What do you do until your stuff arrives?

[wireworks]

Hi,

Over the months that I've been following PIA there has been lots of discussion about what to bring/leave behind, and what will or won't work in Australia..

 

Bedding is said to be more expensive, but how do you manage without it for 3 months until your container arrives? You can't fill your suitcase with duvets/sheets/pillows so you have to buy some anyway, plus a second set so you can wash the first lot, same goes for towels.

 

This applies to a lot of other things as well, kettle, toaster, vacuum cleaner, crockery, pots and pans, utensils, white goods, TV, computer, etc etc etc. How many of these can you fit into your suitcase? (okay you can fit in a laptop, but what about a printer?)

 

Unless you are in fully furnished accomodation for the first 3 months you will need to be buying some or all of these things anyway, so why fill a container with items you will have already replaced?

 

We are moving over in October, and so far have thought about taking the amount of clothes we would pack for a long(ish) holiday, but filling up the rest of our baggage allowance with some useful items (my favourite kitchen knives for instance) and personal items (pictures, small ornaments etc) which will give wherever we are our own personal touch. We could buy cheap kitchen/household stuff until ours arrives, or we could buy decent stuff that will last more than a month or three.

 

The container will have the larger items, some furniture, the rest of our personal items and clothes but not sure what else!

 

How have other people done it?

 

Cheers

 

Helen

[Riponian]

Hi Helen

 

Generally it takes on average 8 to 10 weeks for your stuff to arrive if you are having a full container.

We sent ours 10 days before we left and stayed with family we then had 7 weeks booked into a short term holiday let until it arrived

 

It depends on what you are sending over as to whether you'll need a full container or not and of course you can apply for OAA which is cheaper and you can have it for 12 weeks I believe.

 

You can also stay on campsites in lodges there are plenty around just depends on your budget and where you want to be.

 

We had a full 40kg luggage allowance for each seat taken, we were still over with us carrying loads of stuff for the kids.

 

I hope that helps

Michelle

[Guest kangomik]

Lets be honest here you have 4 options.

Spend spend spend

Save

 

You sacrifice a little and be patient.

Or you travel via boat with your furniture.

 

Either way there is a "LAG" you either loose gear early, or you arrive early and wait for gear.

 

Buy quilts etc from Big W, while you wait, dont worry come winter you will need 2 or 3 anyway.

 

I guess what i am saying frankly....... it's part of the process, get used to it, suck it up, and live without things for a while..... yes you may only get 40 Kilo allowance...... if your lucky.

[sueoc]

Yes,when you have not yet set off it seems to be a bit of a daunting dilemma,but you know what you have coming,so just buy necessities,which become apparent day by day.As said ,you can buy "stop gap "household items real cheap here,Kettles,cutlery,bedding(crap but effective short term)CRT TV'S,bed settees etc etc.Till your items arrive,this will get you by,and give you a chance to get a feel for what it's all about,where to shop once you get settled.Seems like a major issue now,but you have already dealt with the biggest issue,that of deciding to come here,the rest is incidental.Dont worry too much,as we all know,things have a habit of working themselves out.Best of Luck,Sue.

[Guest guest569]

you will find that the houses here ar bigger than the one you have left behind so you will need additional things. New beds, bedding, fridge freezer and sofa etc...

We had a FULL 20ft container and when i look at everything we have now i wonder what was actually in it as almost everything i can see was brought here !!!

[Guest Here at last!]

We sent our container quite a while before we left so we had only been in Australia 10 days before it arrived. That way we were without things longer in the UK where we had family and friends who helped us out with things that we needed.

 

When we moved into the rental we just bought a few plastic plates etc to get us by until we had our stuff back. We were lucky and had nice neighbours who helped us out with bedding and beds etc.

[Guest Trakki]

I packed in my suitcases, knives, forks, spoons, cup/mug for each of us, some teatowels, duvet cover and pillow case each for the children. This was we didn't have to spend out on those as they are the things that add up, when I was planning for the container I decided that I didn't want to keep my dinner plates so we bought them here. Where ever you stay wil have a cooker so you can grill toast and boil water in a pan if you don't want to buy a new kettle although you can buy a small one cheap. we bought airbeds to sleep on, $20 for a single one from 'Sams Warehouse' for us we got an airbbed on a frame so the same height as a normal bed, this we got as we knew we would use it again camping. so there are ways round it and it was kind of camping in your house, we also borrowed stuff off of some very kind people. Pots and pans we just got a cheap set from k-mart and they are actuall still going strong 18 months later.

 

Good luck and hope that helps

 

Where abouts in Lincolnshire do you live, we lived in Gainsborough

[Sallyh]

I wouldn't put my favourite kitchen knives in my suitcase, I think I'd be worried about the airport security and being unnecessarily bothered by people asking questions about them once they'd xrayed my suitcase...

 

Just imagine the joy of unpacking the container and finding your lovely knives and everything else just as you rememered! (Not trying to be funny, I remember just inhaling my linen deeply remembering the lovely fragrance of home........)!

 

If you are renting furnished, you could save yourself the bother of dealing with appliances with the wrong plugs when they get here - maybe sell your vacuum cleaner, kettle, toaster, blender, all those things you find necessary for living and can't be without - and then just buy new again when you get here.

 

If you know people here you could arrange to borrow things and give them back when your stuff arrives. That was what we did but we have half our family here so that isn't very helpful an idea really. But there is always charity- and garage sales, small ads, gumtree...

 

And watch for the for sale ads on PIA because my bet is a lot of people have duplicate stuff and you could buy stuff on here to use while you wait.