Hey there, we're in the nearly stages of it all. Waiting on skills assessment coming back so nothing booked as yet.

I've got a couple of questions to ask,

1. Is it worthwhile shipping all household goods over, inc electricals.? As I've heard somewhere that TV's might not work, ie. difficulty in tuning into stations..

2. We have a dog, has anyone else taken their dog with them.? And is it difficult to find somewhere to rent that will take dogs.

Thanks for reading.

I will probably have more silly questions later, please bear with me... :smile:

 

Got another question for you about cars.

I understand that buying a car in Australia is a lot more expensive than the UK.

Would it be wiser, and cheaper, to buy a new car here and ship it over.? I see that there are a few companies that do everything for you..

Thanks again

 

What to bring seems to boil down to how good your stuff is and funds available. We personally shipped very little, no furniture just bits and bobs of personal stuff and hubbys tools. If i was turn the clock back i wouldnt change much, it worked for us doing it this way. On the flip side lots of people bring everything they can fit into a container, so it really is swings and roundabouts.
With white goods and furniture there are some bargains to be had , espceially when you haggle, which is quite normal here, next to no-one pays the ticket price. Some Tvs work ok, some will only work via a set top box, vhs recorder and some dont work at all.

Petair are quite a popular company to help with the shipping of pets. Its not cheap and pets do have stay in quarantine for a while.

Second hand cars are expensive as they hold their value more here. New cars are not much different price wise. To ship a car you need to have owned it for at least 12 months. We personally thought it too much hassle and too costly unless you own a top of the range BMW or something.

Hope this helps a bit for now

Cal x

 

When I first went out to Australia with my parents, they did take some things by container - mainly just things that had personal value rather than cost. They did not take any whitegoods or TV's or furniture. We also brought our family dog - a toy poodle (which at the time was 6 months quarantine and very expensive) - my mum couldn't bear to live without her. We did not take our car.

Looking back, I think if you have good quality furniture and electrical goods and can afford to ship them over, it is probably worth it - but bear in mind it takes at least I think 3 months for your stuff to get there, so you may have to rent a furnished apartment if you get there before them, otherwise you will be sitting on cardboard boxes and in sleeping bags. I think personally, I would have felt much more settled at first in Australia if we did take our furniture as it would have felt like my home. I found Australian settee suites to be different to the ones people prefer in UK - not so comfy! I missed having familiarity around me. Also we found second hand goods like TV's beds and furniture to be about double the price what you would pay here for them and they were really old, compared with what you would get here second hand. It was impossible to get anything on credit to buy new as my parents had not established a credit rating so we ended up buying stuff at garage sales or through the local paper. Used cars were an extortionate amount of money ($5000 for a car you could get here for about £150) with the only good thing being there was no MOT so you could run it into the ground without shelling out vast amounts of money on a heap of crap on a yearly basis.

You can get rentals that will take pets, but make sure they are aware of it and it is in the lease. Not all people want dogs or pets in their property. Most will only allow them to stay in the garden but you may get some that will allow them to stay indoors. Dogs are not looked on the same way by Australians that we do here - they are very much outdoor pets that stay in the backyard. Personally I would not take a dog with me again unless I had money to burn and the ability to buy a house as soon as I got there and do what I wanted without a landlord's permission.

I heard that if you ship a car over you can stuff as much in it as you can and it won't cost any more - so depending on the size of your car - you could get a fair bit of your stuff in it.

 

Apologies for taking so long to reply, been busy and had a computer problem. All back up and running again... :laugh:

Thank you for the replies, they have been very helpful.
We are still waiting on the skills assessment being returned before we can do anything else and all this information does help a lot.
Thank you again

Gary

 

Good Luck with it, i hope they dont keep you waiting much longer..

Cal x

 

yes, yes, yes, oh, and yes, absolutely. As long as you can use a screwdriver, the cost per cubic metre of bringing goods here easily outweighs any removal costs. When you do buy plugs, say in Dick Smith, or Bunnings, tell them the electrician told you to.............they are a bit sniffy about electrical safety. In particular, bring a DVD player if you are bringing UK DVDs as they don't always play on Ozzie ones.
it is easier to rent a place without a dog, but so what?
We brought our dog, I can guide you through the process, but for now, get a rabies blood test at your vets.
your dog is released from quarantine 180 days after the blood sample is drawn. He, or she can spend 150 of those days with you in the UK, but must spend the last 30 days in quarantine! There are three stations here, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Use animalcouriers dot co dot uk and take their advice. After quarantine, fly the dog to you via dogtainers which is about $150 to most places in QLD. Total cost is about $6000, but, you will remember the day your dogs flight landed for the rest of your life. 4:50pm, Monday, 14th May 2012!
TVs work just fine, buy either a free view box, or subscribe to Austar. Austar come to your house, and fix everything up.
the fun comes with internet, telstra are the only game in town, and are useless. Once they finally get round to connecting you, get Apple TV as well, if you have an I tunes account

 

It costs about $5000 to bring a car here, and then duty is charged on its value at 10 or 15 % of its total value, which includes the cost of the sea crossing, so beware. It really is a pain in the proverbial, you need import documents, it probably isn't worth it. You have to have owned the car for 12 months, just say no! Cars are dearer her, but petrol is cheap, it is about $1:35 a litre here. The registration covers 3rd party insurance.
the sea journey takes two months, not three, I think to bring a 34 cubic metre container cost us about $9000, we used ********* Southern to get the container to Brisbane, overseas packers dot com dot au to clear customs, and then a local firm to bring it here.
its not cheap to come to Oz, it is 12000 miles away, but, it's worth it.

 

Thanks again guys, all this info is invaluable to us. We are making decisions all the time...
Heard back from skills assessment, they have everything they need and are processing as we speak..
Hopefully won't be too long now till we hear...

 

Hi everyone, sorry for not posting in a while. Getting a bit disillusioned and frustrated at the progress of our application. :arghh:We were allocated a rep at the end of September last year. We had communication early January for a little bit more information which we sent straight away. It's now nearly April and we're no further forward, with no further communication. We're not allowed to contact them (neither are our agents) so, we're still in limbo. I know the system for applications changed at the beginning of July last year and thought that maybe that's what the hold up could be. I think I might just be grasping at straws here. How long did some of you wait until you were accepted or got your visas.? Thanks for reading...

 

Ours was a 457 so days, but if we apply for PR I suspect it won't be quick .... Good luck, hope they full their fingers out for you, nothing worse than waiting x

 

Hang in there.... l;though it was a few years ago when we applied, it took 8 months, so i know how frustrating it is,lol..
Its worth it in the end, enjoy the time you have left with your friends and family because as soon as that visa is granted and you pin down a date ,time fliesssss.

Cal x

 

Thanks for the replies... We've been going through the motions now for nearly a year including the first consultation so hopefully won't be too long now. We all can't wait but don't want to do too much in case it falls through. House is on the market now. If it sells, we'll move into rental in the interim. Thanks for the words of support...Gary

 

Don't lose heart, it took us 4.5 years to get our visas!!!! They are perm res visas. And it is now taking us 9 months to sort the shipping, car, dog and everything else so try not to stress..................Easier said than done.

 

Wow I feel like we were extremely lucky. Though my husband is australian we got PR visa for me and the kids 3 months from the time we submitted the paperwork to the visa office in Ottawa Canada.

Good luck gazza. Hope it speeds up for you.

 

What should I do when my doors are locked? Have you here some help like from door repairs london?