Sending stuff to family member in Australia

money_saving_diva

My cousin (in his early 20's) has just gone out to Australia. I have promised him a parcel but not sure what to put in it. I asked him to tell me if he is missing anything like certain brand of food etc but he hasn't told me - I don't think he will want to ask.

My ds will draw him a picture and stuff like that but what can I put in the parcel? I've had a quick look on the web and it seems like you can get all our popular food brands down under so not much point posting something he can buy at his local supermarket.

Also is there a mse way to send parcels down under??

Disdisbiff

I have family in austrailia too and i know that certain foodstuffs,seeds and untreated wood items are not allowed (also peanuts).
I think it cost around £35 to send a 3 kilo parcel.

nonnie44

One thing my brother who lives in Sydney complains about is the chocolate over there. He says that the quality there is not as rich in flavour and we send it over - especially a wispa! My mum recently returned from visiting and said that it is also much more expensive.

That said it depends if your cousin likes chocolate that much - not sure I could live long term without it, lent is long enough lol :rotfl:

Softstuff

I'm in Australia and moved here from England. Postage is very expensive to send anything here, so for many things would not be worth it. Now Woolworths and Coles supermarkets have a British section with everything from choccy to mushy peas, so if he's homesick for that he might try there.

If you wanted to get a selection and send it to him, both supermarkets offer home delivery to various locations, so you could always go to either supermarket online and order for him through that.

Savvy_Sue

Marmite? I know Aussies tend to look down their noses at it, but Vegemite isn't the same ...

KiKi

They don't have jaffa cakes or minstrels - and I missed those when I lived there! They also don't have many varieties of crisps (I CRAVED square crisps, wotsits and quavers!). The chocolate has the 'no melt' stuff in it that many hot countries do, so it's not as nice, so a good bar of Cadburys (or KitKats which really taste different in Aus) go down well.

Don't send *anything* with nuts, seeds, untreated wood, meat, anything extracted from a plant (unless it's cooked cocoa as part of a chocolate bar etc) or fruit (even dried). It will be destroyed.

I once sent a letter which was on handmade paper. It was burnt on arrival because it had dried leaf in the paper!! Quarantine are phenomenally strict - rightly so - but they will just destroy the whole parcel, not the one item. Sending it Surface Mail is much cheaper than Air Mail, but takes six to seven weeks rather than one week.

HTH
KiKi

LJM

definately i would say the chocolate my friend says that their choccies out there are not like ours

Softstuff

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Marmite? I know Aussies tend to look down their noses at it, but Vegemite isn't the same ...

They sell that in the local supermarkets too though. And you're right, vegemite is not the same thing!

nzmegs

The cheapest way to send stuff overseas is to order it through a mail order company in Aussie. That way the postage is cheaper and you are paying in the local currency. I try to do this for most of my overseas presents as postage prices are horrendous. You can find a hamper company in Australia which does UK goods. the thing he is likely to be missing is family, so photos would be good and how about DVDs of UK shows or CD's he may not be able to get yet. Lots of UK bands never make it to Australia and it can be hard to keep up with what is going on music iwse. Perhaps a couple of copies of a music magazine. I often send copies og OK and hello to my SIL in NZ as she loves to catch up on the gossip.

Blue_Monkey

I live in Australia and you can actually get most things here - sure you pay a premium for them, but they are available.

The chocolate out here is pretty naff... My parents brought me out a 1kg bar of dairy milk from duty free which was a right treat

Could you send a collection of recent newspapers or magazines? I sometimes get trashy celeb mags and it's just not the same when you don't know who the trashy celebs are!! My OH always asks for a copy of The Sun and FHM when people come to visit.

Books are REALLY expensive here, so if he's into reading that might be an option?

Softstuff

Blue_Monkey wrote: »

Books are REALLY expensive here, so if he's into reading that might be an option?

You get free delivery worldwide with thebookdepository.co.uk

And things there tend to be very cheap too.