Crossing the Nullabor + cat + furniture = insanity?

September 3, 2007 2:31 AM

How do I move my life from Perth, Western Australia, to Middle-of-Nowhere, QLD with a cat and my sanity intact?

In three weeks I'm moving to a rural town, 6 hours drive north of Brisbane (inland).

I'm still working out whether to bring my furniture or not, because I have some pieces (a dresser and a couch) which I am particularly attached to, but all the quotes I've had for moving just the couch, dresser and about 6 packing boxes have been around $5000. Does this seem reasonable?

The problem is that even if I leave the furniture, quotes for moving 6 boxes (only the essentials: books, clothes, personal effects) across country still come to around $4500, which seems crazy. It'd probably end up cheaper flying back and forth six times and taking a big suitcase load every time!

Does anyone have any better ideas? Driving is out, unfortunately, for many reasons!

Also, my cat will be joining me as soon as I'm settled in (hopefully no longer than six weeks or so), does anyone have any recommendations for companies who specialise in moving pets, or any advice for moving animals within Australia?

Any other general "moving-your-entire-life" advice anyone wants to offer? I have searched but much of it seems specific to the USA and Canada.

Thanks in advance for your help— I hope the hivemind can help stop me tearing my hair out!

posted by indienial to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

We "moved our entire life" from Adelaide to Darwin. Fortunately my new employers paid for airfares for my whole family, transport of my car, transport of the entire contents of my house, and 2 weeks accommodation in Darwin while I looked for somewhere to live... tough breaks.

Sometimes transport companies (generally trucks carrying shipping containers around) have empty space in their containers that you can talk them into letting you have at a cheap rate.

However, this tends to work if, for example, you want to take things from Darwin to Adelaide or Melbourne to Sydney. Perth to Somewhere In Central Queensland is a less likely prospect. Finding a chain of truck routes to get to your destination will be close to impossible.

As is the other technique I commonly see people use; send around emails in their new workplace asking if anyone is travelling from A to B and if they have any room to spare. This tends to work well for pets - small pets like cats can often fit within the baggage allowance on Qantas if you leave out a suitcase.

I'm sorry to say that as far as I can see, driving is the only option for you with that budget. On a positive note, many people say that discarding all your earthly possessions and starting fresh can be a very liberating experience...
posted by Jimbob at 2:56 AM on September 3, 2007

Holy crap that's expensive. It cost me less than that to ship a flat full of furniture and 1000-odd books from Brisbane to London.

Other than driving, which really does sound like your best option, could you have the stuff delivered to Brisbane (or maybe Rockhampton) and go pick it up? It would probably be cheaper.

You can take your cat on the plane - I did it a few years ago (Bris to Melb, on Ansett!) and the puddy was fine. It cost ~$45 then, so probably $75ish now.
posted by goo at 3:42 AM on September 3, 2007

Did you get the quotes for just moving the boxes from the same people who'd also move the furniture (removals company, I assume)? If you did, perhaps you could also get some quotes from regular parcel delivery type companies who can handle such boxes. Even sending them DHL probably wouldn't cost that much (note: I'm reasonably ignorant to the courier and delivery industry in Australia). Perhaps you could get them sent to Brisbane then transport them yourself in a hired van or something if it's the "last mile" causing the expense?
posted by wackybrit at 3:46 AM on September 3, 2007

We just moved our lives from Sydney to Port Macquarie, which is a fairly short hop over a pretty common route. The removalist cost was as close to $3000 as makes no difference, and that was on the cheap end of things.

The main factor in using a moving company is what size trucks they have available for the move; if the companies you're talking to only have one size, then regardless of how much you're actually transporting, they still need to send that same truck; and having it dedicated to your move (as is likely, since it's probably not a common route) will mean that you have to pay for the whole thing.

You could try ringing around more to try and find a moving company who has a few smaller (and therefore cheaper) trucks; or ask those companies that you've spoken to already if they have smaller (cheaper) trucks for the move, and what their capacity is, then trying to fit your stuff into that capacity. Based on what you said about the 6 boxes though, it's unlikely to be much good.

Have you looked into using some generic freight service? You'll have to have a destination address to send things to, and you may have to be a little flexible on delivery schedules, but it might be cheaper.

Other than that, driving it yourself is likely to be the next cheapest, with ditching everything and starting again by far the cheapest (even if unrealistic) option.

Re the kitty, sorry, can't help there. Good luck with your move!
posted by 5MeoCMP at 3:49 AM on September 3, 2007

One time, when I moved an elderly friend with cats from one place to another, she didn't actually have a home for them to go to, so she flew them with her and put them into a boarding kennel in the town she was going to live in.

With the moving stuff, I think your costs are possibly so high because it's not a full load and not between two large centres, so maybe get a quote on getting the stuff to Brisbane (or Townsville or Rocky or somewhere bigger than Woop-Woop) and get other quotes from those places, to move the stuff on.

What about mailing the non-furniture items to your new address? Check out the cost of parcel delivery via Aus Post and competitors.

Possessions end up owning you. Sell them all, and move in to a furnished property - buy new clothes to celebrate.
posted by b33j at 3:51 AM on September 3, 2007

I used Jet Pets to move my cat from Sydney to Adelaide. They took care of all the arrangements, from picking him up from the quarantine station to reserving the space on the plane. I think it was about $150 in total.

Google Australia pet transport, and you'll get lots of options.
posted by naturesgreatestmiracle at 4:32 AM on September 3, 2007

does Australia have a media mail/book rate shipping option? maybe you could at least send the books for cheap?
posted by citron at 6:59 AM on September 3, 2007

You don't say why driving is out of the question. If you don't have help with the actual carrying things, one option in the US (which surely must exist in Australia) is hiring short term moving labor on either end. If it's because you don't drive, these same services can also often be contracted to drive a rental truck. Using both of these kinds of help and renting a truck can still often be cheaper than hiring a moving service, since you're getting a smaller truck and don't have to pay the fees associated with the moving company. On the downside, you obviously don't get the moving company's insurance, either.
posted by hydropsyche at 9:46 AM on September 3, 2007

Find "a man with a van". Pay him his daily rate x 2 (he should be able to get there and back in 16-18 hours, including loadsing/unloading). If this was the UK I'd be thinking about £500 plus gas, maybe a little more. Tip him 10% if he does a good job.
posted by londongeezer at 11:11 AM on September 3, 2007

Um, there's absolutely no way to drive from WA to QLD in 16 to 18 hours, londongeezer.

For non-Aussies, I'll help the OP a little by pointing out that there's a bloody huge desert (the Nullarbor) between WA and the eastern states, which is one of several reasons why it's not just the distance that's the problem with the move.

You used to be able to pay a bit extra for your cat as excess baggage, but given that you'll need to change planes at least once, I'd go with the pet transport option.
posted by different at 11:45 AM on September 3, 2007

RACQ Travel planner estimates it at 50 hours continuous driving with 4341 kms and that's just to Brisbane so add on another 6 hours. There's also flood locations along that route apparently
posted by b33j at 1:21 PM on September 3, 2007

Have a look at the parcel post rates on the Australia Post website. It would certainly be cheaper than any of the quotes for moving that you have got. Also have a look at bus freight - Greyhound Buses run a freight system where transport freight on their buses. A friend of mine has used it and said it was very reasonably priced. I think it would only be suitable for the boxes, not the furniture. This may only get it as far as Brisbane, but perhaps then you can rent a car/van for the last leg.
posted by AnnaRat at 4:57 PM on September 3, 2007

I moved from Sydney to Adelaide 2 years ago and actually found it easier to sell my stuff (and leave some small things with parents/friends) than doing the hassle and expense of hiring a truck.

Having said that, though, I found that posting fat envelopes to myself at my new address full of all my documents (not the absoluetly crucial ones like birth certs of course) was a good way to go about things. If you have flat items this might be a decent way of saving a little money.

I was able to get a Qantas flight with three boxes (all under 30kg or whatever the load limit is) that held most of my 'life'. I can't remember how much they charged per box but I think it was about $30/ box. I packed my most loved CDs, some books, all my clothes, some household items and trinkets.

I have made a few trips back and grabbed a few extra things but all in all I had the bare necessities, and those items I 'couldn't live without' turned out to be less important to me once I got to my new digs.

Good luck!
posted by gerls at 7:19 PM on September 3, 2007

You should check out the prices for moving the other way - Perth is insanely expensive to ship things to; going west to east is almost all backloading and so much cheaper.

For the same reason, road freighting anything from Brisbane to anywhere other than along the coast is expensive.

nth-ing the suggestion to get it shipped to Brisbane, then organise it from there yourself. If you've got no-one to hold it for you in Brisbane, maybe one of the national self-storage companies can organise a locker there for delivery?

Also, ring around the smaller Brisbane freight companies. I've shipped bulky but relatively light stuff like that to CQ on a wrapped pallet or two; it can be a fairly cheap if you keep away from the big guys and aren't in a screaming hurry (week or 2 wait). Queensland Rail freight (if your destination is on a rail line) can be surprisingly cheap at times, too.
posted by Pinback at 3:32 AM on September 4, 2007

Thanks for your help guys!

It looks like I will probably go with gerls' "flying-back-and-forth" option (since I have various commitments which mean I'd be probably doing that anyway), and I will look into shipping+storage in Brisbane, just in case it suddenly has a $1000 price drop. You're probably right that the stuff I'm leaving behind won't seem so important when I get to my new home.

That said, if anyone else stumbles across this thread and wants to add any suggestions, they are all gratefully received!
posted by indienial at 6:46 PM on September 4, 2007

Much belated follow-up for anyone stumbling upon this thread:

Qantas are my new champions. They charge $22 per box for as many boxes as you want to move, provided they are under 30kg each. Because all my boxes were around the 15-20kg mark, they lumped them together, and I ended up paying a mere $80 to get 7 boxes of stuff over here.

They can also do furniture and stuff like that if necessary (ask first, it'll depend on what you have!), but unfortunately by the time I worked that out, I'd sold my furniture.

I'm flying back to pick up another load of boxes and the cat in a few weeks... Thanks MeFi and gerls in particular for the Qantas tip!
posted by indienial at 10:56 PM on October 25, 2007