pumpkinlou

Hello Folks,

We have had a quote to ship our things in a 20ft container for £3450.00. I was wondering though, if we rent when we first get to Welly, we will be waiting for all our belongings to arrive, so won't have a bed or a sofa etc etc. Any advice as to what you did or are planning to do? What I mean is - do you think just ship everything, you will need it. Or try and sell stuff like washng machines (mine is a hotpoint) as if it conks out, they wont sell parts in NZ and just buy new when you get there?? And anyp.ne who rented, what did you do whilst waitng for your stuff? or can you rent furnished????

Cheers

Lou

Stef_Paul

I had to reply to this as this is a situation that we found ourselves in. My reply may not be helpful to you but it will give you an idea as to how we managed.

We have a 20ft container on it’s way at the moment, it docks on the 11th April woo hoo. Because we paid for a 20ft container and had space we have brought everything with us. The washing machine, the fridge, freezer etc. We know we can change the plugs when we get here.

We tried to rent a furnished house/flat but we had 2 issues…

1) We couldn’t find one, they are few and far between and quite expensive.
2) What would we do when our furniture arrives if we had a house/flat full of furniture!

So we are renting an empty house. We are living with the bare minimum at the moment and we have been very lucky as people who work with my husband have been very kind and have let us borrow us furniture. We have a borrowed hoover, washing machine, TV, 2 armchairs and even a bloody toaster! LOL. We have bought some very very cheap cutlery and crockery from the Warehouse (a cheap shop here) to tide us over until ours gets here and we went to the $2 shop to gets utensils. We bought a new bed as we needed one anyway for guests and the cheapest we could get until ours arrives was $650 which is about 275 pounds. We bought a cheap second hand freezer/fridge with a year guarantee for $400 which is perfect for the garage for beer when our good one gets here! LOL. That is pretty much the extent of the contents of our 3 bedroom house in Timaru at the moment.

We don’t have children, I don’t know about you, so we didn’t have them to consider and worry about which helps.

I feel we have done the right thing but it depends how you are happy living. If you have paid for the container I would suggest bringing everything. At least you can be the one lending new expats stuff when they come if you have 2 ! LOL

irnbru14

Ah shipped ma kilt

Batty

Bring everything You can camp out in your rental till your stuff arrives or buy bits and bobs from Trade Me or The Warehouse. Lots of people who rented will be able to give you some tips - we stayed with family and a motel when that got too much

scrubbedexpat094

Bring everything . Mrs V insisted we brought her washing machine & tumble dryer (both Hotpoint). Still going strong after 3 years here. Will buy new when they conk out. European white goods are expensive in New Zealand. You may be able to get a furnished rental, not as common though, until your stuff arrives.

Wilma & co

We shipped our stuff about 4 weeks before we left the UK and camped out with stuff borrowed from friends and family until we left. As we were renting out the UK house we didn't ship white ware so still had access to fridge/ washing machine etc. On our arrival in Wellington we stayed in a holiday home for 2 weeks and then a motel for 10 days until we could move into our (unfurnished) rental. Our container was delivered 3 days after that so we made do with a plastic patio table and chairs and air beds/crockery etc borrowed from other expats around here! We rented a washing machine and F/F (for $27 a week) but Trademe has lots of white goods for sale and there are the local Sally Army shops etc too.
I agree with Stef_Paul and Vitalstatistix - if you've paid for a 20' container, pack it to the rafters!!

Lemon Bear

We brought most of our stuff with us. Gave away a few things we didn't want anymore to family & friends. We still had a full container though .
Bought a new bed & fridge-freezer when we bought our house.

I think it helps with the settling-in process to have familiar things around you.

dreamfish

not as much as i wanted to!

just make sure you get female packers in - they will make much better use of space. I reckon if packers were female we would have fit a five bedroom house in a 20ft. as it was i had a garage load of stuff left and some very happy friends.

of course still have the guys there to do the lifting and sweaty stuff.

simonmarkellis

Will you be wearing it Saturday?

dlmckay

We brought everything and camped for six weeks in the house.

We saved space in our container by not bringing the mattresses - they were old, bumpy and lumpy, so out they went. We were then able to buy new mattresses for the empty house and sleep on those until the bedsteads arrived in the container.

We had a borrowed patio set to sit on, the borrowed tv was on the floor and my mum was able to lend us crockery. The rental came with an oven and there are built in wardrobes in every bedroom. The laundrette was down the road.

It's only six weeks. Less if you have a holiday on the way over

Nerine

Bring everything, don't go buying ike major items just before you leave though (fridges, freezers etc.) Wait til you get to NZ if you need a new one, then at least you can use them whilst waiting for your container and you have the benefit of NZ warranties.

Also, sometimes the plastic components on whiteware, computer equipment etc. turns yellow in transit (something to do with the heat in the container?)

We stocked up on linen (bedding, towels) and kids clothes (H&M, M&S) before we left. When we moved again to Oz we rented the basics and bought a few items whilst waiting for our stuff - cost was around $300 for three months

irnbru14

Not if its a windy day

dreamfish

spoil sport

irnbru14

pumpkinlou

Thanks everyone. There is some sound advice there.

Will bring the lot and Beg, Borrow, Steal when we get there. (ok, won't steal, I'm not a tea leaf)

Lou
xx