Cities to shop.....  

If ever there was a question for
P & A to weigh in on, this is it, or so I should think?

Paris
Nicola, have you ever been to the Paris market called Saint-Ouen? It's north of Paris. Take the metro to the Porte de Clignancourt and go north when you come up from underground for one block to the Rue de Rosiers and turn left. You could spend a year there, let alone a weekend.
This is known far and wide as Les Puces de Saint-Ouen and you will be in furniture shopping nirvana. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of vendors from modern to provencal to italian baroque. I have filled containers at this market to ship back to the states.
Also, the antique fairs at Newmarket and Ardingly in the UK are huge and have good prices. You will have to wade through alot of stuff that is not modern, but the treasures are there.
If you need a packer/shipper, I recommend Hedley's Humpers for shipments out of the UK and France.
Sorry, I only shop "wholesale" so I don't know of any retail shops in Europe. Perhaps others might! (P.S. I do know that I enjoyed the retail shopping in Toulouse for some rather edgy stuff, i.e. high design kitchenalia, clothes, art, etc.), but be warned that I'm American and high design to us means "a step above Walmart". Just kidding, but not really.

Riki, any recommendation for...
Riki, any recommendation for transport company to australia?
thinking to get some stuff from uk and europe and bring it over here.
Thanks

Why from UK/Europe?
If you live in Australia why would you want to buy from the UK? its $2 Aus to the £1? wouldnt it be cheaper to get from the US? or even in Aus?

Most Australian dealers impor...
Most Australian dealers import containers, the market here has allways been small and hence good vintage pieces are quite thin on the ground and fetch ridiculous prices, it is not so silly financially to import the container.
I wonder if there was ever much decent stuff produced in the GDR? Perhaps its all been snaffled by hipster west Germans now but maybe not. I found this link, some quite interesting little objects if you fncy a trip into the former Republic.
I can't suggest contemporary design, P + A have rounded up all the best Belgium has to offer in the index.
http://www.osa.ceu.hu/og?page=0&col=3&lng=1&ct=Objects%20from%20the%20ex...

Nicola - if you're thinking...
Nicola - if you're thinking of a weekend trip check out the once a year Lille Braderie (huge fleamarket with lots of French, Belgian, German etc dealers) first weekend in September. Bargains to be had...although the £/euro rate is horrible right now.

Shipping to Australia
Builder, most big packer/shippers, including Hedley's, will ship anywhere but you must fill a whole container. Containers come in 20 or 40 foot sizes.
http://www.hedleyshumpers.com/

Can't thank you enuf
Paulanna, I had never heard of the Le Grande Braderie in Lille and I've been on buying trips to France 3 times. After you posted I've gotten nothing done all afternoon researching it. It looks great. Maybe 2009 when the dollar gets a little better against the euro! (Of course that probably depends on our election results in November, but I'm certainly not going to go there!) Thanks again.

Yeah,
the idea came...
Yeah,
the idea came across, but the packing fee really turns me off. To get container here will cost me AU$12G, the goods are $$$$$, and the packing fee from europe to get them to the container is F$##$% $20G.
I dont know how the dealers do it, man...

.
From what I know they'll usually have business partners or friends there to help, also if you were to time a flight to coincide with a couple of auctions it would be tax deductable.
Maybe try and get a few more quotes.