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What would you have packed if you had space left in container?


FAB

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1. Our container is leaving in two weeks time and I suspect that, being a 40 ft, there would be the odd space here and there, so I wondered what would you guys have taken along in hindsight that made more sense buying in ZA rather than Oz - either because its not available there or much more expensive.

I have heard about the linnen and children's clothes that one should stock up and send along in the container, but what else is there that you would have taken along?

Please mention anything, even if you think it is insignificant, as long as it would be allowed through quarantine. :holy:

Maybe new clothes, shoes, electronic goods, art or paintings, Handy Andy, Sunlight Liquid, All Gold tamato sauce, dust bins, laundry bins, Weber or any other braai, a few bags of Charka briquettes (?), a few 2l bottles of TAB or other cold drinks, useful kitchen goodies like a nice new set of knives and forks, maybe a dinner plate set, pots, pans, George Foreman, hot tray, nice african servets, dinner place mats, fondue set, biltong drier, biltong "kerwer", new PC or Laptop, dining table, tupperware, rugs, jaffle maker, curtains, persian carpets, useful medicine for adults and kids (supposedly it is allowed, one would probably put it in a cooler box to protect against temerature extremes), ice bricks, cooler boxes, new ladder, wheel barrow, boxes of printer paper and cartriges, photo frames, Afrikaans or South African CDs or DVDs or books, last few weeks' Beeld and Rapport newspapers, some Afrikaans magazines etc. etc. :unsure:

2. Secondly, does ZA landline telephones work in OZ? We brought a telephone over from the UK once and just bought a little converter and it worked fine in ZA. Thus would a printer with built-in fax machine work there using a converter?

3. Would the ZA light globes fit into OZ light fittings?

4. What do you miss from ZA that you would have put in the container if you knew the item wasn't available there?

Hope to get a lot of responses in time for some shopping before the container leaves... :D

FAB

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Guest Vermeulens

Great question, I also want to know. As far as I gathered from friends, no food allowed, so no Tab no All Gold Tomato sauce, not even canned foods are allowed. One friend said no Handy Andy either, can anyone confirm? No liquids? Meaning not allowed in the container.

I'm thinking that our very first grocery bill is going to be a shocker, imagine buying EVERYTHING from scratch in food and cleaning materials, paying in converted rands into AUD!

Edited by Vermeulens
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The general rule regarding food is (from the container people) no products containing any of the following is allowed: :D

Egg

Wheat

Meat

Milk

Honey

Seeds

So, no pasta, mayonaise, baby milk powder, Provitas, Bovril (although we took some last time in our suitcases :unsure: ), Pronutro, etc.

I also read somewhere someone put a thermometer in his container and the temerature inside reached 54 degrees, so any food would probably be better protected inside a cooler box.

FAB

Great question, I also want to know. As far as I gathered from friends, no food allowed, so no Tab no All Gold Tomato sauce, not even canned foods are allowed. One friend said no Handy Andy either, can anyone confirm? No liquids? Meaning not allowed in the container.

I'm thinking that our very first grocery bill is going to be a shocker, imagine buying EVERYTHING from scratch in food and cleaning materials, paying in converted rands into AUD!

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I know my parents are taking some specific furniture that has sentimental value (they are both in the furniture industry so some furniture they made to custom to suit their needs etc etc.) I dont have very specific things i want to take, actually haven't really thought of it much as we're only going in a years time. :D

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If you have kids, buy clothes.

The one thing my wife says she wishes she had bought more of in SA, is clothes for the kids as they are expensive here.

I bought a new Weber braai to bring with me, but also had to pay duties on it (I declared it as new)

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Hi,

If you are taking your SA beds I would buy extra linnen and also extra towels etc. They are very expensive here. Buy new pillows for the container so you have brand new ones here - they are expensive. What about nice new blankets. And last but not least - buy new clothes, especially good underwear and Woolies Thermal vests as you do not get the same quality here (specifically talking about the vests..)

Also, if you have a printer buy extra cartridges to put in the container. Sometimes you have issues here with zoning on cartridges and they ones here are expensive. My husband is crying big time for good old KWV brandy - maybe you can add 2 bottles or so in your container (I heard that if you unscrew the top they see it as opened and you do not pay import duties?

Try not to get rid of too much - you would be surprised at how much fits in the container! Your stuff from back home will mean a lot here and you will miss whatever you had to get rid of!! Keep what has sentimental value.

We also bought brand new matrasses for our beds before we left, now we don't have to buy for some time.

Cheers

E

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My husband is crying big time for good old KWV brandy - maybe you can add 2 bottles or so in your container (I heard that if you unscrew the top they see it as opened and you do not pay import duties?

Cheers

E

This is not true about bottles being open.If you are over you duty free allowance open or not you will be charged duty.

regards

Enrica

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The only thing I wished I had brought over is a big box full of real South African presents for my new Ozzie friends on their birthdays... they love the Ndebele womens crafts, and those dolls with the brightly coloured beads, and Zulu love letters. I would definately bring a box full of that with.... Also African pillows, with lions and zebra on the print, and table cloths from Durban...the Ozzies go crazy for them, you'll be their best mate for life...

And if you are coming to the Gold Coast, bring me one, please.....?

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Wow, you'll fit a lot into a 40ft container!!! Pack whatever you can fit would be my advice.

I wish I bought more kids clothes back in SA and also some things like shoes, leather handbags, etc that I fancied for myself, but felt not to buy because of the expense, now I regret it. Luckily friends of ours are also coming to Melbourne, so I "ordered" some kids clothes for next winter and the one thereafter.

I wished I packed some of those orange dusters (stoflappe) in the container.

If you look out for the specials/sales here you can find "cheap" things. Bought a skirt for only $5 from one of those stores selling the important Asian like things, like the nice bedspreads, embroidered clothes, etc. I also found a handbag I liked for a while marked down to half price at another store. I didn't do so much bargain hunting in SA as I'm doing now.

We brought no food or cleaning products in the container. Everything is ok, but I do miss normal old Handy Andy. That said there is a huge range of cleaning products to choose from over here and it will take forever to try them all out.

I bought some extra linen, pillows, bathmats, etc in SA. Now the bathmats I chose in SA will definitely not go with the bathroom tiles in the house we are renting and moving into on the 1st of Aug. Also, the same applies to towels. Have a few sets that won't go with the tiles in the bathroom in the new rental house, so I went and bought some new towels last week, again on sale.

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The phones work, as do the lightbulbs.

We brought heaps of cleaning materials - mainly to fill in the gaps - and all the drawers had spare bedding, cushions and toilet paper (heehee).

I wish that I had bought heaps of new clothes and shoes. At the moment I have an order for winter vests from woolies - far too expensive here. One thing I hadn't thought of was old clothes - what do you wear when you're painting the house if you've gone and left all your old stuff in SA? We rushed off to Good Sammy and picked up some workshirts for a dollar each!

Also have a new fabric dog basket coming - I just can't seem to find the style that I used in SA and the baskets that are on sale here are hellishly expensive. Luckily I brought the cat piramids with us or I would be MOST unpopular.

Cycling and outdoor clothes - I love the First Ascent brand and most of the SA stuff is much cheaper than similar quality here.

We bought a new "bells n whistles" coffee machine in SA and I'm really glad we did - saved us heaps of money and I think when you first get here you are so shell shocked at the prices that you wouldn't want to spend anything on a luxury item.

I find that I miss the oddest things - yesterday it was a little bud vase that I threw out because I hardly ever used it in SA.

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I brought over a cupboard full of new curtains and havent used a single drop as most houses in Brisbane seem to have blinds. Don't know what to do with them.

We had space in our 40" and if I could go back in time I would fill it with clothes, linen and home decor stuff, like from Home Zone or Mr Price Home. Buy lots of clothes, but not necessarily use them all when you get here. Put some away. I would have bought lots of jeans and t-shirts and hoodies and as my kids said 'I need new jeans' (which happens every two months) I would just pull out a new pair.

I had a verimark mop in SA which I left behind. I would bring a new one over. The mops here are of poor quality. Dishcloths are hard to find here. I would buy quite a few of them.

We stay in a double-storey (known as a highset). I refused to carry my kirby up and down the stairs so I had to buy another vacuum cleaner for downstairs. I knew I was coming to this house before I left and had I thought about it back in SA I would have bought the second vacuum cleaner there. I recommend you buy a really good battery operated dustbuster. They work brilliantly. I never sweep. The dustbuster does a better job.

I would definitely buy african art and african gifts from a place like Crafters Market (in Clearwater mall).

Happy Shopping!

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Oh, one more thing! We made a huge mistake giving our 6 TREK bicycles to our garden service and not buying new ones in SA. My husband didn't feel like cleaning them. In hindsight I would rather have paid for them to be serviced and cleaned or bought new. To replace them will cost in excess of $10 000.

Cycling is quite big here. Even if you arent a cyclist you will enjoy riding a bike along the never ending dedicated bicycle paths in the parks and along the sea / rivers. So just buy cheapies if you are not planning on participating in the Tour de France.

Also, if you are keen golfers, buy anything you need or think you will need in SA.

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Funny enough the things we chucked were the cheapy plastic things. We figured plastic stuff like washing baskets, laundry baskets, dustbins etc would be cheap anywhere in the world. NOT SO! I am really surprised at the price of plastic moulded goods. A plastic wash basket that costs R60 in RSA costs $30.

I would bring along a huge box of like two years supply of toileries. Sensodyne toothpaste costs R7.99 in RSA and $9.99 here. Thats eina!

Kids clothes as said before but get them shoes for the next few years growth. A very cheapy pair of kids shoes is $20. Bought a pair of Ackermans quality children's slippers today for $18.95.

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A bit of a side-line question re containers - anyone had problems with theirs being fumigated and having damages from that (apparently all SA ones are now done), have heard stories of the stuff seeping into boxes and ruining couches, clothes, curtains etc. :ilikeit:

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Take a few chest of drawers (Aus - "Tall Boys") the cupboards only have hanging capacity

Take a pool table - large games rooms

Gym equipment - again large houses

Dart board set - we have nice ones

how big a "space" do you have left????

good luck

Fern

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I had heard that you cant take pillows or down duvet inners - is that true ? Ya'll keep talking about taking pillows ....

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Would you recommend taking over duvet inners even if the bed sizes are different. Ie: would a queen size duvet inner fit a double bed there as the feather inners are super expensive here so am dreading to know what they cost over there.

Thanks

Kim

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Take a few chest of drawers (Aus - "Tall Boys") the cupboards only have hanging capacity

Take a pool table - large games rooms

Gym equipment - again large houses

Dart board set - we have nice ones

how big a "space" do you have left????

good luck

Fern

We would really like to take our pool table with us so i am glad that others have thought of this! We paid a lot for it and will be taking a 40 footer so if we can squeeze it in, it will go in! Does anyone have a list of what they fitted into a 40 footer? Maybe from your insurance list that we can use as a guideline?

Al

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Guest Vermeulens

We thought about taking a pool table, but my thoughts were not about the size of the table and if it was possible to fit in the container. I thought the weight is the problem. According to the container quote, heavy furniture will be charged for extra, especially on the Oz side (in AUD), because there are fewer people carrying and moving the furniture.

Has anyone taken theirs?

I thought the houses are smaller too? What to do with a pool table if it does not fit into a house?

I compared the prices of pool tables in SA versus Oz and there is not a huge difference, not if you calculate at R7.40 exchange rate. The only difference, is that their tables are UGLY! I'm not too keen on the modern look.

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I would also be very interested in the answers to the pool table questions. We have a beautiful one that hubby made himself years ago, but it's pretty heavy.

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We have a quarter size snooker table with a slate top that i would LUUUVVV to take with...lets hope daddy's arm can be twisted.

Do anyone know what they consider as heavy furniture? It there a cutoff weight or does it depend on the quality of coffee the official on duty had that morning?

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Would you recommend taking over duvet inners even if the bed sizes are different. Ie: would a queen size duvet inner fit a double bed there as the feather inners are super expensive here so am dreading to know what they cost over there.

Thanks

Kim

I don't think you can take feather pillows & duvets - "animal products"

I think it has to be synthetic

Can someone please clarify

Fern

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Hi Fern,

I don't think the feather duvets and pillows are a problem. The feathers are part of a commercial product, therefore it has been chemically or otherwise treated to rid it of bacteria etc.

The same with the grass lampshades (I'm thinking of the ones from Mr Price Home). They will be allowed as it's has been commercially manufactured.

The problem comes with informal handmade products. The type you buy on the side of the road like the woodcarvings and the pillow your aunt who lives on a farm made for you.

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A 40 foot container is big. We took every thing except the 10 seater spa. When we got here we found we had too much furniture. The houses here are a lot smaller than South African ones.

You also have to get rid of anything yourself that you don't want. Sometimes the charity stores will take (nothing electrical) but there is nothing like leaving it outside on the side walk and it's gone in three minutes in Aus.

The trick is to make a list of what extras you would like to take if you have room, know where to buy it and watch the container fill up before buying it. Stuffords took 2.5 days to pack and wrap and about 2 days to pack the container. If you are pool person , by a Kreepy etc as they cost a fortune here. Take no gas stoves that need to be reconnected in Aus. They will not touch them here.

Trailers are also expensive here.

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You won't believe how much you'll miss African stuff after a few years and how expensive it is to buy imports here. Alas, you can't bring every beautiful thing but if you like to entertain bring over some Africa theme decor to treat your Aussie friends to an African dinner experience with African print tablecloths, serviettes, serving dishes, pewter, salt & pepper pots etc. They'll love it and you won't regret it.

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