What do we bring?

Now this is a tricky one...what to bring? We decided to get rid
of things we never used, clear out our wardrobes, sort out
the shed and venture into the loft! The loft expedition took
three attempts, each time we thought we'd done it but then
each time we got rid of even more stuff. I didn't realise you
could cram so much stuff into one 3 bedroom semi!

Obviously you have to consider the Australian rules for bringing things into the country. The
general rules that were told to us by our relocators (who provided an exceptional service at both
ends) were as follows, I'm sure there are loads more rules but these are what we can remember and
what applied to us:

No raw wood, ie: bamboo and cane.
Nothing contaminated by living organisms, eg our fish tank had a rough lining on that you
could never get thoroughly clean so that was a no-no.
Nothing contaminated with soil. It is OK to bring your gardening stuff however you have to
scrub it and disinfect it and it has to look like you have done it.
Golf clubs are fine so long as they too have all been scrubbed and cleaned.
Their are more laws about bringing in food, seeds, firearms, alcohol, drugs etc.etc. but as we
weren't bringing anything of this nature I'm unsure as to what the rules are, but the relocators
should have all the information you need.
Christmas decorations: You need to be careful about pine cones, even the little coloured
ones on your garlands, these are real underneath and are not allowed. Also, if you have an
artificial tree, on the branches or on the trunk check for what you may think is pretend bark,
quite often it is real for a better effect, these too are not allowed.

Point to remember:
When you send your shipment off it takes 8 - 12 weeks to arrive and be brought
through customs and quarantine, this may not seem long, but trust me, it's an
eternity. We decided not to bring anything we might need in those first 3
months. So things like kettles, toasters, etc. were sold and old crockery and
cutlery was gotten rid of. This was a definite plus point when we got here as it
meant we could buy items and put them in the house and we'd have struggled
without certain things.
Josh's bike was an item we sold also. He loved playing on it and 3 months
without it would have been hard, so we bought him one once we arrived and he
loved it!
You need to consider points such as what will we sleep on, what will we sit on.
Be realistic and honest with what you use and need, this will make life much
easier for you once you arrive.

Our personal experience:
As I've already said Crown were a fabulous company and I can't recommend them enough, from
packing to unpacking and all the correspondence in-between they were professional and
understanding. Also nothing at all was damaged in transit!
A couple of things that I wanted to bring but couldn't were Josh's moses basked, this was made of
bamboo and was gorgeous, my sister who lives in Sydney was pregnant at the time and I wanted to
give it to her but I couldn't which was a shame. The other thing was a set of 2 chest of drawers,
these were lovely and relatively new but the drawers were made of cane and so these were a no-no
as well.
The fish tank couldn't be brought either and we had a beautiful tank, but we'd have had to remove
the backing which was glued on and we'd have had to scrub it and disinfect it and we were worried
about the problems it may cause with future fish we put in the tank, so in the end we decided to sell it.
We sold so much stuff or gave it away, we had 3 guinea pigs and a rabbit which went to a good
home and I made £180 at a car boot sale, it's amazing what people will buy!
I made lists of appliances we were selling and put it up at work and at David's cousin's work and the
stuff sold like hot cakes.
Items that were in reasonable condition but we couldn't sell we gave to charity. things I'd have
brought that I didn't are my garden umbrella, our stand up fan, a couple of fancy plant pots that I
should have scrubbed. Mine and David's bikes (although I have a fancy all singing al dancing one
now, so I'm not too gutted about that)!

T.V.'s, D.V.D.'s and CD Players.

Yes you can bring televisions, ours worked fine.
You can use English DVD players, we have an Australian TV that we use our English
DVD player on.
English DVD's work on Australian DVD players.
T.V.'s here are around the same price as in the UK, the difference here is that you can
ask in the majority of shops how much they will knock off for cash, this in turn makes
things cheaper than the UK.
CD players work fine here, you just need an adaptor plug which you can either buy in
the UK or you can get from shops such as Bunnings (similar to B&Q) over here.

Hairdryer's & Straighteners - These work fine with an adaptor plug.

Electrical kitchen appliances - These too work fine with adaptors.

White goods (such as washers, dryers and fridges) - Since arriving we have been told that
these work fine but we do not have personal experience on this one. The way we saw it was that our
one's in our old home had been used a lot so we sold our house with them included as a complete
kitchen which our buyers really appreciated. Another option would be to offer to sell them to your
buyers which my mum did when she moved and they jumped at the chance. I do know that to replace
them here is cheaper than in the UK and they are things that you will need on arrival and may be a
nightmare to try and manage without. I have also been told 9and I don't know how true it is) that
Fridges do not travel well!

Telephones and faxes - We brought these as we were told they'd work fine but they didn't, the
plugs for the phone line are a different size here and we couldn't find adaptors for them, so we had to
get rid. You will also probably find that you need to buy a phone and have it installed before your 3
months is up.

Computers, scanners, printers, etc. - We sent a computer in the shipment and brought a laptop
in our suitcase, both work perfectly well including internet connection. If you have both devices it is
good doing it this way because you then have internet access in your home straightaway which is
fantastic for keeping in touch with family and friends and also job and house hunting, etc. Scanners
and printers work fine too, you just need an adaptor for the English style plugs.

Bikes - These are fine, but I'd probably replace the tires.

Things to bear in mind:

Houses are lots bigger here, you will probably need to buy a new settee
and a table and chairs as they have family rooms, dining rooms and living
rooms, then you need a table for outside.
Bedding here is a different size, an English king size is an Australian queen
size, over here a king size bed is the biggest. They also have king singles
here which I hadn't seen back in the UK, the closest thing I can think of is a
3/4 size bed.