…well sort of! The packers came today to pack the items we are putting in storage for our move to London. Yes we’re going back. Albeit much older and with two kids.

The last year has been a little hectic, to say the least. I’ve thought of posting nearly every day but hadn’t the time or the motivation to write during what spare time I had. After moving in after renovations and needing a break from that *insert expletive here* experience, we then got pregnant, had our second child and are relocating to London next week for work.

To catch up, it seems we have reached the peak of the property market (I’d like to suggest my last post predicted this), and the cash rate is still 2%. I think the RBA is enjoying the pressure the banks are putting on borrowers with recent rate rises due to higher capital charges (which I can explain, if anyone’s interested?). Markets are calling for the RBA to cut rates to combat this but in actual fact it’s pressuring the housing price boom down and doing the RBA and the Government’s job for them.

So step one in our packing is complete… next stage is packing what we will take on the plane (I have investigated EXACTLY how many kgs we can take!), what will be air freighted (80kg, which takes 8-9 days), and what will be shipped (which takes 8-9 weeks). And with kids this is no mean feat. Because kids need a LOT of stuff. Their 59 million favourite soft toys (“I want Ferdinand, and Elephante, and SheepDog, and and and”), 376,000 favourite books (“I want Chutney, and Marshmallow Mouse, and Cars Cars Cars and and and”) and 39 vehicles of all description (“I want Fuoco Motore x 3, Orange Car, Porsche, Digger Digger Digger!”). And that’s just the toddler. And they can’t wait for these favourite, precious, must-have-immediately things for 8-9 days for the air freight arrive. So I have been weaning our toddler off lots of toys onto just a few key ones. Thankfully our baby doesn’t need many toys but she needs loads of other things; blankets, nappies (!!), wraps etc etc etc.

So my plan is to effectively pack our bags a few days before we go and weigh them to within an inch of their life. Then pack the airfreight and do the same. Then everything has to go on the slow boat and we’ll just pretend we’re camping. First world problems!!

Thankfully we are being properly relocated with work, so we have packers, shippers, temporary serviced accommodation when we arrive, relocation services helping with finding permanent accommodation, rental furniture while ours arrives, visas etc etc etc. And then there is the list of things we have to do in Oz before we leave…

Rent our house – this friends is one of the reasons you shouldn’t pay off principal on your mortgage (see previous post here). Sell our car. Organise the new baby’s birth certificate and passport, adding her to Medicare, private health insurance and applying to schools, because god knows I’ll forget to do that when we move and by the time we get back in a few years she won’t be able to get in anywhere for high school and the poor thing will be desperately deprived for life (note the sarcastic parental guilt). Cancel utilities, phones, remove ourselves from the electoral roll… the list goes on!

Plus did I mention we just had a baby?!

I still have loads to write about the Sydney property market, renovating and everything property, but will also be adding some insights on London property too. Next post is about the London rental market.

So we leave next Thursday. Wish us luck in our final week!!