Moving from America to Australia - Tips/Tricks?
Posted by lightbaulb@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 8 comments
I'm an American in Boston, moving with my Australian wife and our young family (4y and 2y) to Sydney permanently. Currently trying to figure out the logistics, since you can't just rent a moving truck and drive there yourself.
Any recommendations on how to get our stuff there, or if you've made a huge move like this before, anything you wish you'd done differently? I'm currently trying to find prices on shipping containers, hard to gauge just how much space that is/what we'll need. Is it even worth bringing mattresses and couches or is that more trouble than it's worth? We don't have any furniture that's valuable, but assuming it won't resale for much, trying to avoid having to rebuy literally everything from scratch.
kiefer-reddit@reddit
Sell your stuff and buy new things there. Trust me. Unless you have priceless antique furniture that can’t be replaced, do not bother with shipping things.
CrankyJoe99x@reddit
My tip?
Watch out for the drop bears 😉
atchijov@reddit
This question was asked millions times… and the answer is - don’t. Unless you can put your belongings into U-haul and drive to new place, the only reasonable choice is to get rid of all of it and start a new. Unless you have some trulli irreplaceable items… there is no cost effective way to move your US belongings into Australia.
lightbaulb@reddit (OP)
I guess my thought process so far is - I'm getting quotes of around $6k for a shipping container. Having to buy 3 new mattresses, new desks, new dressers, new lamps, new chairs, etc..... will that add up to $6k? Maybe?
texas_asic@reddit
Mattresses, ok, you're going to buy new. But if you're selling old desks, dressers, chairs, etc, are you ok with buying used desks/dressers/chairs/etc?
atchijov@reddit
You do realize that Australia has different voltage? 230V. Your laptop most likely will be ok, but none of “dumb “ electric devices (like lights) will work. Also the plug is different. Another issue, it takes a while to ship anything from US to Australia. So for few weeks you will not have access to your “mattress”.
texas_asic@reddit
If you were to ship, then use a shipping container. However, you should price out how much your used stuff would sell for on facebook and how much equivalent used furnishings would cost over there. Electronics generally are dual voltage (check the fine print on the power bricks or plugs) and would be ok with just a plug adapter. Lights and appliances aren't going to work and you should plan on buying local versions.
For things like mattresses, check if sizes are different. If so, you're not going to be able to buy sheets that fit (locally). They're big, bulky, and you probably might as well get new ones.
When we moved to NZ, we went with just (a lot of) airline luggage. Had not counted on the used market for furniture to be so crazy expensive. Didn't move our furniture, but probably should have.
Bokbreath@reddit
We hired a moving company to pack it up (from Boca) ship it to Sydney and put it all in our new place. We filled an entire container. That was 15yrs ago and very little remains other than some of the more massive furniture pieces.
Don't bring any outdoor stuff. It will need to be fumigated and that will cost you. Oh and make sure you keep your bank accounts active. It is very difficult to establish a US account without a US address.