trabonita Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 I'm a bit confused of what to bring to Australia as there will be lots of things I.e beds, mattresses, household items that we won't be able to live without for 8-12 weeks whilst waiting for the movecube. What have others done? I really didn't want to have to buy new beds etc but with 2 children I don't know how else you would do it? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Either don't ship the furniture and replace the other side or ship early, have a camp out in the UK and borrow stuff from family and friends that end to see you through. Also any stuff you are not shipping can be used by you before you leave. Then rent a short term furnished rental once in Aus for around 3-4 weeks to give you time to find a long let unfurnished and your shipping should arrive sometime soon after that. Kids are fine on an air mattress and just a few other things round the house for a few weeks IMHO. We treated it like an indoor camp out I'd not break the bank buying new beds and all that in Aus while waiting for shipping. Only if I wasn't shipping it. We didn't see the point of shipping quite a lot of our furniture and sold off much of it off in the run up to moving and then made do with air mattresses and camping chairs and a few old large cushions etc. Some basic kitchen stuff from charity shops and cheap 50p ikea plates we used in the kitchen. I boiled water for cups of tea and coffee in a small old pan I also used to cook in. Two days before we flew out we got rid of the last few things apart from mattresses and camping chairs and then had dinner out the last couple of nights. Could have stayed with family but didn't want to do that. A friend came and collected the air mattresses and took our camping chairs also and the last few items we had to throw out they took to the tip for us. Also once here sites like Gumtree and so on are great for picking up a few cheap items to see you through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher1 Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 When I left the UK (not for Australia though) some years ago with my husband and daughter we had the same problem, but we had a car, so I'm not sure if you could do the same as we did, but here goes ... We took just one knife fork and plate for each of us, and bought three mugs on arrival. We took a sleeping bag each and bought blow up mattresses when we got into our unfurnished flat. (The floors were carpeted). We bought three garden chairs on arrival, and a new television. Although we knew no one, people at work rallied round and lent us quite a few things. I used a launderette and bought a couple of pans and a kettle. These days, with ebay, you'd probably be able to pick up a few essentials quite cheaply until your 'real' furniture arrived. The most useful idea we had concerned clothing. When we were sorting out our stuff there were quite a few things we no longer wanted. Instead of throwing these away (no recycling in those days) we wore these clothes for the journey and threw them away when they were dirty - this meant we arrived after two days on the road without a bag of dirty washing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excitedbutterrified Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Hi Trabonita, I moved out to Melbourne last May - although I went ahead of my family and spent the first 10 weeks alone. My advice is to buy new beds in Australia. They are super bulky so will take up a lot of your movecube, and there are cheap furniture shops here. Mattresses are a slightly different size here too, so fitted sheets etc.. might not fit quite right if you bring british stuff over. I bought a queen size bed and mattress and a single from Ikea pretty soon after arriving. less than $1,000 for the lot. I also bought a cheap couch for a couple of hundred. You will find there are lots of other things you cant do without beyond furniture so will have to buy. (will be different depending on your requirements) - For me, I bought the cheapest cooking set in the world from Kmart (pans, knives, chopping board, etc..), a vacuum cleaner, TV, plates & cutlery set. Second hand fridge freezer and washing machine from gumtree / ebay. I tried, but couldn't avoid buying these things. There are also furniture rental options, but I found that there were almost as expensive as buying. Kmart has masses of household stuff, and its dirt cheap. It may fall to bits, but it only has to last a few weeks! All in I spent about $2,000 on stuff for getting through those weeks. Most of that stuff we still use, although the cooking stuff was seriously crap. On a side note, The weeks spent waiting for the container were a bit of an adventure, I quite enjoyed having a minimalist existence, and it lets you know how little you REALLY need to survive! On the day the container arrived, it was like Christmas having so much stuff around the house, best thing was arrival of our music system, I hadn't listened to any music for 8 weeks, so had a little disco on my own! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trabonita Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 Thanks. Air beds sound like a good idea, but how early would you ship stuff as I don't think you know exactly how long it will take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith and Linda Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 A lot depends on personal circumstances I suppose, and timing of everything especially if you have a house to sell. Once we sold our house in the UK we had everything packed (4 bed home) by the removalists ready for shipping off. We stayed in holiday accommodation for some 6 weeks before we left, luckily we could stay with my brother in OZ, but would have looked at a similar holiday let anyhow. As no guarantee can be given for the containers precise arrival you will have to take that into consideration too, as it happened for us we managed to buy a house about the time of the containers arrival the removalists would store for two weeks free of charge which gave us time to decorate the house first. I have to say the whole move went reasonably well for us and holiday homes in UK was low season so easy to get and negotiate price for the longer period, but the timing could so easily have gone pear shaped with the house sale, purchase and container arrival etc so I would advise to expect and provisional plan for such events. Good luck with every thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndoe Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Only buy stuff that you can still utilise after your furniture arrives. A pergola/garden setting will do as your dining table and once your stuff arrives, outside it goes. Melamine kitchen ware and a cheap $8 cutlery set, can later be for camping/picnicking. Air beds are fine for a short while. Buy a Microwave, (if you haven't already got one in your shipping) can suffice for all meals for the duration. Other than that, prepare meals that can go in one or two cheapo pans. You just do what you have to do. We shipped nothing other than personals and found it quite fun "making do" till we could afford new furniture. A bit of ingenuity and you'll be fine. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Thanks. Air beds sound like a good idea, but how early would you ship stuff as I don't think you know exactly how long it will take? If you have a sole use 20ft container your shipping company should be able to give you a decent timescale to work to. IIRC its 12-14 weeks or so. Doesn't mean you ship 12 weeks before you leave of course. I'd aim for perhaps 4-6 weeks beforehand, then a month in a short term rental to give you time to find a long let and then you've a few weeks to source stuff you might need to tie you over till your shipping arrives. You have to manage one end or the other if shipping furniture and so on. You could choose to just ship personal effects and a few items of furniture and buy new or second hand once you are here for the rest. We did this mostly in the end and only shipped our KS bed, 2 chests of drawers, a chair, desk and blanket box. The rest we bought here or picked up second hand, often for a bargain price. Re beds. If you ship them, ship the bedding including duvets and so on. I don't find that much difference in bedding to actually fit an Aus mattress or a UK one but there is a slight difference. Aus singles are a tighter fit on a Uk mattress as they are a bit longer. UK king is an Aus queen and I find that slightly too large but its not any problem. It all fits fine. And the bedding we have have is mostly UK but we have Aus single beds with UK fitted sheets and also now Auk queen fitted sheets but a UK KS bed. Its all good. All the covers and duvets are UK sizing though. I can't find anything decent here that doesn't cost a small fortune so stocked up before we moved and also order online now and again if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Only buy stuff that you can still utilise after your furniture arrives. A pergola/garden setting will do as your dining table and once your stuff arrives, outside it goes. Melamine kitchen ware and a cheap $8 cutlery set, can later be for camping/picnicking. Air beds are fine for a short while. Buy a Microwave, (if you haven't already got one in your shipping) can suffice for all meals for the duration. Other than that, prepare meals that can go in one or two cheapo pans. You just do what you have to do. We shipped nothing other than personals and found it quite fun "making do" till we could afford new furniture. A bit of ingenuity and you'll be fine. Good luck These are great tips. I would also add that buying airbeds here represents a great future investment anyway. If we had been into camping more so but the airbeds are great for kids sleepovers which we have had quite a lot of over the summer holidays - despite only being here a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bibbs Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Airbeds are awful. Deflating during the night, one person moves and the other is woken up. Get a sofa bed over here to make do. You can then put it in a spare room later. Use futon style mattresses. Hit up GumTree for cheap stuff, and then re-sell it once your stuff arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 You could buy cheap beds to tide you over and put them in a spare room once your stuff arrives. You can rent white goods although for short periods in can work out expensive, or you can buy second hand and sell on or use elsewhere when your container arrives (lots of homes have a 'drinks' fridge outside on the patio etc. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 We stayed with my mum for 7 weeks in the UK and then at my mother in laws for 2 weeks here in Australia. Our stuff turned up at the end of the two weeks (took 9 weeks door to door) and went straight in to the long term rental we had organised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Bear in mind you'll be living in a holiday flat for the first 4 weeks or so, while you look for a long-term rental. So there's half the time gone already. Also, one thing we didn't think of - if you leave things like your lounge suite behind and want to buy a nice one to replace it, many shops don't have them in stock and you have to wait 6-8 weeks for delivery. So you're no better off! I second JohnDoe's idea - buy an outdoor table and chairs, a barbecue, and a picnic set. You'll need all of those in your new outdoor life anyway so it's not money wasted. Also buy a microwave. That takes care of your living room and kitchen needs! For sleeping, I would leave beds behind, because then you can go straight out and buy new ones and have a good night's sleep straight away. But like I said - that means buying them somewhere like IKEA, where you can get them from stock. If you're fussy about what beds you get, then bring your existing ones and buy airbeds. Leave your fridge behind and buy a new one - chances are it won't fit in an Australian house anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndoe Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Leave your fridge behind and buy a new one - chances are it won't fit in an Australian house anyway. Well it will, but it'd likely be a small fridge in a big hole in the wall :-) unless fridge sizes have changed since I lived in the UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Well it will, but it'd likely be a small fridge in a big hole in the wall :-) unless fridge sizes have changed since I lived in the UK Yes I think they have - a few people still have the wee fridge under the countertop, but I'm seeing a lot of people with big double-door numbers or retro fifties-style fridges which are extra wide. I don't know what the rest of Oz is like, but in Sydney, older houses have a tall narrow cubbyhole for a fridge and those would be far too big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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