moving to NZ
 

Hi

We are wanting to emigrate to New Zealand, and will be soon applying for a visa.

I would love someone to give me advice that has already been there and done it, so to speak.

My mind is all over the place with the what if's.

We currently have a home to sell, and we need job offers. if we happen to sell the house fairly quickly it would mean having to go into rented accommodation for awhile as we have no family that we can stay with. Also if we are wanting to rent in New zealand, which i understand them to be unfurnished, what do you do regarding furniture as this can take up to 10weeks to ship over.

If you dont take the furniture with you, how soon does it take to get new furniture..........as from experience over here most large items have to be ordered and can take weeks for delivery.

so many questions, just wish someone could wave their magic wand and do it all for me while i just sit back and chill out.

Thanks

Jill

Re: moving to NZ
 

Cool. :cool: You should take a look at this wiki so you get an idea in what is required to get visas and all that...http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Catego...nd_Immigration

Lots of contributors to this forum have been through the process, so yeah, hopefully you will get some good advice.

Naturally.

Get some cheap crockery and cutlery from the Warehouse (it's a big box cheapo department store found all over New Zealand) along with other cheapo housewares. Op-shops are good for furniture that you can use until your own stuff arrives. Sure, it'll be like camping for a bit, but what the hell, time will pass and you'll be able to annoy future generations with stories of your immigration 'hardships'.

Not long in my experience...several days perhaps? It will depend on what you want and what is in stock.

Steel thyself for a long journey through the home selling, job search and visa applying swamps.

Good luck.

Re: moving to NZ
 

Hi. First of all good luck with the whole process. You can rent furniture here http://www.dtr.co.nz/index.cfm/Home. Straightforward to organise and super quick delivery. Harvey Norman were really helpful when we wanted some furniture delivered quickly. We had a settee, 2 beds and 3 matresses delivered within a couple of days of ordering. http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/. Happy is right about the Warehouse for cheap kitchen / household items. The stuff will be fine till your own gear gets here.

Re: moving to NZ
 

Hi Jill

Dont worry it will all come together, thousands of us Brits have been there!
It all works out in the end.:thumbsup:

There are plenty of houses to rent here furnished and unfurnished.
I would advise you to bring your furniture, as there is very limited choice here.
You could always pay to put it in a lock up. My mum has ordered a new suite , 16 weeks wait :frown:

Good Luck with it all

Ju

Re: moving to NZ
 

Whats an op shop:confused:

Re: moving to NZ
 

Hi Jill, you can rent stuff here..its a big business..in Palmy anyways! Or, rather than buy new (all furniture and white goods are silly money) look at www.trademe.co.nz (NZ's ebay) thats where evrey one gets a bargain!! Good luck in your move.

Re: moving to NZ
 

A charity shop.

Re: moving to NZ
 

Place that sells donated secondhand goods.

Re: moving to NZ
 

It's the same here when buying new furniture Jill. Our new settees took two months to arrive and then one of them was wrong and had to go back. However, our new mattress took just a couple of weeks. Same the world over eh?

We also brought furniture and personal effects over. If you have a container to yourself then the shipping time is around 6 weeks. It does take longer if it is a part container and you have 'groupage'.

Once here , you can rent a furnished holiday type home for a few weeks or an unfurnished.

It is possible to hire furniture. Many unfurnished rentals will come with a cooker, washing machine, fridge etc.

We bought cheap bits and bobs from the Warehouse to see us through . The landlord lent us some linen plus a couple of chairs and an ancient telly. We got a couple of cheap camp beds which we still use for , guess what, camping . Before we knew it our container had arrived and we stored our stuff in a couple of spare bedrooms and the garage.

Re: moving to NZ
 

Good luck and dont worry things do come together in spite of everything........
Its quite a surreal feeling arriving with literally two suitcases to set up a new life, but people do it, and are always happy to share the war stories afterwards...

I know we needed a bed, and it could only be delivered in about two weeks, luckily they managed to deliver the mattrass the next day, so we ended up sleeping on the floor for two weeks.... didnt do the marriage any harm roughing it for a couple of weeks tbh, lots to be said for having to depend on each other and working through the crap together...

its an adventure, and an experience worth it, IMO. just dont expect nz to roll out the red carpet for you.

on the apartment rental front, there are a number of properties rented with "whiteware" which includes a fridge washing machine etc, so try and look for those in the first instance.

Re: moving to NZ
 

Hello Jill,

Everything you posted is just what has been going through my head. We are about to put house on market. If it sells quickly will have to rent. What do you do when you arrive in NZ with no belongings for 6 weeks!!! Questions questions....It drives you crazy doesn't it. But I have to say the folks on this site are fab having gone through it, or about to embark upon it like us. I am going to buy mattresses when we get there, and just ship the bed frames. I plan to check out the Warehouse for cheap plates etc, until our stuff arrives. Other than that I shall take each day as it comes, and enjoy all the excitement!!! pm me if you like.

Lou :)
xx

Re: moving to NZ
 

hi, don't worry all of us that have done the move have been there and we survived. :D Things just sort of come together. When we arrived our furniture had a delay - we had nothing for almost 4 months - what happened was friends ( we had just met) and work people lent us things. We got a bed, table and 2 chairs! The Warehouse is a godsend for small inexpensive stuff like plates, cutlery etc. We use these for barbys now at the beach so nothing got wasted.

The only big thing we have bought is a washing machine and it arrived in a lorry in 2 days. We're really rural so I was gobsmacked.
Where are yo heading do you think??

We left the uk with a house and a business still hanging round our necks like a giant millstone ( and loads of other problems !) but we were fed up waiting! Everything got sorted in just a few weeks.
If we can help just let us know. x

Re: moving to NZ
 

Hi, Don't worry about the small problems that arise, it'll be worth it in the end.:thumbsup: Like others have said the Warehouse is cheap.
We managed with an ancient sofa and TV in our rental and a 20 kg suitcase of clothes each for 4 months til we bought our own place. I had forgot what most of our own stuff even looked like until we unloaded the container!!!! but I've never been so happy to see kitchen implements, clothes, furniture etc!!
We've had to buy a few things since being here, and I must say delivery was very fast, I even had the shop we bought the beds from follow me home to deliver them, but maybe thats an exception?
Good luck and don't worry, my nails grew back as soon as we arrived!!;)

Re: moving to NZ
 

We've moved twice now - once to NZ, once to Oz - we now have three double beds (for one couple) as in each country we've shipped a bed intending to just buy a mattress, but got there, and bought the whole thing in some kind of deal! We also buy two beanbags, two cups, two plates and saucepans - and a tele to to last us until stuff arrives. NZ was easier as we pretty much dumped every small and bought new, but when I moved to Aus I felt like a 39 year old student boiling water in a saucepan (I had a posh kettle on the boat!!!) but you get there.