Moving to Australia from Canada, Door to Door from Toronto

How a move from Toronto to Australia works

A survey — at home or by video — fixes the volume and identifies the items that need attention for biosecurity: outdoor furniture, bicycles, garden tools, camping gear, Christmas decorations with natural materials, and anything wooden. On packing day the crew cleans and documents those items, wraps and packs the rest to export standard, and builds the itemized inventory that Australian customs requires to be specific (not "box of misc"). The shipment is loaded into a dedicated container at our North York warehouse or consolidated with other Australia-bound groupage.

We dray the container to CN Brampton or CPKC Vaughan on our own truck for rail to Vancouver, where it sails to the Australian port nearest your new home. Our Australian partner lodges the B534 Unaccompanied Effects Statement with Australian Border Force, manages the biosecurity inspection, and delivers to your door with unpacking and packing-material removal.

1. Free survey and fixed door-to-door quote
2. Biosecurity walk-through: what to clean, what to leave, what will be inspected
3. Packing, cleaning and itemized inventory at your home in the GTA
4. Loading into a dedicated container or Australia groupage at our warehouse
5. Rail to Vancouver and ocean sailing (28–42 days)
6. B534 lodgement, customs clearance and DAFF inspection by our Australian agent
7. Delivery to your door with unpacking and debris removal

Customs: the Unaccompanied Personal Effects rules

Australia does not charge duty or GST on household goods and personal effects that you have owned and used for at least 12 months before departure, provided you are arriving to take up residence — as a citizen, permanent resident or holder of an eligible long-stay visa. The shipment is declared on form B534 (Unaccompanied Effects Statement) with a copy of your passport, visa and the packing inventory. You should have arrived in Australia before the goods are cleared; agents will hold the container until you are in the country if the sailing beats you there.

Items owned for less than 12 months are dutiable, so keep receipts for anything recent and tell us about it at the survey. Alcohol, tobacco and commercial goods are excluded from the concession. Vehicles are a separate matter entirely — see below.

Biosecurity: the inspection that decides your timeline

Every household shipment into Australia is screened by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and a significant share are physically inspected. The inspectors are looking for soil, seeds, plant material, insects and untreated wood — risks to Australian agriculture. What that means for your packing list: shoes, boots, bicycles, golf clubs, strollers, camping gear, garden tools and outdoor furniture must be scrubbed clean of soil and grass. Vacuum cleaners must be emptied and cleaned. Wooden items, wicker, bamboo and cane may be inspected and can be treated at your cost if bark or borer holes are found. Christmas wreaths, pine cones, dried flowers and untreated animal products are best left behind.

Cleaned and declared correctly, most shipments clear within days. Undeclared or dirty items trigger treatment (fumigation or heat) at commercial rates, or destruction — and every day the container sits waiting is a storage charge. Our crews photograph the cleaned items on packing day so there is a record of their condition when they left Toronto.

• Scrub soil from footwear, bikes, strollers, tools and outdoor furniture
• Empty and clean vacuum cleaners; run lawn and garden equipment dry
• Declare all wooden, wicker, bamboo and cane items; expect inspection
• Leave behind natural Christmas decorations, pine cones, dried flowers, seeds
• No food, plants, soil or untreated animal products
• Describe items specifically on the inventory — inspectors work from it

Shipping a car or motorcycle to Australia

It is possible, and it is rarely worth it. A vehicle needs a Vehicle Import Approval (VIA) from the Department of Infrastructure before it ships — apply early, the approval takes weeks — and on arrival it is inspected for asbestos (a Canadian car may need laboratory testing of components), subject to duty and GST unless it qualifies under the personal import scheme, and must then be modified and complied for Australian registration. For most families the cost exceeds the car's value in Australia. Motorcycles are more often worth it. We quote both honestly and include the approval and compliance steps in the timeline if you go ahead.

What it costs to move to Australia from the GTA

Volume drives the price, then the destination. Sydney and Melbourne have the most frequent sailings from Vancouver and the lowest per-container rates; Perth and Adelaide often tranship and cost more. A three-bedroom home from the GTA typically fills a 20′ container; larger homes ship in a 40′ high-cube. Groupage suits studios and one-bedroom apartments and takes longer while the consolidation fills. Our door-to-door quote itemizes packing, loading, rail, ocean, Australian port and customs charges, DAFF inspection fees at the standard rate, delivery and unpacking. Treatment charges triggered by biosecurity findings and duty on items under 12 months old are the two costs that sit outside the quote.

Timelines from Toronto to Australia

Rail from the GTA to Vancouver takes five to seven days. Ocean transit to Sydney or Melbourne is typically 28 to 35 days; Brisbane and Fremantle 32 to 42. At destination, customs and biosecurity clearance take one to two weeks if everything is clean and declared, longer if an inspection finds something. Plan on eight to twelve weeks from packing day to delivery for a dedicated container, ten to fourteen for groupage — and plan to arrive in Australia before the container does.

Why families moving to Australia choose Metropolitan Logistics

Australia is the move where the packer's discipline shows up on the customs bill, and ours is a logistics company that documents cargo for a living. The inventory is specific because our commercial exports need it to be; the container is loaded and photographed in our warehouse; the biosecurity walk-through happens at the survey, not at the port. Our IAM Core membership and IAMTrusted status stand behind the Australian partner who will be unpacking your home.