MrsFychan

from our experience we never had to show the bank anything from the UK, just had to show we had a permanent job.

MrsFychan

we got the free air freight with PSS but you do need to pay to have it transferred from Auckland to where ever you are

maquis

We're still deciding which shipping company to go with. LisaMaree, thanks for info re the airfreight box size, as I thought it would be a lot bigger! Have also discovered our TV's original box has been munched on by rodents, so the crate might be useful.

wakwak

It's a minefield isn't it, between what they include and what they don't it can be really misleading! We ruled out a few just because they were too lazy to come out! Bonners or PSS for us I think though I have heard crown mentioned - not one on my list as yet

maquis

Minefield indeed! I think we're down to PSS and Crown, need to go over the small print properly, and also try and get them to move a bit on price.

wakwak

I might try crown! What volume are you shipping? We have 20' plus vehicles in another

maquis

We've got about 75% of a 20', so have quotes for "sole use" and groupage. Our vehicle not worth shipping!

Kotare

Books are expensive here so don't strip too far. I kept most of our reference books (despite Google making them semi-redundant). Kindle is OK for fiction though. You might want to trawl Amazon for Kiwi centred books eg Rough Guide, Wildlife, even a History of NZ as it will be cheaper than buying here.

escapedtonz

We too had documents to show our good credit history and no claims bonus's for the car insurance. Didn't need any of it. No one was interested.
We also got the free PSS airfreight and just added as much as we needed to be in it which was a lot more than the free offer but it didn't cost us that much extra. We also didn't have to pay any extra to have it transported from Auckland to Wellington where we picked it up from a secure customs storage facility. Was meant to be with us in 2 weeks but took around 4 weeks in total.

wakwak

We've got loads of travel books and maps from when we were there in 2011 so we will keep those. The majority of mine are fiction. I'll thin them out a bit then! I suppose as long as we don't go over the capacity it doesn't matter what we bring!!

Not sure of the benefit of the air freight at the minute, aside from paperwork maybe and extra clothes we can't carry on the flight.

maquis

I am planning a second-hand book spending spree on Amazon! Have voucher from birthday to use up Might invest in a book on growing cucumbers.

wakwak

Maybe i should pack the greenhouse....! And we could use our old second hand books to grow mushrooms on the sunny window ledge

escapedtonz

The airfreight was pretty much necessary for us.
We had 8 weeks to wait for our container (around Mid May) so didn't want our baba in a travel cot for all that time plus we wanted him to have other toys etc and not have to buy a load more - all stuff we couldn't carry with us on the journey.
We put the boys full size cot & cot mattress in there with all the bedding, monitor set up etc, other baba toys and clothes, work clothes for me - office pants/shoes/shirts and sent winter clothing and footwear for us all as we arrived mid Autumn in Wellington.

Didn't really need the winter stuff as the weather was pretty good in the Hutt Valley late Autumn/early winter 2012 from what I remember. In the end I had to buy a couple pairs pants, shirts and shoes for work as the airfreight took around 4 weeks when we expected 2 weeks.
We were glad to get all the baba stuff so it served it's purpose.

wakwak

There's a thought, car seats, although we are shipping a car..... But we will need seats for the hire car.

Work clothes makes sense and bulky coats. Did anyone arrange any excess baggage with the airline?

What about family treasures and memento's, I've got some old photo albums and my dads stamp albums, would you trust that to shipping?

Maybe I should box it up and leave it with someone at home

maquis

We were told the PSS airfreight box was 46x46x46 (4 cu feet) with max weight of 25kg.

Car seats - the airlines should take these free of charge (or at least, one item per baby/child, check airline policy). We're taking at least one full booster seat and one half booster with us.

Family treasures/mementos - not sure! We have a few, and will hopefully fit the most precious in our luggage. The rest we will have to ship. When we left NZ years ago, I left quite a bit behind, so perhaps you could do that initially, then bring out at a later date (either in person, or by ship)?