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What to take to Canberra?


Nicole88

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Dear All,

We have just lodged our Visas (subclass 190) - hopefully we will be assigned a case officer fairly quickly.....!!!

We are now starting to look into what to take with us and what not to take - We have a fully furnished house in JHB - not sure if we should pack all of household goods or buy it in Oz.... I would appreciate any advice on this?

Thanks

Nicole

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Exciting Nicole! Are you planning to rent a place or buy when you get here? The houses here are probably a bit smaller than what you are used to back in SA. You might have to do a fair amount of culling depending on how much stuff you have. But I think it is nice to bring you stuff over if you can, helps to feel more at home when you are surrounded by familiar things. That said, plenty of people I know have started from scratch and do just fine too.

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Hi

You need to look at the cost of bringing your stuff over and the cost of buying new stuff over here. Things like beds and fridges are very expensive here. Around the R20000.00 mark. Cheapest Queen bed I saw advertised was R10000.00. The bed sizes are different to SA so just in case buy linen which is marked "extra length", in SA.

However there are the second hand shops where you can purchase lounge suites, beds, cupboards, fridges, clothing, cutlery , crockery etc etc. They are called Vinnies and Star Foundation. They do alot of recycling here.There is also the council cleanup where people put their unwanted items out on the pavement. You just have to be quick as there can be a scramble to take the good stuff.You can buy tools here but some are not good quality and can cost 4 times the amount that you would pay in SA.

The houses are not as big as SA houses so you will have difficulty fitting everything into the house. Not all bedrooms have cupboards and most clothing is hung on hangers. So not many shelves.

good luck with your move.

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Canberra is freezing in winter and clothes are expensive in Aus, so stock up!

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We moved here in 2011 with exchange rate around 8.5! We opted for a shared container and culled a lot of furniture.

Decided to get beds and daily kitchenware, bedding and towels etc here so the wait for the container was less stressful!

In hindsight, might not have thrown away all the power tools either!

Best advice I can give is that storage is generally quite limited, so compact and clever multi use pieces such as sideboards for the dining room, bookshelves and a compact lounge suite worked well for us! Plastic tubs for kiddie toys etc also a plus.

Newer houses are very open plan so you can arrange your space as you see fit.

For rentals in Canberra, All homes are generally the best.(In our experience...)

Don't underestimate the arrival of your container! Great excitement and very comforting! Especially after a few months of "glam-ping"

Good luck and hope that helps a little!

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  • 1 month later...

It's very expensive to start over! We brought over all our good quality and sentimental things! Threw away all the things we didn't absolutely love!

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I worked it out this way:

6m (20ft) Container from PE to Canberra = R70,000.

We wouldn't get too much in second hand value for all our furniture here, but lets say we were lucky and could get R50,000 for the contents of our 4 bed house.

So, AU$12,000 to land all our good stuff in Canberra doesn't seem too expensive. Could we replace like for like in Canberra? I doubt it, so its a no-brainer for us.

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  • 4 months later...

Thanks so much for all the feedback - really helpful.

We are coming to Canberra on our "check in Visit" on 28 March 2015 - does anyone have any advise for must-do's?

Thanks

Nicole

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Places to visit: telstra tower, questacon, national aus museum, parliament house, war memorial and for eating out Kingston foreshore.

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I'd suggest driving around the suburbs to see where you'd like to stay and where schools are. Canberra is bigger than you think

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What to take to Canberra? A thick jacket, gloves and a beanie! :P

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I have to say, we were told how cold it is and i stocked up on thermal underwear and thick jackets and in the end have not worn them once. The winter in Canberra to me is the same ad winter was in Pretoria, just a little longer ongoing maybe but really not as cold as everyone made it out to be

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When you're used to hot & sunny Sydney, Canberra is freezing! I never go there without a scarf, beanie and jacket all year round. I suppose if you live there long enough, you climatise.

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