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Hi IronLady Does your calculator work for Aus to UK shipments? We are investigating taking our Kia Carnival back to the UK (as the current shale/model is not available in the UK/Europe) What I need from you: - year of manufacture 2015 - make, model & variant Kia Carnival Si (known as Sedona in UK) - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) People mover - engine size & fuel type 3.3L Petrol - transmission auto - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) FWd - mileage 24k - any special features, options or modification towbar, front parking sensors - does it have aircon Y - realistic current UK market value Aus value circa $39 - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) - which Australian state/city Melb Please note when you are searching that most Vauxhall, Opel and some Chevrolet models will be badged as Holden in Australia.

@Fosh do you have a rental or bought property lined up in Brisbane to move your belongings into? How much are you shipping e.g. full container or groupage? I only ask as its good to try to coordinate the arrival date of your belongings with your move in date on your new home. If you are spending 8 weeks with family in the UK before you fly out, then another three weeks in HK and Melb - your belongings would likely have arrived in Aus (if sole container) before you. And it could take you some time to find out where you want to live and secure a place there. In terms of travelling, we emigrated with a three month old, a 2.5YO and a 4YO. The baby should be a dream - they sleep so much and are very happy to be with their mummas. The toddler could be a bit trickier and will likely want to walk around the cabin of the plane. We wrapped up lots of little gifts for ours to open on the flight (we flew direct from London to Melbourne without a stopover) like crayons, travel etch-a-sketches, books, stickers etc. They had their own special kids headphones to watch movies and play games on the inflight entertainment and a leap-pad with some games. It was a long flight, my husband and I didn't sleep but it was totally manageable. We thought it was going to be horrendous and had really low expectations but our children were real troopers and we all arrived with big smiles. ~Plan for the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised! HK is fab - you'll have a great time there! A lot of the malls have special baby-rooms with sofas for feeding, lovely clean changing areas and often soothing music - really family friendly. When you get to Brisbane, try to get established with a little network as soon as you can as this will help massively when you are missing home and the isolation of being at home with the children all day - join playgroups, enrol your eldest in some toddler classes (kindergym, swimming, music etc) as you'll likely meet likeminded mums with kids the same age. Join local groups on FB and classifieds. Good luck with your exciting adventure!

Based on the ABC news tonight, Melbourne and Sydney both saw house price reductions this month. Clearance rates are still high but off their peak. And there are masses of apartments in Melbourne due to settle at the end of June to foreign buyers who've seen their lines of credit dry up (according to the Barefoot Investor) and are likely going to have to sell for less than they agreed or simply walk away from their deposit. The problem is so much of the economy is now reliant on housing -eg the 'wealth effect' encouraging people to buy new cars/products/services/investment properties from the increase in the equity in their home driving the economy and jobs, rising housing prices which help pay down interest only loans, $$$ from stamp duty for government coffers, construction & related employment, not to mention investment income on all those investment properties out there. There is anecdotal evidence that lending practices have been too lax. People have maxed their loans and many are experiencing mortgage stress - so much so that a small increase in interest rates would tip many over the edge. And when people are spending all their money on mortgages, they have less money to spend in the economy which means less jobs. And growing unemployment. And more people going bankrupt. I believe the cracks are already emerging - increased levels of bankruptcy and personal insolvency agreements. Sluggish growth. Little to no wage growth. Increased levels of underemployment. Warnings from the RBA, Citi, Altair... The human cost mounts too - increased homelessness and increased reliance on food banks. Young people are locked out of buying their own home. Some stats were released last year showing that there was only one suburb in Melbourne that a single female on the average wage for women could buy without going into mortgage stress. We are in Melbourne and are in absolutely awe of the price rises since we've been here in the last two years (55%) - so much so that we've decided to call it quits. Putting money into buying a home to live in at what looks to be the top of the market isn't the type of risk we can take with our young family. But then again, people have been calling a crash for ages now. And a clock is right twice a day. And according to some, property only goes up in Australia.

An update! I've been out to a number of removals companies and the quotes are in. For our move, the cheapest quotes are coming in around $12500 and the most expensive $15000. Given a freight forwarder is quoting about $5300 for the pick-up of the container and shipment to Southampton (https://www.wwcf.com.au/quotes/export/container/3.php), does this sound reasonable or similar to what others have been charged or quoted?

@snifter is all over it - call LP for a quote!

Hi Adele, Quote looks reasonable to me - we had a 40ft sole use in June 2015 Surrey to Melb for £6575. Plus the FX rate has taken a pummelling since so looks like even more of a winner. But alway, always negotiate! The JM team were good although we did had a few damages on arrival and some missing items. Insurance through Letton - thankfully! There were some other issues with the unpack in Melbourne though which was pretty disappointing - mind you, different state and likely different crew so perhaps you won't have the same issues we did... Its beeswax candles they worry about in customs but I guess a blanket ban is easier for the removalists to communicate and less likely to draw additional AQIS inspections (and $$$). Plus, those containers do get hot when they're on the wharf and you don't need molten then resolidifed wax everywhere! We considered shipping some wicker baskets but decided against it for peace of mind. Rushy

Thanks ScottieGirl. So far sole-use 40ft container quotes have been coming up a bit cheaper than $22K - I'll fill you in once all my quotes are in.

Morning all, We've just received quotes in for a 40ft container shipment of household goods from Melb to UK (southampton). Eye-watering... If you've done the move back to the UK from Melbourne, I'd really appreciate if you could let me know some ballpark figures of what it cost you. Many thanks in advance, R

Hey Dom, I hope the move back to the UK went smoothly and you've settled into life back in Blighty. Just wanted to see how you found Australian Trade for the shipping of your possessions? Any unexpected bills at the other end? Would you recommend? Cheers Rushy

I second Rinkies statements if your preferred school is hotly contested. Be living in a house within the school catchment before the application process otherwise it can be pot-luck. We made that mistake and despite getting application in and expecting to be in zone (as we planned to be by start of school) our local authority took our Oz address in January. So no chance of getting into an oversubscribed school as we were always going to be the greatest distance away!!!

Oh Norfolfkborn, what a dilemma. I really feel for you. You mention that youve recently ended a relationship - has this been a big influence on your desire to be back in the Uk? How close are you to your children and grandchildren? How do you feel about being apart from them day-to-day? There's no easy solution unless you have the financial means to live part of the year in Oz and part in the UK. Would this be an option?

Thanks Blondie for taking the time to share your experiences. We've taken your advice and started a massive cull of our possessions. We moved to Oz with a 40ft container thinking it was a once in a lifetime move little did we know we would ping-pong. Will do some maths once I get removals quotes in to work out whether to ditch all our gear in Oz and start afresh when we are in the UK.

Hey PomsInOzzers, After two years, we are calling time on our Melbourne adventure and are looking to head back to the UK. We are looking at the usual removals companies here in Melb but wondered in anyone has attempted a self-pack shipment. We are skint given the amount of money shelled out to get here and the fact we've gone backwards financially given the exorbitant cost of living (or more accurately housing). Looking to save some coin if possible. Any advice or experiences would be very much appreciated. Thanks all, Rush

Hi, we have just moved to Hampton with our children aged 4 and 2.5years and our 5 month old. We would love to meet any likeminded families in the Hampton area for coffee/drinks. Rachelle x

Hi, congrats on the impending move. We stayed in St Kilda and Port Melbourne - both for a month each while we Waited for our things to arrive. Both have good transport links to the city (light rail tram) and both by the bay. I really liked Port Melbourne - good selection of local shops on Bay Street, easy city access, some nice playgrounds and close to the beach. It felt safer than St Kilda to me. We used AirBnB for both stays, both were great and a lot less than $10,000 per month!

Thanks for posting! Once I work out how to pm, I'll be in touch...