[mikewalkerfrom]

Pickfords just finished loading the house and it came down to the wire as to whether it would all fit. The 10 trips to the dump, giving loads of stuff away, getting rid of all our old clothes (worn it in the last 2 years? No? then it's off to charity), really paid off.

Just a king size mattress and the bbq left and the movers said "which do you want to keep?" - My wife said "chuck them both in, slam the doors and hope the container doesn't burst". And it all fitted!

So 2 thumbs up for Pickfords at this end. Professional, quick and they matched the lowest bid of £3011 for a sole use 20ft container.

I'll post an update in May when it arrives in Christchurch to see how good the NZ end of Pickfords is (and update those charts that are floating around too).

4.5 weeks to go before we leave...

[shakyle2906]

Good luck!

One more job to tick off the never ending list..........

Best of luck for next few weeks, keep us posted when you can!

Sharon

[jubjub]

Glad it all fitted, but I would have said leave the BBQ, believe it or not bbq are cheaper than good mattresses here!

fingers crossed it all arrives safe and sound, have a safe trip yourselves!

[JandM]

A safe and happy trip, for you and your belongings, I hope.:)

[Familyofmonkeys]

Glad it all fitted, but I would have said leave the BBQ, believe it or not bbq are cheaper than good mattresses here!



Very true....we bought a new posturpaedic mattress recently and it cost $1600 on sale. Full price was over $2200.

[Flo jo]

Good luck with your stuff arriving any time in 2008 if you are using Pickfords. We are still waiting for our stuff to arrive in Wellington, although we left the Uk at the end of October. It keeps getting delayed even though we have now moved into our new house with the bare minimum (lucky we had to buy a new sofa, tv & we currently have 1 bed for us & our son (good job we bought a super king size). We've now resigned ourselves to the fact it could be another month so have had to go out & buy our son a new bed even though his is in a container somewhere between here & Singapore. So frustrating. The staff in NZ are really nice but if I hear them say one more time that it is the shipping companies fault that they don't have a clue where our stuff is then I will scream. I can still hear the salesman's words of 'you will know where your container is every step of the way..blah....blah!! Didn't he do a good job. The reality was that it stayed on the UK dockside for so long until we asked for the MD details to complain & then it was on a ship the next day (see threats do work).

You did well to fit the mattress & bar-b-q in but you may struggle to find bedding to fit your bed as the beds over here are bigger than the UK, but beds & good mattresses are very expensive.

Anyway although we have very few belongings, we have already settled into the Kiwi lifestyle & it is not getting us down as it would've in the UK. We just have to keep buying stuff we need & it is helpful to have good new neighbours who have offered to lend stuff. So at the mo it is all still "No worries".

[peebles16]

Glad to hear someone else is in the same position as our container was supposed to arrive on 19th february and we are still waiting - funnily enough it was last seen in Singapore too!! We have just got on with as you say and it's not been that bad but our kids now really need their stuff to get them settled in so hope it won't be too long now :)

Best of luck
Karenx

[Flo jo]

I agree the frustrating bit has been not having our 3 year olds stuff around. But I have learnt that kids don't need as many toys out here as he seemed to in the UK. Best investment so far has been the little scooter we bought him (with a helmet of course!). I'm just hoping that we can get his belongings so I can stop spoiling him to compensate for not having anything here!!!

[DanFromCali]

So 2 thumbs up for Pickfords at this end. Professional, quick and they matched the lowest bid of £3011 for a sole use 20ft container.

4.5 weeks to go before we leave...

How much did you fit in a 20 foot container? How many rooms? I'm about to make the move myself and am trying to get a handle on what i can bring.

Glad it all fitted, but I would have said leave the BBQ, believe it or not bbq are cheaper than good mattresses here!

fingers crossed it all arrives safe and sound, have a safe trip yourselves!

How much does a decent king mattress set cost out there?

[jubjub]

http://www.bedsrus.co.nz/ProductPages/ProductCategoryView.aspx?pcid=1

have a look here for some ideas of pricing...

[mikewalkerfrom]

DanFromCali: We had a 3 bed house with a massive loft and a typical family of four single garage (i.e. so filled with stuff there was no room for the car).

We stuffed a 20ft container to the brim. We had to have a massive clear out too. I cant remember how many trips to the dump I made. I think in hindsite I should have got rid of another 10% - 20%.