Three months in Melbourne...suggestion for getting "things" over there?
 

My husband and I will be spending 3 months in Melbourne for work starting Oct 30 and wonder how others have gotten their personal effects/clothes in a cost effective way overseas?
Seems like paying for extra baggage is expensive but maybe less than shipping? Thoughts, carriers, timing?
Thanks!

Hi Marcia -

Does the company you're working for offer any type of relocation package? Are you having to ship furniture?

Our household goods have always been packed and shipped at the expensive of my spouse's employer, but our assignments are generally for four years.

Failing that, do you have status with any airline frequent flyer program? We're both PE with UA and are each able to fly between the US and Australia with three checked bags, each weighing up to 70 lbs.

There is also a great costco there,as well as numerous other shops and the Victoria Markets, if your only going to be there 3-4 months it hardly seems worth it to pay for all that shipping. Think of the adventure and fun you can have picking up a few things there.

Well - it is Melbourne - so you'll need a variety of clothes!

Shop!

You'll likely each be allowed two large checked bags plus a carry on. That is enough space for a LOT of stuff. It is for only 3 months

If your accommodations are fully furnished you shouldn't need to take much if any household things.

For three months, I don't think it's worth shipping things. My partner was working in Germany for six months last year. We rented a fully furnished apartment so really only needed the usual allowance of 23kg, 32kg for business.

Yes, we'll be getting furnished apt so it will be only clothes............hmmmmmmmm.........shopping?.... .....but I do hear the weather can go from summer to winter in one day!

You have tons of space in your luggage allowance - enough for hot weather and cool weather clothing. Not everything you own -- but plenty for 3 months.

They do have laundries and dry cleaners . . .

"summer to winter ' in November, December and january -yes but not a cold winter. eg you won't need a coat but you may need a light jacket for that "wintry " weather. It is summer and can range from 18 to 40 C

I wouldn't ship anything. Just bring the minimum you need in your case. If you have a furnished apartment then you won't need very much and can always pick things up cheaply here. We have Big W (like Woolworths) and Target etc to buy any household goods you find you need. You can give them away to an op shop when you leave (thrift/charity shop).

We went from Australia to live in England and stayed for nearly five years. We took one suitcase each, with clothes for work, casual clothes, summer and winter stuff etc. It was very hard packing but worth it in the long run. We ended up renting unfurnished flats, not by choice, and had to buy the absolute minimum of secondhand furniture and very basic kitchen equipment. We accumulated a fair bit and either gave it away or sold it cheaply when we left. I would do this the same way if we moved again, it's not worth shipping stuff unless you are moving permanently.

In your case, with only 3 months here, I think you should just bring the absolute minimum. You may be surprised, as I was, how little you really need.

By the way, I know we don't know each other but have met other people via travel forums, which has always been really nice. We could meet up once you get here if you like.

Kay

Kay, what a lovely offer! My husband will be worlking and I will be "exploring" and would be thrilled to meet. I enjoy art, music, plan to do a lot of wandering In the city and beyond, maybe take some art or cooking classes. Any thoughts would be appreciated and how to contact you once we're settled....we're still deciding which area to rent an apt. I want to be near transportation, husband doesn't want a high rise (what most short-term furnished rentals seem to be) since we live in New York city and he wants something different....thoughts?
Anyway, thanks to all. I am looking forward to packing in one suitcase and filling in there with an excuse to shop!

Hi Marsha, most Melburnians live in one storey houses so you may be able to rent something like that and live a different lifestyle from the NY one! We live in a one storey weatherboard house, which is the most common sort of house out our way. We live way out in the 'burbs. When we went to live in the UK we were excited to live in a flat on the second floor as it seemed so different. We got good leg muscles from all the exercise!

Actually thinking about it, if you want a furnished rental, that will probably have to be in the inner city in a highrise as houses are (nearly) always rented empty.

We had a week in NYC about 2 years ago and some floors of our hotel had permanent residents in the apartments. The first time we saw a dog in the lift (with it's owner) we were so surprised, not what we expected. But we love animals so it was great to see all the dogs in New York, just about everyone seemed to have one.

This is one of the more popular websites for buying or renting:

http://www.realestate.com.au/rent

The UK branch of this site was useful to us when we lived overseas, worth checking out for short term rentals etc.
http://melbourne.gumtree.com.au/

Public transport in Melbourne is not that great (especially after living in London) but if you live near a train station or in the inner city it shouldn't be too bad. Somewhere near a tram line would be good too.

Do you want to put your email address on here and we can swap more info off the forum?

Take care and happy to answer questions.
Kay

Yes, thanks. I'd love to get feedback on areas we're looking to rent in. Please send me an email at
[email protected]
and hopefully I can run locations by you for convenience in getting around. Thanks!

Hi Marshacarlin,
If you enjoy art, you will enjoy visiting the National Gallery of Victoria which has a really good collection. Across the river from that is Federation Square (with the type of architecture that you either love or loathe - you will see what I mean) which houses the Ian Potter Gallery which is a collection of Australian art.
If you love food, make sure you visit the Queen Victoria market - great food, clothes, souvenirs. They run guided tours of the market and, I think, they also have cooking classes. There is another group that does guided tours of the Asian area of Melbourne sampling different foods. Melbourne has a great range of places to eat with food from every corner of the world.
There is a very good tourist office in Federation Square which can help with information.
Since you are arriving late October, you will be in Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup. They say it is the (horse) race that the nation stops for and that's about right, as wherever you are in Australia, everyone stops to listen to the race. Horse racing may not be your scene but it would be a good Aussie experience.
I hope you enjoy your visit to Australia.

Hi, have sent you an email.

Kay

No word from marshacarlin. Still coming to Melbourne? Just curious.

Kay

Hi Kay, still coming. Didn't see email...try again!

We moved to Melbourne - more of a permanent deal on our own - in 2009. I highly recommend maximizing the amount of checked baggage you can bring to hold as much clothes as you think you'll need. IMO, clothing is much, much more expensive here. When we go back to the US, we leave with nearly empty bags and bring back what we can. Jeans alone are about 3x-5x here what they cost back in the US, considering they're all made in the same place (which isn't the US OR Australia).

You can pick up household goods pretty cheap. Highly recommend starting at the Reject Shop and similar to see what they have first, before going to a regular retailer. Won't be great stuff, but hey - even a $2 toilet brush will last for a few months.

One thing - it's not uncommon here for people forgo some conveniences that Americans often expect. Clothes dryers come to mind off the top of my head. Meaning that your furnished place may very likely not have one. Might want to check that out, but be prepared to peg out clothes. It's the way of things... Australians are immersed in the science and art of outdoor clothes drying!

PS - it's way overpriced, but if you get to missing some food item or another, there's a little import company with a storefront here in the Melbourne suburbs that brings over US and Mexican packaged foods. usafoods.com.au

Love the Queen Vic Market. Also a fan of Frankston Beach, Healesville Sanctuary and the Yarra Valley, South Melbourne Market, seeing something at the Princess Theatre, and the cafes of DeGraves Lane (it's a real cafe culture around here).

Hi Clifton, we live in Melbourne too. I know this has been discussed here before but I have to agree with you about prices. We lived in the UK for a number of years, which everyone here seems to regard as a country with very high costs. Since we've been back, we've routinely found things to be more expensive here. It's quite surprising, I never thought I'd want to go back to the UK to stock up on things!

I must check out that USA Foods store you gave the website for, we often buy food bits and pieces in America and bring them home (we know how strict customs are so are careful about that).

Kay

Hi Kay. I do think that there are some things that come pretty close in price with what I was used to, or as close as one might expect given the difference in economies of scale between the US and Australia. For instance, we were seeing awful prices on bananas due to the flood, while in the US, bananas were going for $.59 per pound. But now, bananas are projected to come close to around $.79 per pound with the new season. And that's with the US importing all theirs from places with very low wages for workers (thus no net gain for the economy except in handling).

But some manufactured goods. Wheww. Cars and clothes being prime examples. Quite a difference there. Others, say your basic slow cooker or waffle iron, not too much difference. Seems to depend on a lot of factors I'm not privy to... lol

Judging by forums I've read, wayward Yanks all over Oz seem to mail order from USA foods for their fix. (I tend to stick with Cheerios for the kiddo since the US version not made by Uncle Toby's is sugar free and a favorite.... and a variety of mexican and Mexican-ish products, like real ancho chili powder and salsa verde. But I just drive down if I see online they have what I'm wanting in stock. It's in Moorabbin, on Cochrans Rd, almost at Warrigal Rd.

Oh... to the OP, the Mexican foods comment I made has me thinking. If you like Mexican or Tex Mex, get your fill now. Seriously. The situation here is absolutely wonderful for dining out as far as both trend setting top end fare and for a diverse choice of "ethnic" food. With several Chinatowns, Little Vietnams, a large middle eastern demographic and a rapidly growing Indian population and so on, you have a wealth of popular Asian choices. But there are also plenty of not-so-common surprises (at least in the parts of the US I've lived) like Sri Lankan, Afghan, Indonesian, Ethiopian, Nepalese, Persian, Georgian and so on. Also huge Greek and Italian communities here.

However... the Mexican food, IMO opinion is not good. A couple can work their way up to the run-of-the-mill "family run" place you might find back home (think canned sauces, packaged tortillas...). Ok if you <i>really</i> just need to taste *something* with a vague taste of cilantro or jalapeño in it. But after nearly 2 years, when I got home for a short period... lol, I practically lived on Mexican and pizza (which is also hard to find done well. It's either rock bottom or "gourmet". Never just your good variety neighborhood pizzeria type results... the Italian part for some reason didn't translate to good pizza)

So anyway, there's the good and the maybe not so good of dining. But for a few months, it's all about new discoveries anyway.

Where is that .79 a lb for bananas Clifton? Bananas in Perth today were $10.98 per kilo. That's the best price I've seen in months - prices here were up to $16.98 per kilo just a few weeks back. I haven't had a banana in months (but I've been eating fresh strawberries by the pound)!

This wayward Yank refuses to pay the middleman...I bring it back from the US or I go without. Fortunately, I don't miss much, least of all Mexican food, as it's difficult to come by in these parts, although I do carry back my share of Pace and Rotel. And no, Old El Paso is NOT Mexican food! But who can miss Mexican (other than those lovely peppers) when the Indian food is so incredibly good?

If you can't go three months w/o US comfort food, you've got problems, because Australia has everything else in spades, it just costs a bit more.

They've been bad here too Mel. The flood and all. But was talking to some people who work at the main office for one of the supermarket chains. Like I was saying, it's a projection, not what I'm seeing right now. Can't say what it will be in Perth though. As I've been reading ex-pat forums lately, it seems the universal agreement is that Perth seems to have it's own own set of rules for survival isolated on the other side of a large, well, void. And that most who were demanding a move were a lot happier once reassigned to some other part of Oz. Not sure the exact incompatibility there but some pretty nasty assessments I won't repeat here because I have no firsthand knowledge.

I've brought back a bit, but overall, don't come and go often enough to make a dent. So to pay even double for the occasional jar of salsa verde (or whatever - most of their mexican stuff comes from Mexico) is still cheaper than a ticket to LA. :) Agree Old El Paso is not Mexican food.

But I like both Mexican and Indian. Other than that they both use spice (not the same ones generally), I don't find them all that interchangeable, but that's just me. Having a curry doesn't give me a fix for a nice pork tamale ranchero or some flautas. But I still enjoy the curry.

Agree 3 months should be completely doable (the "new discovery" thing I mentioned). But you never know. I've read trip reports where people were Jonesin' for something or another after a couple of weeks!

wow.....an interesting tangent here seeing as we're leaving tomorrow and I'd already taken the advice of earlier posters to bring one bag and buy the rest there.......oh well, it is what it is.....a few basics and lost of accessories to feel like I'm wearing something different.
We're stopping off in HK so we'll be in Melbourne next WED.....looks like rain. How chilly is it?
Can't wait!

You'll be fine Marsha. Just keep an open mind and embrace the differences.

WA definitely is an interesting place, Clifton. To an outsider like myself, it feels like the bastard child of the rest of OZ, but I think the West Aussies like it that way. In fact, there's talk about them wanting to secede from the rest of Australia to hang on to some of that mining tax wealth that is sent over east instead of being spent on much needed infrastructure right here in WA.

We have our own flood related problems right here in WA - Carnarvon, the breadbasket of the west suffered it's worst flooding in 50 years this past December, wiping out the mango and banana crop, amongst others. Vege skyrocketed as you can imagine.

I hope bananas do make a comeback, I miss my smoothies.

And for what it's worth, this expat really likes Perth, oddities and all!

Marsha, Melbourne weather is famously changeable. "If you don't like the weather, wait an hour" is a common saying. At the moment it's about 16 degrees celsius (max) during the day with rain but a week ago it was sunny and around 25. Summer is coming so it should be sunny and warm most days soon.

Forecast for next Wednesday is 23 celsius and cloudy. By then, it could be completely different, don't pay much attention to 10 day forecasts.

About Perth, a work colleague lived there for a while and was made to feel very much an outsider. She was from Melbourne and said even people who had lived in Perth for years were not accepted. I had no idea this went on in our country, it's quite sad. I've enjoyed our holidays in the west but it's different when you actually live in a place.

Kay

That's really interesting KayF - we've found that to be the case too, but we thought it was because we're non-Australian.

That was essentially the tone of the ex-pats on the other forums too, with some comments about attitudes towards other, more pronounced differences thrown in... but like I said, I don't know anything personally. I would like to get out there someday. It looks beautiful and love the trip reports... but still have a lot on this coast to see too. So far, Melbourne has been very welcoming and I haven't felt left out. That perception may be very skewed by having so much family here though, but I suspect it is also due to how diverse the city is and how long that's been the case. It seems to have quite urbane attitudes, on the whole, when it comes to diversity and newcomers.

anyway, Marsha, as Kay said - it's grey and rainy the last couple of days, and in the 60's (F) but it does change often. We were at the beaches off Frankston last week for a walk and some sunshine. If it gets hot on you during your stay, head for the Dandenongs, just 30-40 mins east of the CBD. It never really gets humid, but it can get very hot by Dec-Jan. It's much cooler up there in the mountains. Some old fashioned towns with tea parlours and whatnot up there. My MIL lives up there and it's a nice retreat.

bom.gov.au will get you the gov't weather forecasts.

Clifton

I love this statement:

<<Australians are immersed in the science and art of outdoor clothes drying!>>

Good observation, and it's sensible and environmentally sound! :)

Know better than to believe forecasts! Just arrived Hong Kong...rain predicted....clear and the Chinese National Day fireworks were beautifully visible from hotel room......will be in Melbourne soon. Thanks for all thoughts/advice...to be continued!