What would you change in hindsight?

[Guest ursiepursie]

Hi there. After spending hours it seems some days reading posts on PIO, I've finally decided to post something myself. After much umming and ahhing about where to move to in OZ, I've finally decided on Perth and hope to be heading out in March. (My 175 visa arrived in Dec!) I'm coming on my own and don't have a job lined up so I'm a little apprehensive.

 

My mind is still spinning with all the decisions that I need to make and all the possible mistakes or pitfalls that await. With that in mind I thought I'd ask those of you who have already made the move what you would do differently if you could do it all over again.

[LYNMACMD]

Not made the move but certainly wish you luck xx

[ali]

I consider myself very lucky as for us everthing just seemed to slot into place and we didn't have any major hiccups. We managed to secure work before we came over and also a 12 week furnished let. We found a house we wanted to buy and by the end of the lease, we'd completed and our furniture arrived the week our lease at the rental expired.

[Guest guest36187]

I`d have done it sooner!

 

(Wasnt in a position to tho!)

[Guest Dicky Docket]

Hi there. After spending hours it seems some days reading posts on PIO, I've finally decided to post something myself. After much umming and ahhing about where to move to in OZ, I've finally decided on Perth and hope to be heading out in March. (My 175 visa arrived in Dec!) I'm coming on my own and don't have a job lined up so I'm a little apprehensive.

 

My mind is still spinning with all the decisions that I need to make and all the possible mistakes or pitfalls that await. With that in mind I thought I'd ask those of you who have already made the move what you would do differently if you could do it all over again.

 

Your bound to feel apprehensive, we landed at Brisbane having never visited Australia, armed with 3 suitcases. Luckily it was Matron who had a job and enabled myself at the age of 49 to live here.

 

I would do it all over again! Good Hunting!

 

DD

[Guest cazbeckham]

I still wished I had done it 37 years ago but obviously fate put a hand in and it wasn't to be but am here now and very happy but would be even happier with my Son here

[Guest sunseekers]

Great question to ask, its one i wish id ask, get ready this may be a lengthy list, my errors cost us a fortune.

 

ps. we have been here 11 months and love our life and are very settled.

 

so i wish i had:

 

1 . Chose a better agent infact not had an agent at all, in hindsite it was of no benefit to have an agent and they were so poor it took us longer to get our visa, and we paid hansomly for the pleasure.

 

2. Done lots of reasearch on shipping companies, ours took 18weeks rather than the 8-12 it should have been...ps they said 10 wks worst case scenario...hmmm

 

3. Exchanged my money when it hit 2.69 Oct 08...im now stuck with my money in pounds sterling with the worlds worst exchange rate which is why we cant buy our own house..the loss would be huge.

 

4. roughed it in the UK for a few months and sent my shipping over 2 months befor we left so we would not have had to buy nearly evrything twice or rented furniture when we landed instead of buying.

 

5. Never bothered sending our eldest to private school , it was not worth the money and we ended up moving him to a state school which caused further disruption to him.

 

6. Not shipped the printer as we cant buy the ink here.

 

7. shipped the laptop instead of selling it, they are mega expensive here.

 

8.shipped everything..pots pans, pegs, plant pots, bedding, photo frames, tin openers etc etc, i down sized everything to the bare minimum and sold my stuff at car boots for nowt then had to replace it all here for top dollar....cringe...bring everything....the shipping costs do NOT compare with replaceing everything.

 

9. Had a bigger leaving party when i left.. i had a little one and the people i left out seem to hold a grudge now...oops

 

10. sold the ps2, wii and dvd player in the uk and bought new ones when we arrived. we have ours here and we cant get any new dvd's or games cos they are all region blocked so we will have to replace them all and i cant even sell the old ones cos they will be of no use to anyone so it will all go in the bin....boo hoo

 

11. shipped my old washing machine.. it was great and even though i have bought an expensive replacement here..$2000, it's nowhere near my old hotpoint. my mum has done the same and her's does not compare either.

 

12. started using factor 30 on my face from day one...6 months doubled my crows feet. gutted

 

13. done some seriose clothes shopping befor i came.....i find it very hard to find anything i like here and when i do it costs the earth.

 

 

So there you go " my mistakes " hope you can avoid them and best of luck....ps We were originally heading for Perth but changed to the sunshine Coast which im super glad about...the climate here is nearly always between 20 and 30 yr round, in Perth you have an unbearable summer 40's and a cold cold winter....lovely freindly place though.

 

Colette x

 

ps excuse my spelling im in a rush and cant get the spell check to work..

[lizzy27]

she's right about bringing all your stuff from the uk over.. We brought everhting except bug furniture. I was so glad I didn't have to go and buy a kettle or a toaster.. We only had to get beds, and sofas, which we did by getting a furniture package from fantastic furniture. Cost us like $2000.. We brought our fridge, washer, dryer and that has saved us heaps of money. We stayed in a furnished cabin for 4 weeks, there was no I was paying some huge amount of money for a furnished apartment. 4 weeks later, we had a rental and all our stuff arrived..

[Bobbsy]

Well, just to add some confusion...

 

I'd had done the exact opposite. I was already in the "don't ship anything except personal stuff and start afresh" camp...and, even so, I would have shipped even less than I did. Two and a half years on, half my shipement is still in boxes cluttering the garage--and that was with only two palettes of boxes sent.

 

I'd also push the shipper harder on the issue of clearance and delivery costs. We got dinged for unexpected money at this end.

 

Put a small number of household tools (screwdriver or two, small pliers, that sort of thing) in your checked luggage for use as soon as you arrive. I shipped my tool box and ended up buying most of the above for assembling newly-purchased furniture etc. as soon as we arrived.

 

Bob

[Guest ursiepursie]

Thanks to all who've replied. Some interesting points to consider. I haven't really considered the whole shipping thing other than bringing personal stuff as most of my stuff was Ikea and am not convinced it would survive the journey, but perhaps I'll reconsider. I'm also interested Colette that you changed your mind about Perth. I must confess I am very tempted by the east coast, Brisbane area. To be honest I change my mind almost every day and am driving my friends and family mad! Anyway, thanks again, much appreciated.

 

xx

[sykestykes]

Great thread and totally agree with Colette Sunseeker!!

 

My view of shipping is that " If you use it in the UK, you will need it every bit as much here!" (I have even glad to have brought my furry-hooded parka coat to go watch the Brisbane Broncos - it was damn cold at night!)

 

Bring your Ikea furrniture! If nothing else, it will tide you over until you can replace things here - and doing so will cost you soooo much money that could be better spent elsewhere as you start out again here. It's not so much the replacing it that puts a hole in your pocket, but replacing it all at once because you've decided "it's not good enough to take" - when in reality, it will serve you perfectly well for a few more months.

 

If I could do it all again, I would bring -

 

Christmas tree, baubles and lights ( remember no pine cones/candles or anything like that allowed in shipping, though!) Nice Christmas trees are upwards of $100 here so if you have a good one, shove it in the shipping crate!

 

Tools - God how I wish we had just brought them instead of fussing over whether they were "clean enough"! Expensive to replace good ones.

 

Buy lots of bedding to bring with you (it's called "Manchester" here) and clothes, good bedding, clothes and especially sportwear and trainers are expensive here

 

If in doubt, put it in the shipping crate and have a garage sale when you get here to get rid of it - it will sell for more than you would get for it in the UK! We have seen old title PS2 games being sold at yard sales for $15 each.

 

Good luck!

 

Sue x

[deb t-w]

We plan to ship everything that's not ready for the bin having original planned to only bring some bits. We were advised to do this by a lovely lady at one of the shipping companies who you could say was just after a bigger commission but it seemed sound advice to us. Our sofas, for example, need replacing in the next year or so but will do ok for now. Why buy such large items of furniture which fit in a rental but may not fit in your forever home later? We will buy when we are ready, the same as we would have done in the UK instead of being forced to make an impulse buy not long after arriving. Besides, most things you will buy on arrival, will be new and you will probably not get much for the stuff you sell at home.

 

Cheers

 

D x