Has anyone any experience of moving there? Who can ship and pack the house contents?
We are planning to move there in 2013 but will sell up next year so we need to find a removal company soon.
Thanks for your help.

We have done this the other way around: from Oz to Europe.
Used Interdean - they were excellent except that their Geneva employees who unpacked [well, took off the outer carton] were a little slapdash. PM us for further info. We wonder why you are going Down Under?

Hi, I recently moved from Australia to Switzerland through my employer. While they paid for the move, I was able to choose a relocation firm. From Australia I used Chess Movers Australia. I can recommend them. They are affiliated with Pack Impex here in Switzerland, so perhaps you can arrange it via them.

Here's the website.
[URL="http://www.chessmoving.com.au/"]

Australia is a nice place but I hope you would miss Switzerland for various reasons. Best of luck for your change

We are moving to Australia in a couple of months time. We decided to go with Keller and got quotes with Swiss moving company (who used Settelten) and Wridgeways from Australia (who used Pacimpex)
The quote from australia was the most expensive.

The main issue for moving personal effects is the strict quarantine rules.
The movers discouraged us to pack any food and alcohol or wine (due to taxes)
Also items that are less than 12 months old need to be declared for payment of VAT (GST in Australia)

Guess we'd better empty our cellar our before we go.
What about wood? We have a wooden dining table that was made for us here. Would that need special treatment? It is oiled not lacquered.

I would contact Quaranteen/customs in Australia, importing anything wood can be problematic, if they think it may have bugs then it will need to be fumigated there. Customs can do this but I am not sure of the cost, most important is too declare everything and anything (try to pack these things together) I have found them very friendly and helpful if you are honest (honest mistakes are considered being dishonest). I am not sure on the wine import thing, I "heard" that if you too wine out when you moved here (and declared it to Swiss authorities) then you can take some back untaxed, again customs can help.

do you need a live-in au pair/nanny/gardener/driver/puppy sitter/chef/housekeeper/all-in-one?

Dear syngentian,

Try these folks:
Very helpful and in my case very competitive in pricing

SCHUMACHER SPEDITEAM AG
Intl. Forwarding
P.O. Box
4011 Basel - Switzerland
phone +41 61 284 9800
fax +41 61 284 9805
claude.schumacher@spediteam.ch
www.spediteam.ch
www.containertransport.ch

George

I am in the midst of moving back home to Australia - and am using Allied Pickfords (who are affiliated with a local Basel prover called Henschen Basel-Muttenz (www.henschen.ch)) and they seem great so far - very responsive and helpful to date. I used Chess Removals for my goods over here and they were great (although - try and get your clothes/smaller items sent via airfreight - my sea freight took 16 weeks!) I would highly recommend taking out extra insurance against mould + rust. Good luck !

We used Allied Pickfords in the opposite direction, coming back to Europe from Perf. They were superb and handled everything with aplomb and efficiency. Nothing but accolades for the company and their operatives.

Were in the process of moving to Sydney in the new year. We ended up going with a UK international movers as it was ridiculously cheaper than the Swiss ones!! http://www.movecorp.co.uk/index.html

will let you know how we get on!

Allied Pickfords brought us back to Europe from Perth.
They and their associates were marvellous - nothing broken or damaged. Recommended. Should work the other way around too.

Thanks that was useful for me...

The grass always appears greener - and that's what we thought. Believe me, it is not often like that and sometimes, as in our case, it brought bitter unhappiness.

Hi PCLC,

I'm also in the midst of moving back to Australia from Sydney. How was your experience with movecorp?

They are considerably cheaper but I'm not sure about their quality of service.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

we are moving to Sydney and are down to Pack Impex and Team Relocations (the quotes are almost identical).

Can someone suggest which one to go for? The next employer pays for it.

I would check the insurance coverage and the delivery timeframe to destinguish the two. When we moved from Brisbane to Zurich it took 2 months for delivery and when claiming on the insurance we were below the 'minimum' claim amount. (Note, we went to claim on 3 items that were not packed properly).

On a side note, do you have children? Because I don't know if the car seats we use here are 'approved' for use in Australia. The rules on when and how to use a car seat are almost identical though.

I would be interested to know how you get along with regular wooden furniture. We have a couple of wooden items we will take back. Some Australian and some local.

OK, will closely compare the delivery time frame and insurance conditions. Although we intend to use air freight (we only have 2-3 m3) so delivery is promised soon. There is no furniture and yes we realized that infant car seats might be different there, so will sell ours.

Where abouts are you moving to?