lara24

Good luck, hope it all goes well. Be sure you have everything you don't want packed hidden in a cupboard with a massive sign on the door saying "DO NOT PACK". I was amazed when the packers arrived how quickly they fly round your house - it felt a bit like a hurricane and unnerved me a bit but by day 2 I was much more relaxed.

Oh sorry Carolyn, no cooker in our container. 3 weeks ago was when we had really severe winds for a week and a lot of sailings were probably delayed. Do you know which boat your cooker is on? I will keep my fingers crossed that you get it soon. If we manage that play date with the kids I look forward to sampling your baking - sounds lovely. I forced myself to master pavlovas knowing they were the national pudding and I have been told they are the best (and that was from an aussie) but that is about my limit. Well that and mars bar crispies made with the kids........ Your termite problem sounds a nightmare, are you able to live in the house in the mean-time? Been loving all your little tips about house renting/buying on various threads - thanks. Oh and I noticed you were struggling to get a hold of Karvol, I have been trying to buy it here to take with us but it is out of production. I can get Vicks which you are not supposed to use under 2 years so may try a tiny bit of that and see how we go. Can you get a hold of Vicks, I can buy an extra tub for you if you can't.

We had a 40Ft all to ourselves - I know tonnes of stuff!! It was odd that we were only offered a 2-3 hundred discount to part load so we decided to have the control and keep it all together. Did you just ship your cooker? Funny that and our fridge is about the only 2 things we didn't take....lol I have friends who did a part load and I know they were able to track their shipment. Which shipping company did you use? I am sure if they give you the booking or container number you could track yours too.........

As promised here is a quick update on our shipment. Container was held up in Grangemouth for a week due to high winds but made it to Felixstowe eventually and is now on it's way to Singapore. Our original due date in Perth was the 28th May and that has been revised to the 30th May so no great trauma. Whites e-mailed me to advise of the delay due to the high-winds and sent me the link and booking reference for the Maersk site so that we could track out shipment. So far so good, will update again once our stuff arrives in Perth.

I am in a similar situation except we are much further down the line. House is sold, as are cars and we fly in 2 weeks. I am an only child so my 2 boys are the only grandchildren my parents will ever have and I know I am breaking their hearts. It is really difficult and I feel guilty every day (we haven't even gone yet). But, I know they would hate for us to miss out on this adventure and opportunity so are putting on a brave face. At the moment I keep seeing old people out and about and I think, how are my parents going to cope at that stage with me on the other side of the world? They may need me next year and they may live happy and healthy lives for the next 15 years. At the moment I am putting my husband and kids first and hoping we can all deal with what the future holds when it happens. I wish I could give you an easy solution but I think I will forever feel torn and I am sure there are many other only children who feel the same.......Good luck with whatever you decide.

Aahhh thanks. Not sure what that says about the market in Perth as out of 18 auctions last week only 4 were actually sold at auction, 1 sold before, 2 withdrawn and a whopping 11 were passed in. This is the first time I have looked at these figures so it may just be a funny week, will see what the next few weeks show...... Thanks again for the info. L x

Just trying to get my head round the house auction thing and wondered what passed in means? Sold or withdrawn seem pretty self-explanatory but passed in has me stumped........ Thanks L x

Do you know the name of the policy you have with the Post Office? Looking on their website the single trip, long trip and explorer policies all require you to start and end your travel in the UK. This is the same problem we had with our HSBC gold account insurance, because it is just 1 way HSBC said we would not be covered.

Yes, no problems putting it in the container just check what you have in the way of drugs in it. I have had some pretty major surgery and had various opiate based pain killers in the house. I gave these back to the chemist as thought declaring them was more hassle than it was worth. On the AQIS form you need to declare all medication. I completed the form and also made sure our packers marked the box clearly so customs could check if they wanted.

There are not many companies offer 1 way travel insurance. We have booked with Insure and Go but when I said I wanted it to run for a week after we landed just to give it time for our medicare cards to come through they were happy to extend the policy dates but if you go to claim you are only covered for 24 hours after you have cleared customs. I think that would be at your final destination ie Perth not Sydney but make sure you check and I thought have the extra week would cover us but in reality we just have 1 day. Maybe others have found a way to extend this but I haven't yet........ good luck

I think the anti-climax of the visa grant can be a common reaction. It took us 3 years to get to that stage that when it actually happened it felt strangely underwhelming. We didn't really know what to say or do with ourselves. This does not me you don't or do want to make the move maybe just your brain getting used to this enormous change that you are planning. We were slightly different to you in that hubbies employer were willing to transfer him and we were all just waiting on the visa grant so I think we missed out the stage you are at as the wheels were in motion so to speak and stopping that train would have been a very difficult thing and would almost certainly have meant we would never have had the opportunity to move to Oz again. We are now 3 weeks away from flying out, house is sold, cars are sold but not yet gone and container is on it's way with all our stuff. I would say we are now excited and enjoying making plans for our new life but it has taken a while to get our heads in gear. Enjoy your reccie and what will be will be. You are in an enviable position, new life in the UK, new life in Oz or stay put. Perhaps do some research on where you might move to in the UK so you can make a clear comparison of pro's and con's once you have been to Perth. All the best.

We looked in to this and it is actually an expensive option as you then have 2 sets of fees as the 20Ft sole use is classed as 1 shipment and the 20Ft shared use is classed as a 2nd shipment. The difference between a 20Ft and 30Ft for us was £2500 and we went with the 40Ft.

WOW, so many contrasting stories. We will certainly try it your way and fingers crossed it really is that easy. Transferring our driving license's is one of the first things on the to do list so we will certainly have that for ID. Thanks for the info.

Thanks AJ235, that gives me hope. Did you have to take all your ID into a shop or could you just scan and e-mail it? Thanks Again. L

Thanks Cal, I think that is what we are are going to do. I have just found a local car/van hire place that will allow us to drop off at airport and they have a 9 seater so that should be tonnes of space and it is no more expensive that 2 taxis.

Our container has already gone. The main luggage should only have been 6 cases but because we are flying to London with BA we need to adhere to their luggage rules as well as Singapore Airlines so we have had to limit each case to 20Kgs in order for them to accept our excess baggage. We have 40Kgs from Singapore Airlines (as 1st trip migrants) but as that does not show on your e-ticket BA only give you the regular allocation and then you buy extra bags at 20Kgs. Upshot is we now need 8.

I know I am amazed, I called 5 companies yesterday and they all said the same. It is not a legal requirement so none of the taxi firms in Aberdeen will provide them.

Nobody said it was rocket science , I merely asked what others had done - no need for that tone of reply!

Problem is it may not fit in 2 as you still have the same rule of no luggage outwith the boot. At 0530 on a Sunday morning there are not going to be any "spare" taxis going about if we find we need more room.

Just wondered what everyone else has done to travel to the airport. We are a family of 4, kids are 1 and 4. We will have 8 cases/large roller bags, 6 hand-luggage bags/cases, a buggy and a travel cot. My plan had been to book a 7 seater taxi and ask them to provide a car seat for the 1 year old if not both and put the excess luggage on the unused row of seats. Just discovered that no taxi companies here have child car seats and you are not allowed to put luggage anywhere other than in the boot so a 7 seater will not actually give us more room than a normal taxi. We fly very early in the morning so would rather not ask anyone to give us a lift. At the moment we are thinking of hiring a 7 seater for 1 day so we can load it how we like and just leave the car seats in the car for the hire company to use/dispose of. (will check they are ok with this). Or we can take most of our luggage to the airport the day before (before we drop of our cars at the garage that has bought them) and leave them in left luggage and just order a normal taxi to take us to the airport. Again would need to leave the car seats with the taxi driver - will ask if they have 1 that is a parent or grand-parent and would appreciate free spare ones!! We live a 25 minute drive at 70mph from the airport so I am really not keen to have the kids not strapped in....... Anyone else got another suggestion, would love to hear what you all did. Thanks L

We arrive in Perth in 3 weeks are were planning on using Telstra for everything as we need the coverage (husband working FIFO). You have me worried, anyone got advice on how we can use them for mobiles, land-line, internet and possibly tv too?? We thought we might get a better deal bundling them all together. My husband has had a bank account in Oz for the past 2 years which does show various transactions on it but no loans to have a credit history..........

I think they need to book the container with the shipping line a week before so they have to commit the money then. I know we could have paid by credit card but I think there was a 1 or 2% charge for this. Good luck, hope you manage to work it out. Perhaps your best bet is to agree to a deposit a week before and put that on your credit card and then pay the rest once house money comes through......all the best

We had to pay in full 7 days before the packers arrived. There was no deposit before then. I guess all companies are slightly different - I would check with each company you get a quote from when they are pricing up the job.

There are other cheaper nespresso machines available and if you are not big latte/cappuccino people they could be for you. We both like hot milky coffee but know we would never faff with a separate milk frother so the machine would never get used. If you don't think you will use the milk part this machine would really be a waste of money for you.......we really do love it though and having looked at loads we have not found anything we liked better.

We looked in to this very same thing before buying our coffee machine and it seems nespresso is the main coffee pod available in Oz. They have shops and internet delivery. We bought a delonghi one which has a milk container that you keep in the fridge and just slot in to the machine when you want to make a latte etc If you like milky options and want minimum fuss and cleaning it is fab. http://www.johnlewis.com/nespresso-en520-b-lattissima-coffee-machine-by-de%27longhi-black/p436004