• Redirect your mail – this is easy to do on-line through Australia Post, you’ll need to allow 3 working days after lodging for the service to start.
• Register with the AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) either as an overseas voter or remove yourself from the electoral roll.
• Register with Smart Traveller – hopefully something you’ll never have to use but plan for the best, expect the worse. You also get updates from them via email which I’ve found useful.
• Notify your banks that you’re going overseas and also get a card that will work with minimal fees when you first get there.  We’ve found the Citibank debit card is the best, you can apply and get it in Australia and there are Citibanks everywhere in America, it’s also the default ATM in all 7 Elevens.  There are no ATM fees when you withdraw money and it’s a better conversion rate than the big 4.  Do advise them that you’re going overseas once you get the card and keep in mind that the limit to withdraw each day is USD$500.
• Take copies of your important documents such as passports, birth certificates and visas and send one set of copies to an on-line source such as dropbox or your email and another physical copy with family.

Most household items were sold on Gumtree and for women’s clothes I found that Carousell was great, I used the app and found it super easy – I’ve never had much luck on Ebay.  Anything that was left that hadn’t been worn in the past year went to charity.

In the end we each took one large and one small bag with us, which was all we had for 2 months before our shipment came.  When looking what to pack in your bag just remember that your jar of Vegemite can’t be taken in hand luggage, I learnt the hard way! put it in your checked in luggage. It look several weeks to find a jar here and cost $9, don’t worry about Tim Tams though  – they’re everywhere.