SirJman

My sister is moving to Brisbane for University. She's moving from Canada, and I will be meeting her there from Singapore. What things are obscenely expensive there (food, household items, anything you can think of) that a student might use we could buy and bring from our respective countries?

I have experience from moving Western countries to Asia and back, but not any experience into AU. Any suggestions are welcome.

mandolino

First of all, is she sending a container or just limited to what she can take in checked luggage?

From many years of moving back and forth between UK and Australia with wife and knowing many others in same situation, I'd say good quality fashion clothing is much more pricey in Australia than Canada, so take that - but of course you won't need heavy coats in Brisbane. (Although she'll need sweaters and light jackets/raincoats for the cooler evenings)

Some electronics are also much more expensive. However, North American TVs generally don't work in Australia, despite the greater adaptability of modern digital TVs

Don't take food - much of it is banned anyway due to bio-security.

SirJman

Restricted to luggage unfortunately. She'll be brining 2 bags from Canada, and I can get 2 bags from Singapore.

When I moved to Korea, you should have seen some of the things I had in my luggage. Seemingly random things are very expensive in Seoul, like pillow cases, coffee filters, and sharp knives!

mandolino

There's not much filter coffee in Australia - it's all espresso-based. So maybe she'd want to take some filter-coffee gear. I've no idea whether it's more expensive in Australia or not. It's not very popular.

AustralianPoochie

Having lived in Australia for 28 years, I must say, that possibly clothes that fit her size to the T, ie, something that does not hemming, could be the only thing.

Do you really need knives, which have to be in the plane hold baggage (as we all know)... text books will only add weight.

Passport, original of her driving licence, bank transaction account card, that's about it. Driving licence of course, is that if she can drive over there, but then, there is the need to get used to the Aussie way of driving.

O, and not to forget, if she is renting in Canada, it might be worth bringing rental references, this could be important if she wants to one day sub rent a room.

Another thing, as for clothes, I find Brisbane more humid than Adelaide, closer to the equator I guess, quick wash, quick dry clothing would be the way to go.

Realistically though, we here in Australia do have a lot of things sold in our shops, Asian grocers abound, Brisbane is easy to get around, as it now uses the Gocard, you tap on and tap off, and the fare is automatically deducted from the card.

As an overseas student, she can work 20 hours a week term time, no limit long holidays, so maybe some work paperwork, something for a job she would like to chase up to do, while studying.

O, and yes, have been there to Brisbane twice, will go again

cavemanzk

Filter coffee is not popular in both Australasian culture its seen to taste awful, hence you wont find it anywhere but Starbucks. Typical coffee in Australia is espresso shots with foamed milk , which is around $4/cup at a cafe'.

prior

If she enjoys her coffee she'll want to DIY - Australian coffee stores are SO BAD! Best thing to get from them is cold drink like the Tim-Tam shakes from gloria jeans - the coffee beans are ALWAYS burnt.

AustralianPoochie

Gloria Jeans is supposedly linked to a mega church up Baulkan Hills way, they deny this though.

I am more a Hudsons Coffee dog myself.

jpatokal

OK, now I'm genuinely curious -- what's a good coffee in your book then?

mandolino

I wasn't aware that even Starbucks sold it in Australia - they boast, or used to, that there was a shot of espresso in every one of their coffees, as if that was something extraordinary.

Where you will find drip filter coffee in Australia is in hotel breakfast buffets.

harvyk

Actually what you are calling "SO BAD" is what we call "Taste"... Coffee here is usually much stronger than what you'd get in the USA. Also you can very cheaply buy coffee pot style drips. I had one at home for a couple of years, and it only cost around $20 to buy. You can still buy grounded coffee to put in them despite pods being all the rage right now.

As for what to bring? Bring anything which is sentimental... Also bring anything clothing wise which is "brand name".

I'd imagine that your sister is moving either into resi's (campus accommodation) or a share house? In either case both will have the basics all ready sorted, and anything they don't can usually be brought relatively cheaply these days (even for a uni student).

What is expensive will be food. Basically what has happened over the last 10 to 15 years is the price of white goods, kitchenware, appliances and clothing has dropped dramatically (so the things you only need to purchase once), whilst food (aka the thing you need to purchase everyday) has risen sharply.

Also, as someone who has been to BNE more times than I can remember, it does get pretty warm up there, and whilst I laugh every time I hear a Queenslander say how cold it is (I'm from Canberra, so I laugh every time I hear anyone from one of our major cities complain how cold it is) you do get acclimatized to the warm weather, so she will need some warm weather clothing (perhaps not Canada style warm weather clothing, but certainly a jumper or two won't go astray)

harvyk

Wow, a whole shot!!! No wonder they went out of business here...
There are certainly places (other than starbucks) which do bad coffee, the trick however is to look where all the locals go for their coffee...

I always find it amusing that firies from Queanbeyan (next town over, and technically across the state border) drive to ONA (the coffee shop I go to, and luckily just around the corner from work) to get their morning shot of java. It's probably a good 15 to 20 minute drive each way for them.

mandolino

Kills an hour of their shift ... I'd say they'll all be on alert at the moment though.
Starbucks did not go out of business in Australia/NZ, as you can easily see walking around the bigger east coast cities (not Canberra) .
They reduced their locations in Australia by about 70% though. They're still quite widespread in NZ.

Christopher

I don't wish to sound unduly rude, but I have found the coffee in Australia to be incomparably better, but incomparably, than coffee in the US and Canada - almost without exception. But if you like your coffee weak, then you can always ask for extra hot water.

As to the OP's question - I wouldn't over-think it too much. Australia's economy is broadly similar to that of Canada's and the same things tend to be available. If the OP's sister were shipping things to Australia it might be different, but as she's confined to whatever she can fit in a suitcase, I'd say that clothes would pretty much be the limit.

harvyk

In my book, closing down 61 of your stores leaving only 23 still operating and firing nearly 700 of your staff in the space of a couple of weeks = pretty much given a walloping.

When they came in to the AU market they where determined to put the local operators out of business. The problem was that their coffees all tasted the same (when a latte, a cap and a mocha all taste the same, you are doing coffee wrong), and where not a patch on what the local cafe could do, so people would still go to the local cafes...