equivalent to ARGOS,NEXT, DEBENHAMS, HOUSE OF FRASER, to gage prices for

[ras]

dining furniture/sideboards, side tables beds leather sofas etc.....? I'm trying to work out how much to replace furniture IF i DON'T go for the container and bought new in Australia.............

I think I'm having withdrawl symptoms for Tescos and I havent even arrived yet......... x
My husband will be wondering whats wrong when I only take 45 mins at the supermarket instead of 2 hours in tesco extra...lol......

that extra 1hr 15 I can spend in the sun

[AussieRob]

This is so difficult to do, only because some shops in the UK don't have an equivalent here. I've just taken my partner to the Uk for her first visit and I tried to do the same thing, I'd show her argos and I couldn't say what our equivalent was. Apart from the Ikea catalogue I don't know of another proper catalogue we get. There's loads of weekly special flyers but that's it. There are shops where you have a selection of household items like K mart or Big W, which unless some of the big w's survived the woolworths closure the UK has nothing similar.

We have a chain of large off licenses here called Dan Murphy's, and although you can buy alcohol everywhere in the UK, i couldn't find anything close to them over there whilst trying to get my father a Christmas present.

There's isn't a shop like Next here either, well not to me. I would say Myer is like Debenhams though, and David Jones (the city one) is like House of Fraser.

To get an idea of furniture prices you could look at Freedom, Nick Scali for some nice pieces, and Haggle or Fantastic furniture for some lower end products. Not sure what the web sites are like as internet shopping here is no-where as big as the Uk.

When it comes to food shopping, one thing we like on a sunday is to go to our local shopping centre (collonades), have a meander round some shops, grab a coffee and a sandwich in the food hall, grab some fantastic meats at the butcher, then get the fruit at the fruitier, before going to do the shopping. On some lazy sundays when it's cooler and wet we're gone for a few hours easy. Although as poms we have a 1 stop shop attitude, in places like collonades the parking is easy and there are 2 supermarkets both with butchers/ bakers and fruitiers directly outside the store. The choice is better for many items and just for a little effort. There are loads of shopping centres like it though, Seaford, Hallett cove even has a british sweet shop for a little home treat....

[ras]

Thanks Rob, the Sunday afternoon trip sounds lovely, much nicer than crashing into crazy shoppers in Tescos. For me it's more convenient thats all for a one stop shop, as my shopping time is limited with child in tow, normally ends up like supermarket sweep. Mum has said she's post NEXT clothes so thats good. I was just trying to gage about bringing furniture etc and how much to replace it in oz.
Looks like we are taking a container now , but that changes every 2 minutes !!! we are supposed to be over 1st week december so we need to get a move on!! How do you enjoy Morphett Vale, we are just rying o decide where we will look at renting, seems like west lakes, grange, henley are in the running at the moment. I think until we see about jobs, where they will be etc will determine final choice, also schools for our 5 year old ! We wanted to be near beach........ well I best get on with looking for somewhere to stay when we arrive . Thanks Rachael

This is so difficult to do, only because some shops in the UK don't have an equivalent here. I've just taken my partner to the Uk for her first visit and I tried to do the same thing, I'd show her argos and I couldn't say what our equivalent was. Apart from the Ikea catalogue I don't know of another proper catalogue we get. There's loads of weekly special flyers but that's it. There are shops where you have a selection of household items like K mart or Big W, which unless some of the big w's survived the woolworths closure the UK has nothing similar.

We have a chain of large off licenses here called Dan Murphy's, and although you can buy alcohol everywhere in the UK, i couldn't find anything close to them over there whilst trying to get my father a Christmas present.

There's isn't a shop like Next here either, well not to me. I would say Myer is like Debenhams though, and David Jones (the city one) is like House of Fraser.

To get an idea of furniture prices you could look at Freedom, Nick Scali for some nice pieces, and Haggle or Fantastic furniture for some lower end products. Not sure what the web sites are like as internet shopping here is no-where as big as the Uk.

When it comes to food shopping, one thing we like on a sunday is to go to our local shopping centre (collonades), have a meander round some shops, grab a coffee and a sandwich in the food hall, grab some fantastic meats at the butcher, then get the fruit at the fruitier, before going to do the shopping. On some lazy sundays when it's cooler and wet we're gone for a few hours easy. Although as poms we have a 1 stop shop attitude, in places like collonades the parking is easy and there are 2 supermarkets both with butchers/ bakers and fruitiers directly outside the store. The choice is better for many items and just for a little effort. There are loads of shopping centres like it though, Seaford, Hallett cove even has a british sweet shop for a little home treat....

[AussieRob]

I really do think the container is the way to go, only because it can be so expensive to start from scratch. It's not always the big things that are expensive (like sofa's, beds etc..) but all the little things you already own, towels, cutlery, dishes, bedding, DVD's, electronics, gardening gear (although they have to be spotless), lamps, ornaments. That's where you can spend an awful lot of money at the start. But everyone is different and there are some bargains to be had here if you started again from scratch.

Morphett Vale is ok, I wouldn't dress it up to be better than it is, but it's ok. We talk about moving sometimes for various reasons but we can pay off our mortgage in the next 3 years, and my partners children would have finished school. So for the moment we are very happy. We have a pub, 3 indian restaurants, 1 Chinese, 1 Italian and some fast food outlets nearby which we can walk to, and the beach is only 5 mins down the road, we take our Beagles along there 3 or 4 times per week.

I think out of everywhere in the city where you are looking is probably my favourite, you don't get as much house for your dollar, but they are nice areas, probably Henley being the best. It's not for everyone but at least they are all reasonably central, making exploring and jobs easier to get to and even come by.