moving to Australia, need some advice

Hi

I must be the luckiest boy in town, we've sold our one bedroom flat in london and are soon to be moving to Sydney.

Where can i buy tools, good tools for the car and for diy? not cheap k-mart stuff but professional quality stuff.

🙂

If you are moving to Sydney, you had better save all your $$$ for a one bedroom flat there. The cost of housing there is 30% to 100% more than in the other capital cities.
We have all the tool manufacturers here that are anywhere else. What brands do you fancy?

try blackwoods or snap on

blackwoods looks good 🙂
ive found a place online in brookvale which is where the mother-in-law lives

i know sydney is more expensive, lets hope the housing market keeps dropping eh 👍

qld is where its at my friend 🙂

nick

too hot in qld for me 🙅

they have just anounced another interest rate rise so housing prices could start moving down (or at least stop going up) soon.

i've just moved out to WA, my advise is sell everything you own in uk and buy fresh out here, i've got acontainer load of house hold goods and tools and a car, i have to pay shipping £4000, then import duties 10% of the value, the value is what customs say, not you!! add all of that together the add another10% tax, and there might even be a luxury car tax as well! it aint worth it, i learned the hard way!

kingchrome are good tools so are KC and sidchrome, forget yingtong snap-em!! hahaha

Twokombies wrote:If you are moving to Sydney, you had better save all your $$$ for a one bedroom flat there. The cost of housing there is 30% to 100% more than in the other capital cities.
We have all the tool manufacturers here that are anywhere else. What brands do you fancy?

if you want to live in the eastern suburbs or the nth shore it's exy, but the western suburbs aren't too bad, and they are certainly not much more expensive than a lot of larger country towns now.

How much do you pay for a waterfront apartment in lakes entrance? I'm guessing that's not cheap anymore either.

jimby wrote:too hot in qld for me 🙅

Better off just moving to QLD to save another move later on!! Sydney can be just as hot, sometimes hotter and QLD is just soooooo much better:thumb

wa is where its at I live in Albany winter is like english summer Quite a few poms here car rego is easiest here too😏

I think you are missing the point the uk has 60 million people london is a rat race. weather here is great and I for one love the place :-)

sorry don't know where to get tools from I get mine from Kmart ;-)

supercheap autos have some and repro is the other. supercheap is cheaper and better than helfords ;-)

are you bringing the ghia?

Don't suppose you want to bring a set of owered t25 springs with you do you. ;-)

i will get my coat

This is a good place for tools

Total Tools
68 Cowper St GRANVILLE
02 9637 9155
www.totaltools.com.au

We dont realy whant prices droping yet,After i sell my just finished new house they can drop all they whant.???:👍

Good to see someone is moving to Sydney, most are moving out .... lol ... you're just swapping the North Circular for Parramatta Road, the M25 for the M5, M4, M2 car parks ... welcome to gridlock ... nothing beats the smell of CO2 whilst burning up on plastic seats.

But at least the weather is not as shit - there's still a couple of drops of H2O in the damn left, so bring some rain with you will ya.

vwjon is right.

Don't bring anything except yourself and money. Come to the West. It's the land of opportunity. We have everything you need here and what we would call a rusted out old hulk, you in England would call an easy fix up job. We don't salt our roads. Beetles here can be completely rust free, just like the 73 I have recently sold for $500 because it's mechanically stuffed. The buyer only wants a good body which it has. As for tools. You name it we have it, ranging from elcheapo to very expensive and best quality.

I'm considering going to Tasmania for a tree change. I will take only a trunk or two of my best hand and electrical tools. Why would I bother to take an old, just adequate drill press for example, when I can buy a new one over there?

Don't get involved in importing anything unless you are going to make money by doing so. I was quoted over $1000 to transport a car alone. A container full of my furniture and workshop tools, benches etc was so pricey that it will all be sold or given away here in WA.

I need a new welder, a new air compressor, a new drill press, a new bench grinder etc. I'll buy good new stuff over there. I can make a new work bench for less than the cost of getting it carried there.

Bring your body and your money only. Don't even bother to bring more than one suitcase of clothes. Buy them here.

As for Sydney. I like Sydney as a place to visit. I would not like to live there unless I was on the end of a ferry trip to the city and I couldn't afford that, so I'll stay here in WA.

I originally wanted to settle in WA because the house prices were lower and there is more space and its quieter than sydney,id really like to explore the west coast too. The only problem is the Mrs, she's from the Northern Beaches in Sydney and is determined to settle back there, as i lived in aus for a year in 1998 and for the whole time worked and lived in sydney i can only say that the quality of life even in australias biggest most densely populated city is far far better than west london. We plan to bring the bare minimum with us unfortunately this includes the karmann ghia, i'd rather sell it and take the cash but the mrs is too attached to it. we bought 6 flight cases for all the nice shit we've bought and we are leaving behind a fully furnished 😂property. The plan is to get to Sydney around xmas, pitch up with the rellos for a fortnight, get city jobs and rent a city apartment for 6 months whilst we build up a credit history to get a mortgage on somewhere up the northern beaches.

thats what the mrs wants

id be happy with a few acres of land 2000kms from nowhere and a short walk to the beach, live like a bum and drive skanky cars round the dunes, shoot guns and brew my own beer 😂😂

Norther suburbs is closer to Newcastle than city centre and shit loads cheaper to buy or rent, great climate and close to all you could ever want, as for what you should bring....the mises, the Ghia and a hat.
PS, don't forget the hat.

dont forget your sunscreen😉😊

good to see you are going for it dude, i done it as well last year ,brought my '54' cal oval with me.

ex -essex giant killer club member-now central coast nsw
...............the scene here is good


p.s. you can get volksworld & ultra vw mag here!..

i love it here it rocks....:thumb:thumb:thumb:thumb

Move to NZ

jimby wrote:id be happy with a few acres of land 2000kms from nowhere and a short walk to the beach, live like a bum and drive skanky cars round the dunes, shoot guns and brew my own beer 😂😂

No, as Mick H said come up to Qld, why swap one city for another. You know it makes sense! Plus there's also a shitload of of Poms up here just to make you feel at home!👍

You can get all the good European tools if you look, eg Stahlwill,dowidat although even repco has some fair gear theses days.
All depends on how much you wan't to pay and how long you want it to last and if they snap when you snap and get the shits peg it across the shed when you can't get that nut off.

Good on you for making the move, i would be surprised if you have to wait very long for a loan. last time I bought a house all the bank wanted was my last 2 pay slips and my wife's as well, then they lent us 220K. (westpac) I just think you can buy a whole lot more in regional Austrlia and still have access to anything in the bigger cities. Queensland is where you go to grow fungus in your toes, Sydney is overcrowded and overpriced, the western suburbs must be the most desolate and spirit killing places in all Australia. Perth is in the middle of a desert, you get sunburnt walking from the garage to the front door of your house, South Australia is a desert. Victoria and Tasmania have the best mix of affordability and temperate glorious climate.
Now I will stand back and get shit thrown at me by all the rednecks

next thing...

what is the proceedure for registering the ghia once we get there? is there anything to watch out for when they inspect it and how strict are they with things like red indicators at the rear, sway-a-way adjusters in the beam, 175 55 R15 smart car tyres up front and 185 65 R15 tyres at the rear, 3mm wheel spacers up front, single circuit brakes, rear view mirror and wing mirror on drivers side only, toughened glass screen. no reverse light no hazzard lights

its very shiny so they wont think its a piece of shit and it'll have a fresh coat of paint on the pan and under the arches so it wont get us in trouble at the port. 🙂

Hi Jimby,

and welcome to oz when you arrive.. I moved over to Melbourne in January and I love it. Not one to get into big opinions about which is the best area as I havnt been here long enough and seen enough places, but it's great down here that's all I can say! Really don't miss the 'rat race' as you say.. too many people on such a wee island.

Oh, I think I recognise your user name from when I was using the Volkszone aaaages ago. We may have met, but I'm not sure. I have a black 914 back in the uk that I was buzzing around in to the shows for a few years.

Have fun, and if you come down this way let me know.

see ya,

Luke. :thumb

should be over in about 4 weeks :thumb
the flight cases are packed and ready and the ghia is just getting some work done as we speak. Cant wait..:beer

Dont worry about the cricket gear its to late to save them now.

Welcome to down here (for 4 weeks),
not sure about the Sydney bit, but if the minister for war and finance says do, then you have to follow. Have lived in all the states except Tasmania and WA so far and have my opinions, but its horses for courses and as you have already been to Sydney you know what you are getting in for.
Enjoy yourself, and just remember that just because its called the 'Nationals' doesn't mean it is 😉
(throws that hand grenade and runs 🙂)

jimby, I came here from Manchester nearly 10 years ago after a stint of living in Hong Kong. Never looked back, and its actually a pleasure to live somewhere where your VW heating doesn't really need to work! Beware, you'll be like a kid in a lolly shop and might end up with more than a Ghia!

Property prices are crazy, but thats what you need to expect living one of the worlds most beautiful cities.

Cheers

Steve

he's right about the heating,first thing i done was ditch the heat exchangers on me oval for some j tubes..
don't need all that nonsense here.
it's a great country......
:beer

Welcome jimby, I came out in 1990 and love it, good luck and if you'rer on the Gold Coast we should have beer.

I'm a relative newbie then !!! I only got here in 2002 !! But I love it. I swopped middlesex for the gold coast.. I did alright 🙂

i came out in 01 from london to Qld, by far the best place to be.... never thought of moving back or out of Qld it has everything u could ever want. love it!!!


steff....................

Bloody nora, the place is full of them :P

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, it's been a hell of a job to do up and sell the flat, the cars too and give up two careers but its gotta be worth it.

I knew when I left the girl in Sydney that id marry her and we would have to live on one side of the earth or the other, she's been here for just over 7 years and its time to see the other side of the world.

on the subject of cars, ive had my fillof restoring vws for he moment, ive promised ill build a EK special with an Audi V6 TDi engine in two tone pink for the mrs, she said she'd swap one for her ghia, then i can put the quaiffe gearbox in that and build the 2332 turbo motor 😀😀😀

swish1 wrote:Dont worry about the cricket gear its to late to save them now.

i was lucky enough to go to a school with multiple cricket squares and rugby pitches, round here in london thats never going to happen. Im soooooo pleased that my children will have the weather and the space to play cricket and rugby union all year round. none of that namby pamby soccer for my kids it's real sport!:beer

Lol,
as for your dreams of the EK, speak to Helbus (you can find him on the 'tomorrow people' thread. He was one of the group that made a beautiful stretch EH not long back. He's a panel beater by trade.

It might be exy in Sydney but I reckon the sale of a one bedroom flat in London would probably buy half of Manly.