there is a sign up stating £1 extra for home deliveries over 2 miles, I wonder if that stretches to Oz.

We shipped very little just MY BED! and a few small bits of furniture.
We shipped no white goods but I wish I had bought a spare fridge (for B, W and Spirits!) electric fans not dead expensive but when you give them away. Glad I sent my hoover over, I think they are expensive here.

Kitchen knifes, I paid 100 dollars for a set in the sale and they are pants, they have started to rust after 5 weeks even though they are stainless! My garden pots, parasols etc, I wish I had taken the time to clean them that will teach me, I do find them expensive here.

One thing I wish I had done was not rush into buying things here. we needed everything really down to cutlery I just wish I had taken a bit more time to shop about but you live and learn!

We were fortunate that we had a decent budget to buy new. Things do feel expensive but then I guess it is no more so than buying your entire home contents all in one go back in the UK. Be prepared in the first month to spend, spend, spend.

best of luck,
Michelle

[tigers08]

hi gary12 how much did you pay for the 76 boxes with packing

[gary12]

I think it was about 3k, that includes packing/unpacking. 76 boxes were various sizes from t chests full of clothese to bikes and a dining room table. As I said the guys who packed were brilliant, they were prepared to pack things they shouldn't ie t bags but warned us they would go through everything if customs found them so we left them behind. It is Kent who are the contractors this end and it seems from other posts they are pretty good too.

regards
Michelle