mmm... shipping??

[Guest cables]

A little unsure about what to do regarding shipping our contents over to SA. Have decided on a 20ft container (I think), only have small 3 bed and just taking beds, Sofa, toys, bookcases, TV's etc and i've heard it takes around 6 weeks... But.... what do i do???

 

Do I ship 6 weeks before we fly so we live here on blow up beds etc until we go - or do I ship when we leave but live over there for 6 weeks without it all??

 

I think as it will all be new for us, and we have boy 5 and girl 2, it would be nice to get to new house and have all our things with us to help us settle in - especially the children but just wondering if anyone has any advise.

 

Also.... are there many properties to rent unfurnished??? We'd want unfurnished if shipping our contents... unless big or double garage I guess!

 

Thanks.... so many questions! arrggghhh!

Rhian (31) Lee (35) Regan (5) Jessi (2)

[roscoand teri]

We where told by shipping company to expect it to take 10 to 12 weeks.

[Guest teammorris]

our plan is to ship our stuff as we leave, then get short term rental in Adelaide furnished, whilst looking for an un-furnished longer term rental in time for our stuff arriving! Hopefully!

[snifter]

I've never heard of anyone getting their stuff in 6 weeks.

 

I don't know you'd have enough to fill a 20ft container if its a small house and you are not taking everything (or even if you are). Have you had some companies round to do proper quotes for you? Seems daft to pay thousands for a whole container if you don't fill it.

 

What lots seem to do is to take a short term furnished rental for a few weeks till their stuff arrives. Or a set period of time, say 4 weeks, to give themselves time to find a longer term rental. Then usually they make do with borrowed stuff and the old inflatable mattresses till their stuff arrives.

 

Get some quotes in for the stuff you really want to bring, bring the price down as much as possible for the space you will actually be using (shared containers cost less but take a bit more time to arrive) and consider sharing a container and buying things like kids beds new once you arrived perhaps (Ikea are in Adelaide if you get stuck). That way they will have something good to sleep on when you find a longer term unfurnished rental and you can manage on a blow up mattress till your stuff arrives. You can get by with a cheap kettle, couple of pans and so on till your stuff turns up. Also the second hand shops can be good for bits and pieces. I know some people on here are happy to lend a few bits if people get stuck.

 

We plan to ship our stuff a while before we actually leave. Then manage this end with inflatable mattresses and the basics. Plus of course the stuff we are not shipping so we'll have things like a fridge, table and chairs, kettle, some old pans and plates etc to tide us over and will get rid of those a couple of days before we fly out and then stay in a B&B or something till we go.

[Guest Beverley1305]

We got three quotes in the UK and they were vastly different in terms of cost but not timeframe. They all said around 9-12 weeks BUT with no guarantee as it all depends on weather etc etc. The original date we had was for 7th February from a shipment early December and signed up for a rental the week before in the absence of alternative info, only to get a message two days later to say it had been delayed - it eventually arrived on 17th March!

 

It's a bit of a juggling act - bear in mind that if you run it too early and it arrives before you're ready, you will get hit with storage charges at this end. Having a few weeks window when you get here also gives you the chance to properly look around and decide on an area to live and not rush into a rental contract as, in most cases, you have to sign up for 12 months.

 

Our daughter treated the whole thing as an adventure; we called it indoor camping

We survived for 5 weeks with blow up beds, a cheap dinner service and kettle from KMart and a borrowed TV and bedding. We had to buy a fridge anyway as you can't ship fridges and stuff. It is nice to have your home comforts but you actually don't need as much as you think to survive for a few weeks - I still haven't replaced my microwave - lived without one for this long, figured I don't actually need it!

 

We found rentals pretty easy to find and many are available at short notice - realestate.com.au is quite good, but what I would say is keep on top of the estate agents, some aren't massively helpful

[browny]

We shipped our stuff a few days before we left the uk, it took 9 weeks to arrive and that was the fast ship supposedly!

 

We borrowed some stuff when we arrived, bought from Op shops and rented a sofa, 3 beds, tv and dvd player (http://www.argusfurniturerentals.com.au) and fridge. Electronics are quite cheap here so you could always buy a cheap TV with a DVD player built in for Big W / Kmart / Target ect.

 

We have 2 small children and they had a small hand luggage suitcase each that we stuffed with toys which they had til the container arrived but you tend to be more outdoors here so they did not really miss anything.

 

We stayed in a furnished rental for a month til we could get into our long term rental.

 

There are pro's and con's to either way to ship but it all works its self out in the end and well worth all the stress to be here.

 

Good luck