[Lambuel+Ruby]

We're about 10 months out to move from Oregon to Christchurch. We agreed to try it for three years and will sell our US house and buy a house in NZ.

So now I'm haunted looking at all these things we own. What will surely break in transit, mirrors and framed art? What will be terribly expensive to replace, furniture and clothes? Is it worth it to take out storage here for that duration to house family furniture that we aren't terribly attached to but hate to just put out at a rummage sale?

Seems like outfitting a new home adds up quickly, what with trash cans, linenes, etc.

What does everyone regret selling or leaving behind? What makes you wonder why you brought it? :uhoh

Any thoughts very appreciated! Thanks!

[JandM]

Here are links to two threads that were on this same sort of topic, to give you a start.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16676

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16562

[StevieD]

Regrets, huge amount of winter clothes :laugh

Seriously, you can't beat having your own belongings around you.

Regret bringing TV with me, it wasn't very good to begin with, but it wasn't expensive to replace, there are always sales on here!

Glad brought laptop and wireless router with me, lot more expensive here.

There you go, that's a start...

[Nathan]

Tools! I traded all my power tools for cordless before we moved, and beefed up other tool chests. I'm glad I did. I'm also glad to have a few good sized power conditioning voltage converters.
I wish I'd also stocked up on some basic hardware, like AP screws, hose gaskets, etc. And I wish we'd brought a lot more canning jars.

[Georgebulldog]

Glad I bought everything :)
Wondered why I bought a 20 year old, 20 times painted, glossed piece of wood that belonged on the bottom of a cupboard on our landing, must have been somewhere the packers saw it & packed it :confused:
Wished I went to the last Next sale & bought clothes for my daughter right up age 10 :wah
I'm all for pack it all unless you hate it
Good luck

[Lambuel+Ruby]

Very helpful links above, thank you! I'll have to work on doing more searches before I post. Though everyone has been so incredibly helpful here by directing us newbies right to the great threads!

I wonder if anyone did ship paint or you know where I could find regulations on that?

[Carol]

wish I'd brought my mum and dad!
:wah

Other than that - we brought every last thing we owned.
Including my maternity clothes.
I used them eventually - well it seemed a shame to waste them.
;)


Have only one box left to open....12 years on!
:nice1

[JandM]

wish I'd brought my mum and dad!

Wish I could bring my Mum - we'd be there all the sooner.:(

[cappuccino]

Glad brought laptop and wireless router with me, lot more expensive here.



I also brought my wireless router (pronounced 'rowter' here) with me but annoyingly it was for ADSL and here I have cable so needed to buy a new one which cost me twice the price as same model being sold in the UK!

[Nathan]

I wonder if anyone did ship paint or you know where I could find regulations on that?

We brought latex paint.

[Carey]

We brought latex paint.

Had read somewhere no paint allowed ? Packers rules?

[Angelonthemove]

I have still got 8 boxes unpacked 2 years on.

Still think of stuff and say oh we sold that. But had to reduce from 40ft to 20ft to get here.

Bring everything you can fit in you can always sell it on Trademe, you'd be surprised what people buy here.

We also gave away our TV as you can not get sound on it here, but could have linked it to stereo but wanted flat screen thingy or OH did, good excuse.

Go to DIY shop and get those things you always wanted as they will be more expensive here.

[Nathan]

Had read somewhere no paint allowed ? Packers rules?

Dunno 'bout the rules. We brought it.
Cheers:cheers

[Kate D]

My movers said water based paint was OK so I packed a couple of tins to match the wallpaper and curtains I had made that probably won't fit anywhere, but ah well.

From prices I've seen here, I'd wish I'd used up the remaining space in my container to buy loads more tramping gear, a HUGE fridge freezer, more power tools and more paint.

Without meaning to hijack a thread, out of curiosity are there any decent internet shopping sites that ship to NZ that people can recomend...? US, Japanese or Australian for example...? I'm prepared to buy pretty much most things on-line if it means I can shop at convenient times:-)

Kate

[Sam B]

I tried shopping on-line from British sites and they do deliver but then you have to pay import tax and it's MASSIVE!!

[Watna]

Glad I read this now. We leave two weeks today so I'm planning the packing.

We've only lived in rented accomodation so don't really own any furniture. After reading a number of threads around here I'm very relieved we don't have the hassle of packing up a house. It's all being left with my parents!

We're only sending one box between us by air freight (3 months shipping time is just too long to wait for winter coats) and I'm going to pile it full of winter clothes, boots and shoes after reading this! I'm sending all our ski gear on aswell, again, from the sounds of things it'll be expensive to replace. The box arrived from the shipping company yesterday and my mum was giving out that we should just buy the stuff out there. Glad I didn't listen now!

I was going to only bring travel size bottles of toiletries but after reading this and the other threads linked from here, my big bottles of Clinique stuff are coming with me and I'm buying some more in duty free on the way! Also, I'm stocking up on Solpadiene!

I've also been warned about underwear and socks so I've been to Penneys (Primark to those in the UK) and bought €40 worth of knickers. I'm set for a while and my parents are coming to visit for Christmas. I'll be ordering my mum to bring some more!

I'm concerned as well about the cost of furniture being mentioned so much. As I said we don't really own any here and planned on furnishing an apartment when we get there. Guess we'll be using cardboard boxes for tables for a while! My OH already owns a bed that's in his parents house so at least we'll have somewhere to sleep!

The advice here is great and if any one can think of anything else I should bring, let me know. With only 2 weeks to go the packing is starting to look daunting!

[James 1077]

Don't worry too much about the price of furniture - we went over to the Target sale when we got here and bought a corner sofa, chair, kitchen table, 6 chairs and dining room beureax for about 1/2 the price of a sale price DFS sofa (are there any DFS sofas that aren't sale price?).

You can get cheap furniture here and it is much better quality than cheap stuff in the UK.

Also Trade Me has loads on it which looks good so give that a try.

[Georgebulldog]

I was going to only bring travel size bottles of toiletries but after reading this and the other threads linked from here, my big bottles of Clinique stuff are coming with me and I'm buying some more in duty free on the way! Also, I'm stocking up on Solpadiene!

WATNA:
Just a word of warning, if your flying down from Auckland to Wellington then I was almost put off buying Clinique stuff when I gave them my boarding card as you are limited to the amount of liquids you are allowed, I went to the Air NZ desk & they confirmed that we would be collecting our cases again at Auckland before going on to Wellington so we had to open a case up & stash them in before we checked them back in again, I'm sure someone may be able to give you more info but just to pre warn you if your taking this route

[Familyofmonkeys]

I tried shopping on-line from British sites and they do deliver but then you have to pay import tax and it's MASSIVE!!

We have ordered quite alot of stuff/sale items from UK sites e.g. Amazon, Next, Fat Face, White&Bishop etc ....we usually split up the deliveries into groups so they we are not over the tax collection threashold. Basically if the tax due for collection is less than $50 they don't bother very often.

For stuff with import restrictions e.g. some electrical items/coputer games etc, we ordered stuff for delivery to UK address and get someone to post items over....they need to add the word 'gift' to the content description on the customs declaration form.

[Watna]

WATNA:
Just a word of warning, if your flying down from Auckland to Wellington then I was almost put off buying Clinique stuff when I gave them my boarding card as you are limited to the amount of liquids you are allowed, I went to the Air NZ desk & they confirmed that we would be collecting our cases again at Auckland before going on to Wellington so we had to open a case up & stash them in before we checked them back in again, I'm sure someone may be able to give you more info but just to pre warn you if your taking this route

Thanks for the advice, it's always appreciated.. but I'm not flying through Auckland. Flying to Sydney and then to Wellington. I'll buy stuff in Singapore and put it in the case. Thanks again!