sunny side up

barely managed to find my way to the computer through all the boxes here, but i have a question.

looks like i'll be shipping/posting a few boxes of stuff to perth - havent really got that much stuff that i really want....guess thats good - but im a bit confused about packing.

am i right in thinking that shipping it will involve quite a bit of moisture ??? i mean, its going to be travelling across the ocean for a while....

how do i pack - do i make (little) parcels of stuff (books, cd's etc.), wrap them in plastic and then place them in the box - or do i line the box with plastic or something?
can i just use normal 'house-moving' boxes or do i need something stronger???

bit confused now....just when you think you've got it all worked out another question pops up....pretty hard work, this migration stuff...but i guess it'll all pay off in the end.....

tanja

Pollyana

Hi Tanja,
Ok, going on my experience - I did wrap clothes and photo albums in bin liners before putting them in boxes; books - I had so many, I just stacked them in. Nothing smelt of damp when it arrived, and the only evidence of it was old - from a previous VERY damp house! The boxes had no watermarks on them either. haven't heard of people on here complaining about damp - I would guess, if you have time, put the stuff in plastic bags, but it will probably be a wasted effort.
My stuff left the flat in October and didnt get here till mid Feb, so thats plenty of time for damp to set in!!!

I did buy some small plastic crates, which I then put inside the boxes, holding stuff like bubble bath and nail polish - in case of leakage. Used one of those for the negatives of all my photos, now I come to think about it.

As for boxes - get in touch with a shipping company and tell them you want to buy export quality boxes. Supermarket ones are not really strong enough - the export ones are double thickness cardboard - I'm sure you can get the in the NL as in the UK. The only box of mine that I could not have used again was a supermarket one, used at the last minute. My boxes cost about £3 each, and it was worth it. The company may also sell you a large quantity of bubble wrap stuff - excellent for kitchen stuff and ornaments!
Also - if you do use cheap boxes - DO NOT use fruit/veg/flower boxes - they are often very strong, but AQIS hate them and may well destroy the contents.

Happy packing!!

Polly

lapacho

Im now in Spain and was in South America before that and am soon going to NZ. We bought our own shipping container and its been with me all the way. They are completely watertight apart from four downward facing airvents on each corner. Also remember that they are stacked about ten wide and four high, so its likely it will be completely covered, and thats assuming it deck cargo. If water did get in via the vents its because the ship has sunk.

We packed stuff in boxes and taped them up . Ive just opened boxes I sealed ten years ago. Documents etc and there is no deterioration. Nevertheless if you have anything particularly special wrap it.

The biggest problem I found was Argentinian customs officers. Im sure one of them is still wearing my best suit! They wanted to open everything until I got my wallet out, then suddenly lost interest.