What didn't you take that you wish you had?

Hi all,

I would love to hear your stories....

or switch the question round to - what did you take, that you wish you'd left in the UK?

This doesn't include family members...lol

I am hoping this will help me decide on things I'm dithering over....I'm sick of dithering!

Look forward to your replies....

Mrs Woody xx

Why not bring everything. The only stuff we left were the lawnmower (too much trouble cleaning it and it would have been impractical here anyway. Garden furniture - too old and tatty and also worried about it getting in. The fridge/freezer as it was 10 years old. Tumble dryer - only because I had built it in to a cupboard and it was easier to leave it for the new owners. In 18 months I would have used a tumble dryer once only anyway where we live as we dry clothes outside all year.

Tumble dryer is one of the things I'm really glad we DID bring, because duct vented models are rare here - most vent through the front into the room and you put the room extractor fan on all the time, which sucks IMO (scuse the pun ;-) )

We brought some stuff that we should have just binned - gear for really cold weather (gloves, hats etc). I think we thought we would go to the snow for skiing more often than has been the case. EVentually we binned it here, if we go skiing we'll buy new

We brought almost everything (except fridge freezer), glad we did, it helped that we didn't have to impulse buy and could take our time replacing things as needed

Did anyone take a washing machine? I'm wondering if they travel well.

Did anyone take a washing machine? I'm wondering if they travel well.

We brought our Samsung washing machine. It was only a couple of years old. Just had to change the plug here. Works perfectly.

Did anyone take a washing machine? I'm wondering if they travel well.

Yes. No problem at all

Yes bring washer but do secure the drum with the bolts provided as the journey can put a strain on the bearings. We brought ours, much to the delight of the removals men. It is a Miele and weighs a ton!

We brought pretty much everything and haven't really regretted it - here in Canberra winter nights are regularly below freezing (and even down to -9C) so our coats and thick duvets have been well used.

Glad we bought our UK DVD player when we came over a few years back as we could then play all our DVDs without any problems - although technology advances have probably made that less important. The digital TV also works fine here so glad we didn't leave that behind.

Do bring plenty of UK multi-plug extension leads - much easier to initially just change one plug on the end of the extension lead and plug four UK plugs into that instead of having to change every plug when you arrive.

Really glad we bought our American fridge/freezer as it's got an iced water function and it's going to hit 38C here this week.

The only other things I make sure I get when I go back to the UK are quality business shoes (I can only think of one Churches' quality shoe shop here in Oz and that's in Melbourne), a decent suit from time to time - and really glad I bought my car over as European cars tend too get hit with luxury car taxes making them way more expensive here.

Our Miele washer is coming with us too still has 5 year warranty on it. Think we will bring the condesor dryer too. I checked with the maker of our treadmill and that too has warranty valid in oz which is cool.

We brought pretty much everything and haven't really regretted it - here in Canberra winter nights are regularly below freezing (and even down to -9C) so our coats and thick duvets have been well used.

 

Glad we bought our UK DVD player when we came over a few years back as we could then play all our DVDs without any problems - although technology advances have probably made that less important. The digital TV also works fine here so glad we didn't leave that behind.

 

Do bring plenty of UK multi-plug extension leads - much easier to initially just change one plug on the end of the extension lead and plug four UK plugs into that instead of having to change every plug when you arrive.

 

Really glad we bought our American fridge/freezer as it's got an iced water function and it's going to hit 38C here this week.

 

The only other things I make sure I get when I go back to the UK are quality business shoes (I can only think of one Churches' quality shoe shop here in Oz and that's in Melbourne), a decent suit from time to time - and really glad I bought my car over as European cars tend too get hit with luxury car taxes making them way more expensive here.

Agree with pretty much all of this

Good shoes - yes. Multi-plug extensions, yes.

Mainly I'm commenting though because of the DVD. A definite must if you want to watch your UK discs here. The region locking has got harder to circumvent over time and this is irritating. OK in terms of technology if you download a digital copy/file instead of using a "hard copy" disc, but this only works for future purchases. You can't d/load for free if you once bought the DVD, and it's getting harder to rip movies from DVD as well.

Agree with pretty much all of this

 

Good shoes - yes. Multi-plug extensions, yes.

 

Mainly I'm commenting though because of the DVD. A definite must if you want to watch your UK discs here. The region locking has got harder to circumvent over time and this is irritating. OK in terms of technology if you download a digital copy/file instead of using a "hard copy" disc, but this only works for future purchases. You can't d/load for free if you once bought the DVD, and it's getting harder to rip movies from DVD as well.

Recently bought a cheap "play any region disc player " from big w for I think $40

working fine at the moment .

I stand corrected

Never seen one of those!

I pretty much agree with the above posters. We brought a 20ft container with us, but we did actually get rid of lots of our 'country style' furniture before we came as we suspected (and were right) that it wouldn't be suitable for the house we would end up in. We brought our sofas, our bed, our dining table and chairs, and our eldest daughter's bedroom furniture, all of which were only a couple of years old and in really good condition. We brought our mattress with us, but it didn't cope with the humid climate where we are very well, and we ended up having to chuck it out because it went mouldy! It was a pocket sprung hand-tufted mattress, so I guess the wool or whatever the stuffing was didn't appreciate the humidity. We got a new bamboo mattress which has been fine (although the mattress sizes are a little different, a UK king being an Aus queen, for example). I'm not sure if we'll bother taking it back, or whether we'll just buy new when we get there.

One thing I wouldn't bother with is duvets or duvet covers, because the sizes are a bit different here, and in my experience the duvet covers we bought from the UK didn't fit the duvets we bought here and the duvets we brought with us didn't fit the Australian covers. We ended up chucking the UK bedding out, there seemed little point in having different sizes of duvet with different covers for different seasons. We found we needed different duvets to suit the climate anyway. Eldest had a UK duvet cover as a gift a couple of years ago, and I have to fold the bottom up inside it as her duvet is too long for the cover.

We brought everything apart from outside furniture and shed contents and wardrobes. I use my drier even in summer sometimes as the sun bleaches everything if I leave it out too long [emoji23]

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Why not bring everything. The only stuff we left were the lawnmower (too much trouble cleaning it and it would have been impractical here anyway. Garden furniture - too old and tatty and also worried about it getting in. The fridge/freezer as it was 10 years old. Tumble dryer - only because I had built it in to a cupboard and it was easier to leave it for the new owners. In 18 months I would have used a tumble dryer once only anyway where we live as we dry clothes outside all year.

The lawn mower is something I really wish we had brought. We had a really decent self-propelled Honda in the UK and mowers are expensive here. We sold it as many people have said it isn't worth the effort cleaning it to the standard required, but a colleague of my wife came over a couple of years ago and only got charged $160 for irradiation.

Our tumble dryer was on its last legs so we sold it but we bought one as its needed in southern Queensland during the winter! Second what you say about the garden furniture though - much better and cheaper here (same with the barbecues).

We bought an older dishwasher over and that lasted precisely one load.

As a bloke, work shoes and trousers are a lot more expensive so make sure you bring those.

I stand corrected

 

Never seen one of those!

Yup, multi region for the win! We've had one for years. Plays DVD's from anywhere.

Nothing we really wish we had brought. Well apart from hubby lamenting his cricket bats, bag and whites etc. Other than that, we only shipped personal effects, kitchen items (crockery, pots and pans etc), bedding, gold clubs, road bike and a few items of furniture but not much. The rest we sold, donated or recycled before we moved.

One thing I am glad I didn't bother bringing is my curtains. None of them would have fitted the giant Aussie windows (think floor to ceiling and wide also).

I stand corrected

 

Never seen one of those!

only came accross it by chance and thought i would give it a try .

Bring what you can. My BIG tip is bring decent UK bar plugs over however DO NOT be tempted with the UK to Aus adaptors off the internet and fleabay....they are dangerous and overheat prior to failing. We had one weld itself to a socket! Bunnings sell decent UK to Aus adaptors, $10 ish a go but safe. We also went to RSPCA charity shop (wife was looking to volunteer with RSPCA) and we picked up a handful of Aus cables for 50c each.

We had a few really good tupperwares that we didn't bring and were shocked to see how expensive they were here. Wish we had. We did bring our glass "tupperware" and are extremely glad we did.

I was shocked when I got here that bounce sheets (for putting in the dryer) basically don't exist in most shops. Those that have them are incredibly expensive. I would have brought several had I known.

[h=1]What didn't you take that you wish you had?[/h]

Took too much, a tin trunk full of bedding and a port full of clothing and grooming. Gave the trunk to the family I stayed with in West Leederville, WA. Never looked back since and never wanted any of the gear in that trunk... Mind you, it was in 1963 and I wanted to go around Australia and the trunk was a bit of a burden.

Now? Got a home full of junk...Nay, priceless historical 'objet d'arte':wink:

Cheers, Bobj.