Interesting discussions yesterday at Keighley meet with widely different opinions on what & what not to pack (all very friendly discussions BTW & not a troll or flamer in sight! ;) )
So here goes a question for all you AB's already in Adelaide (I realise you should all be tucked up in bed now so this'll probably have to wait a few hours for a reply!)

Can any of you say there were things you left behind then thought to yourself "Damn, I didn't think we'd need that, wish we'd packed it now?" & why did it turn out to be a big mistake to leave it behind?

p.s. I mean practical stuff, not HP sauce or Cadbury's Chocolate ! :D

Good question :happy03: I'll keep my eye on the replies :D

Hi Pieman

I did see a post a while back and I think it said that things like dust pan and brush were missed :blink: and I'm sure there were more items on the list, because of the expence of buying the mundane items.
When we eventually move we will pack almost the whole house but I'm not sure whether to take my golf clubs as hand baggage and blow the allowance :rolleyes: . Don't tell the missus though because I think she will want to pack clothes :(
Adrian

Things I've heard people mention include:

- warm coats, thick duvets and fleece dressing gowns which were given away and sorely missed in the Adelaide winter

- all the little bits and bobs you collect over the years - screws, rawlplugs, nuts and bolts, washers, picture hooks - if you have to go over to Bunnings (B&Q....) and buy them all again it costs a fortune - plus each time you realise you are lacking another one you have to drive over there yet AGAIN!

I reckon the best idea is to have a good junk clearout, then just pack the lot to bring over here. The only reason not to, for me, would be if I were just over the limit for one of the standard container sizes, then I'd have to find a few things to ditch - but if it's all gonna fit in, then bring the whole damn lot!

Hi Elaine,

Had to have a chuckle to myself. We are off on the 19th Aug (arrrghh, not long now :sign68: ) and so I was having a trawl through the garage on Friday.

Glad to see I wasn't wasting my time bubble wrapping a box of woodscrews! (hell, it was nearly 3/4 full, probably cost a couple of quid at B&Q!)

Cheers
Wayne.

Having already done this once before, we found that the things we missed most were books and pets. I would not leave my dog behind again, no matter what it cost! We left a lot of books and some furniture that had been hand-me-downs from the family. That was a mistake, as solid wood furniture is completely out of reach of the common man :rolleyes: over here. I left most of my gardening books thinking someone will make better use of it, as the climate is so different in the UK, boy, do I wish I'd never done that!

This time round I'm just getting rid of anything too small or not worn for a year or more, anything totally broken (and not mendable) and things like fish tank and gerbil cages. Everything else we're bringing... Can't face having to start all over again! Yes, even the screws and rawlplugs!

Annette
:dance:

I got rid of a lot of plastic storage containers cause I thought that they had seen better days but have had to buy SOOOOOOOOOOO many since we came here as you have to put everything, and I mean everything into containers to avoid getting ants in your pantry! <_< :D

All of our gardening tools and stuff from the sheds that David 'didn't get round to' cleaning! <_<

Keep them coming boys & girls! :clap:
Wayne, you're a man after my own heart! I'm rushing off to show this post to the missus, I knew those 3 biscuit tins full of reclaimed nuts, bolts, screws & nails would come in useful eventually! :D

thanks for the info, do you know how much roughly a container will cost?
and do you know if you can send mixed items and a car in a container??

kay

HI Kay
Yes you can send a car plus other stuff in a container. Do have a look in FAQ for lots of threads on 'Packing/Removals' (checkout the Index first) for all sorts of advice and experiences.

Not sure about current prices though....


PS you might want to check out the 'cars' threads too. Not many people consider it worth shipping their car, it's a lot of hassle and extremely expensive!

I sold an old mobile phone handset at a carboot before I left - shouldn't have done that!

Bring an old handset - make sure that you get it 'unlocked' or whatever the term is and then all you need is a new sim card when you get here. Its useful to keep your UK mobile at first because you might need it for emergencies - but you have to get it unlocked in the UK apparently they can't do that here.

Juanita

Fully agree!!!
Couldn't face cleaning all our gardon tools, strimmer, lawnmower etc after spending ages cleaning Rods golf balls (why do men need so many!?!?) , shoes and Callums outdoor toys. If I could do the whole emigration thing again, I would definitely clean garden stuff.
A good tip about fleeces, warm clothes for the evening - really cold here at night at the moment. Aussie houses in our experience are not built to be warm but to be cool.
Susan

I'm with pieman on the screws, nuts and bolts. Women have shoes, men have tools. Neither will ever understand why the other needs quite so many of them.
(No inuendo intended)

Kay,

we had a quote today for £4220 for a 20 ft container. Will let you know what the others quote. Not sure whether you will be able to fit in a car as well as other stuff in a 20ft, you may need a 40ft, but not sure?

Annette
:dance:

Interesting one about the mobiles Juanita, we were just going to buy new but if all you need to do is get them unlocked & onto an aussie network we could save on 3 phones! :clap:

If you take a look HERE it tells you how you can un-lock your phones yourself :D

Just a quickie in reply to bringing mobiles, I thought that they had to be Quad band, triband work in USA but Quad anywhere in the world!!!! can anyone enlighten us?

ta, Chris

:chuckle:

That quote sounds a bit high! Have you tried Dolphin removers?

Admittedly we ended up only requiring 80% of a 20ft container so went for the shared option but I got a quote for £2,800 and still managed to knock them down a further £200 :)

Neil

Hello Chris

I don't even know what quadband, triband means :loopy: but we just have vodafone mobiles (mobiles aren't exactly the latest even) but on our last trip out a couple of years ago, didn't notify the company, just carried on using them as we would in the UK. Phone calls and texting was a little bit more expensive but not too much. Don't know about other phone companies though?

We intend taking our mobiles with us next week and using them for the first month or so

Neil

Regarding mobiles,


Marius took my old Nokia 6310 over and bought an Aus simcard, popped it in and Bob's your uncle! We have also travelled around Europe with Enya's Nokia 3510 and Marius's Ericsson (don't know model) and all of them worked, but I'm not sure whether they will in Aus. I have a suspicion the Ericsson will, but maybe not the 3510?

Annette
:dance:

Hiya,
we were told you only need dual band phones for Oz and Tri band for the Us and Canada.
Hope this helps someone. I'm just going to get ours unlocked and if see if they work before we spend out on new ones.

Carole :rolleyes:

Only three tins?
I knew I was right to keep all of the 'That'll come in handy' items. Rusty or not :)

Wish we'd thought to bring The pieman and his family WITH us. Waiting for them to get here themselves is taking far too long :( :vioman:

Thinking that might come into the same category as cadbury's chocolate so only other thing would be old gardening/DIY clothes but there again if you hit the right sale in Target you could have a new dodgy DIY outfit for a few dollars :lol:

Gils

WOW.......................!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it worked Even with me doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now have a mobile to take!!

Thanks

Ali :dance: