Make sure you use the pdf option within CorelDRAW (in the File dropdown menu), not an external pdf 'printer'. I did this to get our cdr's across to Xara files. I still had to edit the files in Xara... font issues, columns, text formatting, colours, etc. all needed a bit of TLC. Our cdr's were v12.

Don't feel too bad about not being able to just import the cdr files though. Even CorelDRAW can't open it's 'own' files after a few versions have passed, often crashing badly.