Buyer71 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We are looking at moving to Melbourne and selling our house in the UK and initially renting before buying in Melbourne. I am not particularly attached to any of the furniture I have in the UK but would like to bring some personal belongings - photos etc. How much should we consider bringing - I wondered about selling everything in the UK and then buying things as we need them in Melbourne. This may be a daft question but I know that Clarks school shoes are more expensive in Australia and with three children wondered about buying some in the sales in the UK and bringing with us - are there certain styles that children need to have or is it just black school shoes or does it depend on the school they go to? My eldest daughter wears a size 9G adult shoe and is so limited here that I wondered about bringing a year or two's supplies with us. Would be great to hear of what others have done and what has worked out for you. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairview70 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We are looking at moving to Melbourne and selling our house in the UK and initially renting before buying in Melbourne. I am not particularly attached to any of the furniture I have in the UK but would like to bring some personal belongings - photos etc. How much should we consider bringing - I wondered about selling everything in the UK and then buying things as we need them in Melbourne. This may be a daft question but I know that Clarks school shoes are more expensive in Australia and with three children wondered about buying some in the sales in the UK and bringing with us - are there certain styles that children need to have or is it just black school shoes or does it depend on the school they go to? My eldest daughter wears a size 9G adult shoe and is so limited here that I wondered about bringing a year or two's supplies with us. Would be great to hear of what others have done and what has worked out for you. Thanks. Hi not in oz so can't comment on price of items but look at a few schools in the area you want to locate too. I've looked at about 6 schools in Queensland and they all specify black lace up plimsols don't know if it's the same in Melbourne but got to be cheaper than Clarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyman Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 defo get the shoes ....bring what you can ..... nothing goes to waste ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 You'll get differing opinions here. Personally, I'd say bring everything you can, unless you're either super-rich or your furniture is all cr@p. I say that because we left all our furniture behind - and even though there's only two of us, and we don't need much, I still found it stressful having to schlep round furniture stores and homewares stores and kitchenware stores etc etc etc. Especially when you're in a new country where you don't even know which shops sell what, or where any of the retail parks are, and you've got so much else to worry about. Sure, you could just rush round and buy any old furniture to "make do" - but then you're either stuck with second-best, or you waste money because you'll sell or give it away when you finally have time to buy what you really want. Also, people point out that you've got to wait two or three months for your furniture to arrive - BUT if you're sensible, you'll book into temp accommodation for a month anyway. Then when you buy furniture, you'll often find that big furniture items like lounge suites aren't kept in stock, they have to be ordered and will take 6-8 weeks to arrive - so you 're not much better off. I'd say, don't bring beds or fridges or cookers, because the sizes are different anyway and you need them in a hurry. Otherwise you can get by till your other furniture arrives by buying an outdoor table and chairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I wouldn't get too hung up on kids shoes tbh. They grow out of them so fast anyway. Just bring the ones they have and buy what your budget allows here (our daughters school shoes were cheap, it is the uniforms that will set you back). We brought everything in a 20ft container (except fridge/freezer, wardrobes and cooker). Even cheap furniture, beds, bedding etc will wind up setting you back many times more than the cost of shipping your stuff. Sure you can use gumtree etc and buy used stuff but I notice that 2nd hand everything here seems to be pricier than it is in the UK. And you need to be local and have access to a trailer or ute to transport the large items or pay a lot extra for delivery. No right or wrong though, just a personal opinion. As Marissa says the chances are that you will initially buy the cheapest crap anyway so it will be worse than you already own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We are looking at moving to Melbourne and selling our house in the UK and initially renting before buying in Melbourne. I am not particularly attached to any of the furniture I have in the UK but would like to bring some personal belongings - photos etc. How much should we consider bringing - I wondered about selling everything in the UK and then buying things as we need them in Melbourne. This may be a daft question but I know that Clarks school shoes are more expensive in Australia and with three children wondered about buying some in the sales in the UK and bringing with us - are there certain styles that children need to have or is it just black school shoes or does it depend on the school they go to? My eldest daughter wears a size 9G adult shoe and is so limited here that I wondered about bringing a year or two's supplies with us. Would be great to hear of what others have done and what has worked out for you. Thanks. Look into a MoveCube if not shipping entire house contents. We shipped personal effects, a few items of furniture and other stuff in a large movecube. Was easy as anything and self packing meant we could squish more in and do it how we wanted. Clarks shoes here are not the same. Least I don't think so. Very few styles and the black trainer type shoe isn't such a thing here but it is allowed in local high schools here. Its very old school styles from Clarks here usually. Not so good quality and cost a small fortune IMHO. Round here anyways kids attending private schools or (most) state high schools have to wear regulation black school shoes of the traditional style but they do allow black plain trainer type shoes also. Kids in state primary schools, seems to be anything goes and most wear bright coloured trainers or some sort of black school shoe (but those are the minority and its mostly Y R, 1 and perhaps 2 kids, often girls who seem to have those black shoes). However I find decent trainers to be expensive here and don't like kids feet in them all day every day. I've not bought a pair of shoes here in Aus yet for my son (or myself for that matter). I measure his feet in a store that sells Clarks shoes (buy the measuring device for a few quid from Clarks before you move perhaps? worthwhile if you want to size at home in future) and then order online from Clarks UK or any other site (I like Geox shoes for kids more now so order from Amazon or other stockists) and ship them over, from US or UK usually. I tend to buy in the UK Clarks online sales when kids trainers are £15 a pair and get various styles and sizes to last for a year or two. Son grows into them, they fit well (I do pop into a store and get them to check the fit occasionally and they tell me it feels fine) and if a pair are too small or not right I sell them on on local buy and sell groups as brand new in box for a not extortionate price. They get snapped up and it covers the cost of the shoes and the shipping so no loss to me. What I did do when back in England last July was buy a number of pairs of shoes for my son. I bought his actual current size then a size or two up, skipping the half sizes. So far its been fine and we've gotten use out of all the shoes I see nothing wrong in buying there and bringing with you, but keep in mind to research if its trainers of any sort of black shoes you'll need. You can do a random check of high schools around the Melbourne area and check their uniform policy and see what they list. If the usual is black flat shoes or black trainers, then you can probably hedge your bets and be ok getting some if you wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyer71 Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Many thanks for all of your comments, a movecube does sound like a sensible way forward to ensure that we bring our personal odds and ends and a few other bits and pieces. Can you remember how much a movecube cost you to ship over and how long it took to arrive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjg Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Many thanks for all of your comments, a movecube does sound like a sensible way forward to ensure that we bring our personal odds and ends and a few other bits and pieces. Can you remember how much a movecube cost you to ship over and how long it took to arrive? http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/243814-international-movecube-how-long-does-take.html http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/235966-movecube-ala-tetris.html as for the Clarks. My yorkie OH wont put the son in anything else as he has a very narrow foot. So when we go back next christmas, she intends to buy the next four sizes for each of the kids.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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