Moving from USA to Sydney

[jacque]

Hi all,

I am originally from Sydney but living in the USA - I have not lived in Sydney for 17 years and my family and I ( husband and 2 1/2 yo. ) will be moving to sydney later on this year. My husband is from Cuba - so I feel like I will (almost ) be an expat moving to sydney - would love to talk to other people who are moving from USA to sydney or people who have just done it! I hear sydney is very expensive now compared to the USA - lifestyle will be similar - we live on the beach here in Miami and want to move to Mosman, neutral bay or even northern beaches but I am not sure what it will be like.....any tips, any good moving companies from USA - should I sell all of our stuff or should I ship it? sorry for all the questions - would love to connect and if you would like you can email me personally [

thanks

[Dolly]

Hi jacque,

Welcome to the forum.

I'm afraid Sydney is rather expensive these days, although Melbourne is giving it a good run for it's money!!

What to ship is really a personal choice. Some people like to start afresh so sell off/give away most of their stuff. Others like to have their things around them when they move over, giving them a sense that there is still something familiar for them. Sorry I can't help on american shipping companies, but there will be members who post on the forum who will be able to give you the answers you're looking for.

And trust me, before you move over, you'll have loads more questions to ask

Dolly

[jacque]

Hi Dolly!

thanks for the response. Do you know where I can get info online for things like mattresses and buying furniture. I am so americanized! crate and barrel and pottery barn. What are the aussie furniture stores. Do they have info on line?

What are the exepnsive things living in sydney - for example - food is definitely getting expensive here in the US but I think clothes are very cheap - and really good quality. Things go on sale very regularly so really you never need pay full price.

You are right - a million questions!

[Dolly]

Hi jacque,

What I did was to search yellow.com.au - Keyword Search . You can search bed shops and furniture shops and anything you want!

Most popular stores for:

Furniture: Freedom Furniture, Sydney's, Ikea, Fantastic Furniture
Beds: 40 winks, Bedshed, Snooze
DIY: Bunnings, Mitre 10
Department Stores: KMart, Adairs, Myer, Target, BigW

Food here is getting expensive and personally I'd say the clothes aren't as well made as back in the UK, so I wish I'd have stocked up before we moved over!

Dolly

[jacque]

Dolly...too funny - I am stocking up right now - keep shopping like crazy - I have so many shoes - Husband keeps asking why - and I say - because then I wont need to shop for a year in sydney! ha ha! thanks for the websites will take a look.

Jacuqe

[anj1976]

Hi Jacque,
Though i am not in OZ as yet but from all the reading i that i have done and all the sites that i have gone thru, i guess it is best to pick things like furniture and electronics from australia itself.

If you compare prices, the shipping cost wil be almost the same as the cost of buying all that you would be importing/shipping from the US.

Also, You will have lots of time to pick things as you need them. But if you ship them all at once, the cost will have to be paid at one time. I dont know how comfortable you would be with the cost involved in shipping, but for anyone moving out of their current country to another, one should save as much as you can.

And, Australia has some issues like different plug point etc, if US plugs are different, thn u wil hv to work extra hard just to convert them to what can be used in Australia. and in some cases the appliances might just not work because of voltage/power supply difference.

A friend of mine from India shipped his furniture and what he finally got wasn't what he had sent from India. There are times when there are certain damages involved, another thing not to be missed is the Import Duty/Tax, you might have to pay these on certain articles.

So think twice about shipping etc. as for linen, other households, it makes lot of sense if you carry those with you or get them shipped as a parcel and not in a container. More thn the cost factor, it is the inconvenience that you might face due to post shipment formalities.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Anj

[jacque]

Hi Anj,

thanks....I am trying to save like crazy but it is really hard....I know shipping is expensive - I have dont it a couple of times but there are some things I cant part with and some I can live without - I know that we will be 2-3 months without our stuff as well but thing like my king size bed with a pretty new mattress that I paid $2500 US for I think would cost me a lot more in Oz and if I sell it now I really wont get any money back on it! so it is hard wokring things out! I know about all the electrical stuff we have to buy.....it is all so much stress! ANyway - when we are sitting in Sydney enjoying my first glass of wine I will be happy!!!!

thanks
Jacque

[anj1976]

Hi Jacque,
being from India, there are so many things that i too would want to take. We have emotional values attached to a lot of things. there is stuff given to me by my parents during my wedding. heavy clothes(and indian dresses/embroidery work is very heavy)lot of jewelery-including heavy sets. out bed and furniture that we just got from my dad (i got married on 8th feb). all these things will have to be left behind. i wil not carry the jewelery, wil give it to dad to keep it in safe. as for my furniture, the bed and living room 8 seater sofa set, the chairs on which our wedding ritual happened, all this will go to my dad's place. i just picked some very pretty mattresses and throws/rugs, wil hv to give those as wel. for a simple reason that carrying all these would be too much of a hassle. when u r moving to a new town, u r starting a new life. with no old contacts to meet etc. everything wil be new, and who knows what we are going to face. also, i believe there is a problem with getting things like mattresses/carpets etc. they need to be quarantined.
as for saving, wel, we have been at it since forever now. there is a difference in indian currency and dollars. a dollar equals 37 indian rupees, so u can imagine how much we wil hv to save just to take some 8-10k with us. though with me and my husband working, and earning a decent amount, it isnt difficult. we have managed about 5k already. our acs application has just been filed, so we have good one yr and few months to manage those extra 5-10k that we would want to take with us.
what's your scene? what all has been done in terms of applications etc?