lara24

I am pleased that you have finally got this resolved and I can understand your frustration at being told all your items would fit only to discover they wouldn't. However having just had our stuff packed and the container filled a couple of weeks ago I would advise everyone to have your house totally ready the day they arrive, it is not practical to ask them to start in one place, we had 4 guys on our job, 2 went upstairs and 2 worked downstairs. There is not space to make up boxes and all work in one place. Put everything you don't want packed in a cupboard/wardrobe with a large sign stuck to the door saying do not pack and leave the rest to the professionals. All our bedding and last minute essentials were put in one box at the very last minute, I don't understand why they would ever be spread over various boxes, given the time-frame the packers are working too this is just going to delay things for them too much.

If you don't mind me asking how did you get on coping with the ear infection? I have a 1 and a 4 year old and they are both recovering from ruptured ear drums following ear infections. We don't fly for another 4 weeks and the Dr's tell me they should not (famous last words) suffer any pain as the infection has cleared up, there is no fluid build up and the rupture should actually prevent pain as there will not be any pressure build-up......... My youngest is still pulling and sticking his finger in the problem ear so it obviously still bugs him a bit and my eldest is suffering hearing problems which may need checked once we are in Oz because of the rupture so again I feel he is not 100%. It just scares me the thought of them being in pain on such a long journey.

We gave ours £40 or £50 I can't quite remember but it was basically enough for them to get a few rounds of drinks or dinner at the local pub. As others have said it can be a pretty low paid job and they work their socks off.

Best of luck, I hope it sells for you. Our sale finalised last week and we are now in temporary accommodation until we fly out to Perth next month. I will warn you I found the time when the house was on the market and especially the 2 months running up to the shippers coming really stressful (we have 2 young kids and 1 has been ill for 4 months) but if you feel the same bear with it!! Life is a MILLION times better now we are in a serviced apartment in the UK and just sorting out bits and bobs before we fly - it does get easier. Really hope you get what you want for it, the property market gas certainly picked up beside us.

Thanks, good to know winter is a good time to rent. I have been keeping an eye on realestate.com, reiwa etc plus gumtree but there seem to be very few around the $750 mark, lots 450-650 that really need modernising and lots around $1100 which is just too much for us - where do these people find that kind of money, lol...... We are looking for unfurnished and I suppose ideally 9 months but would be happy to take 12. I was going to start e-mailing the agents 1 month before we need the house, do you think that is too soon or too late? Thanks again, L.

We got quotes from both and IYM came out more expensive but only slightly. We were insuring £35,000 worth of stuff and I think there was about £20 of a difference. When looking at the cover IYM offer slightly better cover with a few less restrictions but what really swung it for me was the no excess. As good as our packers were I will be amazed if nothing is broken and I liked knowing I could claim for anything with-out worry. Like said above read the small print and see what the differences would mean for you. You don't need to e-mail IYM you just fill out the online application and it gives you a quote straight away. You fill out a similar online form for LP but they e-mail you back a quote.

We arrive in Perth on the 21st May and are looking for a 3 or 4 bed house to rent from w/c 17th or 24th June in any of these suburbs: Marmion Carine Duncraig Sorrento Hillarys Mullaloo Ocean Reef Iluka If any of you want to break lease or know of anyone looking to rent out their house please let me know. Our budget is $750 per week and for the right property we are happy to pay 6 months rent in advance. My husband is a pilot and I am a stay at home Mum for our 2 boys. We have excellent Australian and UK references and my husband is transferring with his current employer so proof of earnings is not a problem. A pool (if it had a fence) would be a bonus but on our budget we know may not be possible. Thanks for your time. L PS I have posted this on Perth Poms too.

When I started doing my research I soon discovered that there was not 1 company that did not have a review from someone who "had a nightmare" so I decided to just accept that no company satisfy s their customers 100% of the time. Even John Mason who have an excellent reputation on here have had a couple of very unhappy customers. I discounted some companies who seemed to disappoint customers regularly and there was one beginning Pick that I actually struggled to find anything positive about atoll. We contacted all the shippers who operated locally and they all came round and gave us a quote. You do the same drill for them all, take them room to room (incl garage) and point out everything you plan to take even opening a wardrobe and saying all or half of that. From that they work out your total volume and give you your options. There are companies who will take on your job based on someone else's calculation and the first time you would see them would be when the packers arrive but we did not like the sound of this so only considered those we had met in person. Based on how much stuff you have you will be given the option of sole use containers or shared use. Sole use means the container will be dedicated to you with no-one else's stuff in it and it will be shipped as soon as it is loaded. If you choose shared use then all your boxes will be taken back to the shippers depot and wait there until someone else has the correct amount of stuff to fill it up and only then will it be shipped. Sometimes this can be as quick as a dedicated container but you have no control over it so can be a long wait. We had 1/4 of our container as wasted space but the saving we would have made (only a few hundred) was not worth the risk for us. We have 2 kids and my husband will be working FIFO so finding a long-term rental and knowing our stuff will all be available for delivery when we want it was worth a lot to us. I am not sure how you are going to work round the short term storage issue as the estimator will need to see everything to give you an accurate quote. If it was all say books that you just put in a box then that's ok but the packers use a lot of protective packing and although you say they will do a better job than you in reality they will make it all a lot bulkier as they pack it to protect everything during transit. My advice would be have a good think about what you really need to take and have a massive clear out and then get a few companies to come round and talk to you. ask first if any of them could meet you at the storage unit too? Maybe they are used to doing this - I really have no idea. Once you have your quotes make sure you are comparing like for like as all include different amount of storage at either end and all will have different costs if you exceed that amount of storage time. Also check if AQIS (the quarintine fee) is included and if not add that to make your quotes comparable. Although Whites have given us an excellent price their storage costs at the other end are quite high but we decided to go with them and if everything goes to plan we will not need storage but if we have problems and need storage in Perth then we will be no worse off overall than if we had gone with the more expensive quote (Crown in our case) who had cheaper storage costs. It can be a bit of a minefield........ Best of luck, I hope that helped a bit.

Our container was a 40Ft but was only about 3/4 full and we paid £6500. That included AQIS but not insurance.

Thanks Keira, that is really good to hear. Kent will be our agent in Perth too so fingers crossed our's goes as well as yours.

I know when I was trying to decide who to use to ship our worldly goods to Oz reading about the experience of others really helped so here is our story so far. We had quotes from all the shipping companies that operated in our area plus John Mason and PSS who just quoted via e-mail based on other companies volume calculation. White and Company came out as one of the cheapest with the most expensive being 50% more so we really had a massive range in price's even though they all worked out our volume to be pretty much the same. We had felt very comfortable and confident talking to Colin the estimator from White's who did the quote, he was very knowledgeable about the whole process and happy to deal with all questions we had. There was a slight doubt at the back of my mind - what do they do different to be 50% cheaper than some of their competitors? After a bit of research we felt comfortable booking with them so did, we had a 40Ft container so saved almost £3000 from our most expensive quote. The packers have been with us for 3 days this week and our container was loaded yesterday. Having watched the White's packers working I can certainly say there is no cost cutting involved in the amount or quality of the packing materials used and the guys were all very experienced and certainly knew their trade. They turned up exactly when agreed and worked as long as it took to get the job done. We had 1 wicker basket that had been packed mistakenly and once I pointed out the mistake it was found immediately and removed - to find the box first time was impressive baring in mind the room was filled floor to ceiling was boxes.......thanks Rod!! On the second day Colin the estimator was in the area doing another quote so he popped in just to check how the job was going and to make sure we were all happy. I am sure he would not be able to do this for all jobs but I thought it was a nice touch. So all in all we are very happy with the service so far and fail to see what anyone could have done better. I will update this thread once we have some info about the containers progress and then again once we actually have our stuff delivered in Perth. Fingers crossed, we are off to a good start anyway.

I certainly wouldn't submit it until asked but agree with blossom79 I would have a look at what is asked and have the info ready. We did have to fill it in for our 176 visa and it did take quite some time to complete. Trying to remember every time you have left the country on holidays or business was tricky for me........

UK car seats are not legal in Oz so you will need to buy new when you get there, if you take the UK seat on the plane it would just be for use on the journey and then you would have to ditch it. Oz seats need a strap that go into the boot. If you look at the sticky thread about car seats you should get all the info you need. Good luck, our shippers arrive next week so it is all very real now. http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/123214-car-seats-australia-what-you-need-know.html

Just a quick thought - make sure you can get insurance if you decide to go self-pack. We are using Insure Your Move and I am sure they do not cover anything not packed by a professional shipping company. Good luck, we are in the throws of sorting and cleaning ready for our shippers next week. It is a massive job when you have 2 young kids too but we do have WAY too much stuff - 40Ft container for us.

Our packers are coming next week to pack and fill our container and we plan to take our washer and dryer with us. How long is it best to let the WM dry out for and is it just the waste pipe and powder drawer that you need to worry about cleaning? I have done a search to see if this has been asked already so sorry if I missed a useful thread......... Thanks Lx

It does fade, we have so much stuff (40Ft container) we have been cleaning for 2 months. We actually plan on a quick re-wipe over of all the outdoor stuff with Jeyes before our shippers arrive just to keep the smell strong enough. The bikes were a pain - well my husband was cursing a lot........ Where are you heading to? We are off to Perth, moving into a short term rental here in 2 weeks (while our container makes it way) and fly 19th May.

Mmmmm, my understanding was they looked at everything that had been outside looking for any trace or dirt. Maybe I have been cleaning for nothing.............:mad: Anybody else?????

I have put virtually all my shoes through the washing machine and then scrubbed the soles with a toothbrush and removed all the tiny stones (that I can) stuck in the tread but some still look dirty. I am just trying to establish if it is worth the risk of putting them all in the container...... Has anyone been picked up for shoes during the AQIS inspection? Were you just given the option of them being disposed of or cleaned? Was there a charge if you said just get rid of them? Many Thanks L PS OMG my house stinks of Jeyes - hubbie doing the bikes today!!

FIFO means Fly In Fly Out, it can be mining or oil and gas (offshore). My husband is a helicopter pilot so will be based in Karratha, Broome or many other places for 2 weeks flying guys out to the oil rigs/platforms. He will then have 2 weeks at home with us. Hope you get sorted soon, I hated the limbo feeling. Good luck.

We have sold our house, move out in April and have a serviced apartment here for 5 weeks while our container starts it's journey and my husband finishes off at work. We fly to Perth 19th May - one way, ahhh scary!! We have a furnished rental in Clarkson for a month (thanks Tracey of Oz House Rental) and then we hope to find a long term rental in Ocean Reef or Iluka. We have 2 boys aged 1 and 4 (almost 5) so if anyone is moving or moved to the same area I would love to meet up. My husband will be working FIFO 2 on 2 off so I may be slightly crazy having the kids on my own and not knowing anyone or anything......... Good idea for a thread - I know quite a lot of the May gang are already in Perth but most are SOR.

Thank you, will cross that worry off my list. Oh what a long list it is at the moment - lol

We have just filled out our AQIS form as the shippers come in a couple of weeks. We haven't bought anything big in the last 12 months but as per every household there have been Christmas and birthday presents plus our kettle broke just before Christmas so bought a new one of those plus a toaster to match. I can't think that anything we have new would have been more than about £50. Should we try and list everything or is it accepted that every household will have a few minor items new and only large / expensive items need declared......? Not trying to cheat the system, we just want our container to clear with the least amount of fuss and expense. Thanks

All our quotes included a box for the plasma tv. If you are taking anything that needs special packing your original quote will include that. Extras tend to be insurance, storage and AQIS fees. Insurance is almost always cheaper using Letton Percival or Insure Your Move (there are others but I think are the main two), we saved almost 50%. AQIS is a quarintine fee that you will alwys need to pay. Some companies include it in the original quote and some expect you to pay it before delivery once in Oz.

As already said there is probably not much room for manovour but what I did 2 weeks ago when we had to decide was narrow it down to the 2 cheapest (in our case almost identical). I contacted the company we really wanted out of the 2 and said I would rather not waste everyone's time going back and forth trying to get the price down would they do £....... In our case it was only a drop of £160 but they were already offering a good price. They agreed as they wanted our business and I am happy as I didn't have to spend lots of time haggling. For info the unsuccessful company called trying to win us back but they could not beat the £160 off so I was happy we had the very best deal available. Just remember price is not everything, check out the reputation of the companies involved - there are lots of good threads on here with people experiences........

Thanks everyone - useful info for me to look in to. I have looked at Target and BigW online and they seem to have a very limited range (between 9-12) of seats to choose from. Do they have a much larger selection in-store? Thanks Ken I had not heard of Baby Bunting as had been searching for shops NOR. My husband will be around the airport for work so maybe the Cannington store will be handy. They sell the 2 seats that I have been looking at so that may be simplest. I sometimes think Mothercare here deserves to go bust as their customer service is so appalling..... Thanks again everyone. PS looking at the BabyLove Ezy Combo for my 1 year old and the Safe N Sound Hi Liner for my 4 year old. Both seem to have excellent safety, comfort and useability reviews.........anyone have experience of either of them??