Almost there

[Craigster]

Hi Everybody

 

This is my first post on this forum, so please be patient if I ask questions that you have all seen a million times before.

 

First, a bit about us.....  We are a family of four, mom and dad in our forties and son and daughter, 7 and 5 respectively.  We are moving to Sydney next week and we arrive on 6 April.  We are coming over on a sponsored 457 temp. res. visa.  My wife will be working (thank goodness for one salary) and I will have to be a stay at home dad - at least initially, while I study.  My South African legal qualifications apparently aren't sufficient to allow me to practice in Australia, so I'll have to go through the process to get qualified over there.

 

Some questions please:

1. My wife will be working in Macquarie Park and we'd like to minimise the commute as much as possible.  We're looking at West Pymble, Killara, Lindfield, Lane Cove North and the like, and we like the schools there.  They seem to have a pretty good reputation.  Are there any issues we should know about, like really bad traffic, horrifically expensive tolls and the like?  We'd obviously like to pick an area, get the kids into school and settle.  We don't want to have to move them to new schools again, even if we change houses in the future.
2. It seems that suburbs further  north and west (Cherrybrook, Pennant Hills, etc) offer far better value from a property rental point of view, but when I start working sometime in the future, it is likely to be in the cbd.  It therefore seems a bit counter-intuitive to consider living further away from the cbd than Macquarie Park.  Does anyone disagree with this view, if so, why?
3. This has come upon us VERY suddenly.  Our visa grant came through only a week ago so we feel very rushed and a bit panicked, to be honest.  Not sure we'll get it all done in time.  we need to transfer money and we are now wondering whether to use our bank here or use a forex exchange company which is apparently cheaper.  Any recommendations in this regard?
4. Our fridges are in good nick but are about 15-20 years old.  One of the moving companies says that we will not be allowed to bring them in and that we could be fined and charged a fee for destruction.  Lovely!  the other movers that we have had in say "no problem".  Any advice on this?

 

I look forward to chatting to you all in the future.

 

All the best...

[FrodoBeanbaggins]

Hi @Craigster

 

3. Although I've not yet done a transfer, all evidence I've seen would indicate that a forex exchange company is the way to go. I'm sure other forumites can give you a more informed opinion, though.

 

4. If your fridge is more than 10-15 years old, throw it away. Over the next 5 years it will cost more in electricity than the price of a shiny new fridge. I know it sounds insane, but the math works out (at least with SA electricity and fridge prices). A friend of mine had a 15 year old fridge and a 20 year old freezer, measured their usage over a week with one of these and found that he could buy a Bosch fridge/freezer pair for R16000, and they'd pay for themselves in less than 5 years. Bottom line, new fridges are much, much more power efficient than old ones.

 

Best of luck with your move to Sydney! Hopefully I'll also be there in a couple of months.

Edited March 29, 2016 by FrodoBeanbaggins

[Guest]

Hi Craig, if your fridges are really old I honestly would get rid of them. When you get here check out gumtree or your local buy swap sell page on facebook for really good deals. Ozzie brands are alot more energy efficient. We needed a fridge when we got here and we saw one on Gumtree the guy even delivered it as we didn't have transport.

 

Highly recommend you using fx capital either based in Cape Town or Durban. Many forumites use them myself included. Very easy to transfer just give them a call. Alot cheaper than the banks only R250. Only takes 2 days to complete. You will need a Oz Bank account which you can open up.online. We are with Commonwealth Bank.

 

If you need any information on the legal front, my husband requalified and is now working in Melbourne . You are welcome to get in touch.

 

all the best in your new adventure down under ?

[TeeTMI]

Re Fridges - it might also be worth checking any transport restrictions e.g. re fridge/freezer gases (the transport companies may be able to advise)?

[Craigster]

Thanks for the input everyone.  We are steadily whittling down what we will take with us and the whole process has been extremely liberating.  As many South Africans do, we tend to keep the old appliance/item of furniture/clothing/shoes, etc whenever we buy something new.  The old one then becomes a "spare" and just sits around taking up space.  I will never horde again!

 

Re money transfers, we are going to go with Fx Capital, not that our meager cash resources can really qualify as capital, but that's another story for another day.

 

Final clear out is under way, movers start packing on Saturday.  We'll let you know when we're in Sydney.

[Skapie]

Hi Everyone,

 

Random question:  I have a very fancy smanchy stand alone oven.  Gas on top and electric oven.  It's imported from Britain.  What would the verdict be on taking that over?  I know it's a bit ridiculous, but it was a birthday present.

[Minks]

Hi Craigster, 

we are in South Australia so can't help with the Sydney details unfortunately.

 

on the Fridge front: we recently arrived in Oz and had our fridge packed in our container. No issues - although a thorough scrub down & airing before packing is recommended in case they check it at the port. We had no hassles ... But having said that, we moved into our rental accommodation and needed a fridge! So bought a new one anyway. (Point being that you will need a fridge before your container arrives - unless you are staying in furnished accommodation).

you can get decent "used" fridges on gumtree for a reasonable price - so you don't have to buy new.

The other thing we found is that often (in Adelaide anyway) the fridge space allocated in a rental kitchen is quite different to what your fridge dimensions are. Eg: not many of the houses we looked at would accommodate a double door fridge. 

 

Forex - we used FX Capital (Durban) and have been very happy with service .

 

hope my 2c helps. 

Good luck with the move!