moving from sydney to HK

[rjmain]

HI, Thanks for all your past advice, we have decided to live in Discovery Bay, we are going to rent our house out here fully furnished as we don't think our furniture will fit in the apartments over there, can any one please tell us if there is anything we should bring with us that's expensive in Hk or difficult to buy over there.
We have televisions, tumble dryer or any other electrical appliances. Do autralian tv's work in HK and does anyone know of a good shipping company?

Thanks in advance

Rebecca

[BEL]

Yes Aussie TV's work over here in HK.

I think most apartments over here come with fridge, washing machine / dryer (ours did and from what I seen others did as well). So don't bring those items. We bought our coffee machine with us because the coffee is crap here (IMO) so we buy our beans and make our own expresso's.

For removalists... We used Chess Moving Sydney. I dealt with Phil Bishop +61 2 9671 8405 (direct) [email protected] / www.chessmoving.com.au
I found Phil to be a good guy to deal with, so its worth getting a quote from them anyway. Our stuff actually went from Sydney - London - Hong Kong (as we were orginally relocating to London, but ended up in Hong Kong) and only one plate and one glass was broken. Pretty good for all the handling it had going via London.

Good luck with the move.

[dropdedfwed]

Hey Rebebcca,

I wouldn't bother shipping appliances over. even though they will work, it's not worth the cost and stuffing around, coming in, and then going back.

Coffee here does suck, apart from a few places, but coffee machines are available here. good beans are a different kettle of fish...

the only things i would bring is clothes. everything else here is cheaper or on par with aussie costs. Western food and some groceries are little more expensive, but there isn't really anything that is justifyable to bring over.

Larger sized clothing - best to bring from Oz...

we pretty much moved to HK just using suitcases, as we were back and forthing for a few months, and once I sent about 100kg by unaccompanied baggage co (cost about $450AUD). this was mostly books, papers, camping gear etc. wouldn't bother bringing anything big over.

Good luck with the move,

DDF

[rjmain]

thanks for the replies, we have been trying to look at costs of T.V.'s etc in hong kong, do any of the department stores have websites with prices???

Is $30,000 a realistic price to pay for a 3 bedroom apartment on DB?


Rebecca

[discobay]

Rebecca,

You can check out the rental prices on a number of property agents' websites. Centaline or Midland.

[BEL]

Hi again Rebecca,

We did buy a smaller Plasma tv here in Hong Kong and I think they seemed cheaper than in Oz.

Here's the website for Fortress where we bought ours:

http://www.fortress.com.hk/en/produc..._tv/index.html

Yes you can buy coffee machines here, I just thought if you have your own you might like to bring it instead of buying a new one as its only a small appliance.

Not sure about the rental prices in Discovery Bay. We used this website for finding our rental property though - http://www.hongkonghomes.com/hong_ko.../eng/index.htm

[rjmain]

Thanks again, sorry more questions!!!!
We would want to bring our bikes and camping stuff, in 3 bedroomed apartments do they have storage or bike racks outside or communal storage? How does it work??

[discobay]

Unfortunately no. However, it is not uncommon to leave your childrens' bikes outside your flat entrance. If you end up renting a house then you will likely have more space.

[rjmain]

Thanks Discobay, we have decided to take a trip to Hk, in the next few weeks to judge for ourselves, we have heard so many opinions about the place that I don't know what to think, just when i thought DB was the place to live I have come across clearwater bay and sai kung!!! Which both look really nice, how long is the commuting time to Central? Or is it not an option?

Some of the horror stories I got from past residents were,
"my child was at the doctor every 4 weeks for ventolin because of the pollution"

"you need air conditioning, air purifiers, air humidifiers on all the time"

"you can't take the kids out after 10am as the play equipment is to hot for them to touch"


"the watermelons are grown with human poo to act as a fertilizer"

"the meat is not suitable to eat and you have to buy imported meat from Australia"



How much of this is true I am not sure, but it just shows you it is all down to personel opinion!!!

See you in a week or 2!!!

[discobay]

Personally I would go for Sai Kung or Clearwater Bay over DB which is too artificial. You need to come and decide for yourself.
I would take those comments with a pinch of salt. I've lived here for years and both my heads think that the air pollution is just a smoke screen to keep prying Google Earth eyes out.