Garbanza

Greetings from the UK folks, I'm an ex-pat NZder with english husband and kids soon to make the big jump back to NZ in mid December 2007. The move will be a bit painful for me as I have been here 23 years and have become part of the furniture, but young children 8 and 3 and my family back in NZ are my priorities now. I would like advice as to what people took out with them in the way of suitcases and extra gear etc. My husband refuses to travel with any more than 2 large suitcases with clothes for 2 adults and 2 kids worth. Does anybody have any ideas or good tips about this. Are there any decent fabric shops out there, I know about the lack of shoes for discerning women and have bought shed loads recently. Please advise.

simonmarkellis

The one thing i said to my son was "here's a box that will fit in your suitcase along with your clothes! Fill it with as many of your toys as possible". It helped him, he had lego, knex, pen's and allsorts to keep himself amused. Me and the wife, we just tok clothes...

simonmarkellis

Oh, sorry forgot to say welcome to the forum...

Animal Crackers

Hi
Welcome to the forum, I'm gonna be lost too when we do finally go as it will be winter here but warm over in NZ!!My husband moans when we go on holiday for a fortnight so god knows what he's gonna be like when the time actually comes. I might just leave his stuff and take more of ours within his baggage allowanceI don't think anyone can tell you exactly what to take as everyone has their own personal possessions. My OH has already been selling stuff on ebay and we don't go for 2 more years, so I won't have much left by then. I wonder how much I'd get for him:curse:It would have to be advertised as non-returnable

Garbanza

To Simonmarkellis and Animal Crackers thanks for the support, right now we are up in the air with the husband finishing work this Friday and school half term next week. But what the hell it's only time. We will be moving to the Wellington area as that is where I spent my youth well into the twenties. I thought it might be the case with the cases, I'll just have to buy bloody big ones as I have just about bought up half of Ebay already. Whilst trawling around the Ex Pats website I discovered Cool Britannia for those Brits who miss english foodstuffs. One shop is in Taranaki Street (Wellington) the other one is out in the suburbs Lower Hutt, 81 Queens Drive. Probably old info but I hope it will help.

Garbanza

Animal Crackers

It's not our stuff you've been buying is it?

Garbanza

I hope so as we still live in Berkhamsted until late November when we complete on the house. We leave the UK in the last week of November. I will miss John Lewis's most of the major department stores in Britain, London and all those shops and of course M&S and Ebay. But I look at it this way, the UK is only a long plane ride away and hopefully if you have friends and family maybe they can make the effort at least one stage in their lives to come and visit you. 2 years is along time till you go. My advice to you is do all things you have always meant to do while you live here and never gotten around to do and go around Britain. That's what we've done and are still doing, unfortunately we're running out of time...

Garbanza

BEVS

Kia Ora and welcome to this forum.

We came out on a work visa so no extra baggage allowance. I used the entire allowance but kept clothes to the basics. Enough for a week with the use of a local launderette. I took our family documents with me in my hand luggage. I also packed items that were precious to me and my husband. Things that could not be replaced. Family photos and , my doll from when I was a baby.

We live in Nelson, top end of the South Island and there are a couple of good haberdasheries here, so I would expect this to be the same in Welly. Patchwork quilting is big here and you will see fabric shops devoted to it. Spotlight has a reasonable array of fabrics at good prices but you may find they lag behind current trends. For that go to the smaller haberdasheries.

Once here , look for and join the Toy Library. They should have toys for your three year old.

Garbanza

Thank you for that BEVS, I forgot they have toy libraries out there, in fact I think we used one when we were out there holidaying over 6 years ago. I've gone mad here and bought loads of new clothes and shoes so I was hoping I could fill my suitcase to the brim with them instead of putting them into the container. I guess I have some serious thinking to do. Did your personal stuff and household effects come out alright when your container arrived???
Is it advisable to take white goods or not? Questions, questions, questions!!
Many thanks.

Garbanza

BEVS

We didn't have any damaged at all to the goods and effects in our container. Not a scratch.
Others have reported that they have sustained damaged goods though. There is a thread about this right now on the board.

We used Curtiss in Portsmouth. They are part of the White and Co. franchise in the UK. We brought in several shippers for quotes and then played one against another to gain a discounted price. Each shipper had a differing list of what is supposed to be prohibited items. My view , looking back on this palavar, is that the shippers want an easy life for the movers at the NZ end when it comes to the MAF check. We brought in garden tools, trade tools, wicker baskets and wood artifacts among other items. I now wish we would have brought much - much more. We should have brought our garden furniture, an unused compost bin and a new garden pond. As long as it was all cleaned properly , it would have been fine. I'd also have had a bit of a spend in the shops to completely fill our containers every nook and cranny.

It depends how good/new your white goods are really. We didn't bring any but there again they were several years old and on their last legs. Prices for white goods here are not too bad but if you do have a tried and testing working front loading washing machine etc, then I say bring it ! It will save you money this end . Just make sure you have the brackets to secure the drum. There is not too much choice of front loaders here. Most Kiwis prefer top loaders for a reason I cannot fathom.
Fridge /freezers are a bit more temperamental when it comes to shipping but with a good shipper it should be fine. Again, it depends how good the white goods are as to whether you would want to bring them or not. Also , there is the question of whether they would 'fit' into your new home.

Stuff your container full to the gunnels though to get your moneys worth. I wish I had brought out more stuff with me.

When the packers came on the day, I monitored what they did. I made it clear that I wasn't about to stand clear of the doors and that I wanted to know what went on in each room. I flitted about like a mad thing whilst supplying the obligatory tea , sandwiches and biscuits. It wasn't that I didn't trust 'em but more that I want to known how things were packed and how they would be marked down on the inventory. As the bloke in charge compiled the inventory , I was there checking it back.

I still missed a couple of things though

The one thing that slipped by me, was my dinner service. It was stored in a box , partially packed from a previous move. The shippers should have taken each piece and repacked into their own box but did not. When I looked at the inventory when it was unpacked in NZ, it did state PBO - packed by owner - so they didn't cheat as such, they just thought I had packed it properly myself. It was extremely lucky that the service was not broken or chipped as the PBO would have meant it was not covered by our insurance.
The other was a set of saucepans. We all did a sweep of the house but somehow managed to miss one kitchen cupboard. I gave 'em to a charity shop and bought new here.

One small thing to watch is MAF fees this end. Make sure you only pay the MAF fees for any inspection on your container and not any so-called service fee this end. There was NO MAF fee for our container but the third party movers used by White and Co. called The Moving Company tried to charge us nearly $500 bucks for the MAF inspection. I investigated direct with MAF and found that there had been no fees and inspection. I then had to complain to The Moving Company and obtain a refund. Several other migrants have been through similar.

Garbanza

Thanks BEVS I will probably print off all that you've said. I'll probably be plugging your brains with a few more questions if that's okay with you. Must go now as it's 11.30pm and my youngest boy likes to get up at 6am bummer..... Have a nice day.

Garbanza

simonmarkellis

Make sure you get in touch when you get here... we're just up the coast in Porirua...

Animal Crackers

I know 2 years seems a long way off but it will soon go!!and with having to finish 2 degrees and complete all the relevant paperwork it'll sooooon be here!!! as you'll know yourselves

CCGM.IN.NZ

Hi Garbanza, 12 months ago we were in the same situation as you. We have been here a year in November. Make sure you use ALL your luggage allowance and get your moneys worth! We were advised that some airlines will give you extra baggage allowance if you are emigrating. We flew with Singapore airlines, and asked if we could have extra allowance. They replied back yes but it would only be an extra 5 kgs each. My husband contacted them again a couple of weeks later to ask the same question and this time they said we could have a total of 40 kgs each. Also, it didn't matter how many packages we had as long as they didn't add upto any more than 40 kilos per person. My son brought his playstation with him and my daughter brought her beloved electric guitar! Though the night before we flew out here we had a bit of a drama with the weight of everything. The amp for the guitar took us over the allowance so I ended up leaving it with my sister who sold it for us on ebay then sent the money on. It might be wise to have a couple of smaller cases/bags rather than lots of big bags as theres only so much you can fit into small ones to guarantee you won't go over the weight allowance. Hope this helps. Good luck with the move.
Carol

TeamEmbo

Hi and welcome. Who are you flying with? I ask as the baggage allowance on Air NZ via LAX is 2 x 23kg suitcases per person (including children) so thats 46kg per person PLUS 7kg each for hand luggage. But don't go over 32kg in one suitcase! And I'm pretty sure I saw on a thread a while ago that Emirates were offering 60kg but can't remember the route or poster or thread to check on that.
Good luck with it all, Mandie xx