[tag]

Hi, first time posting anything on this site I’m afraid, but have been an avid reader of posts for some time and would like to thank all for their advice and suggestions. We’ve recently arrived in Christchurch from Ireland and thought I’d share some of our experiences in regard to the move. My first bit of advice is not to ship anything to New Zealand unless you have PR or similar otherwise you’ll be liable for Goods Sales Tax. We packed everything ourselves, bought plastic crates (the heavy duty type with lids), bubble wrapped the lot (put some silica gel packets in to be on the safe side to prevent damage from dampness), segregated items that MAF might want to examine e.g. any wood or bamboo items, sports or camping equipment. Cleaned and disinfected any items like golf shoes. Didn’t bother bringing any gardening tools at all because of the hassle we knew we’d encounter with MAF. We detailed everything in a spreadsheet, numbering all crates and separate items, even highlighted (on the spreadsheet) what MAF might want to examine and submitted the spreadsheet together with an estimated value of each item shipped. We arranged shipping through an export agent in Ireland who supplied a 20 foot container to our door. We packed the container (using local movers) and didn’t see it again until it arrived in Christchurch. We thought we’d have administrative hassles on the Christchurch side with Customs and MAF but were lucky enough to be recommended a clearance agent by the name of Steve Tomlinson (steve@korucustoms.co.nz from Koru International Freight) who did everything for us including arrange local movers to move the contents to our new house in Christchurch. Steve informed us he could have arranged door to door shipments from the UK or Ireland. We probably saved ourselves at least a thousand Euros by taking a more hands on approach to the move and ensuring as best we could that there were no extra costs incurred e.g. MAF fumigation, disinfect ion or disposal as a result of leaving it to others and at the end of the day anyone can bubble wrap especially if you give yourselves enough time. I hope this is helpful for those thinking of doing a similar move in the future.

[bartons]

Thanks for the detailed post!
We self-shipped,too, but we had a lot of problems and hassle with getting the container cleared in NZ. Probably due to the fact that our container had arrived in Christchurch (not in Dunedin as planned), our shipping agent was in Auckland and we were in the Bay of Islands. It took a lot of emails, phone calls and dollars to finally get it out of the port.
How much did you spend on the shipping altogether?

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Welcome and glad everything got here without too much hassle (comparitively speaking)

[Asli&Mark]

Hello from Christchurch and welcome to the forum :)

We have done most of the work ourselves too (mostly Mark) and everything went relatively easy.

[benandclare]

Welcome along to the forum and welcome to Christchurch :nice1

You werent at the rugby wearing an Ireland shirt last night were you?

[JandM]

Hello.:) Thanks for all the detail.

[peebles16]

Great post Tag and welcome along to this fab forum from us too :)

Karen

[Hongi Hicker]

Got say admire your determination, but is it really worth all the hassle that goes along with it.

I helped move the washer the other day and it nearly but both our backs out.

What happens if you are ill at the arrival date or departure date for that matter.

How much can you save overall if you take your own time and hidden cost :involved.

Like I said admire the get up and go of you guys, but my friends and relations would have got up and gone...down to the pub.
:nice1

[tag]

Thanks for the welcome from everyone. Just to answer some of the questions we probably spent around Euros 3,500 in total including insurance and cost of packaging (although we intend to sell the crates eventually) that is a saving of at least Euros 1,000 on the several quotes we got from some of the main relocators. I take the point about the cost of our time not being included, which is a very valid point, but we packed into crates over several months and it didn’t seem like a big deal to us as we knew for sure everything was properly protected (as much as it could be). Incidentally everything arrived safely. Now it could be that we were just lucky, who knows, but I thought I’d share our one experience for what it is worth. As for rugby, unfortunately, no it wasn’t me wearing the Irish shirt, haven’t yet made it to the rugby pitch but there’s plenty of time for that and for the pub!