[Charliefarley]

Hi Everyone that makes up this fantastically helpful site!

My family (hubby and 2 small children) are well on our way to NZ this (UK) Autumn. I'm both very excited and a little nervous too! I'm applying through partnership category as my husband is a Kiwi so I am not anticipating too many problems (fingers crossed). We are bound for Auckland because of family and also we used to live there 10 years ago but we're still flexible as we need to check out areas for house prices/good schools etc.

What i'm wondering is if anybody has moved furniure from UK. At the moment we have a container provisionally booked and is going to cost us in the region of £3000. Last week I found a site with show homes on in NZ and it offered a furniture package for $15000 for a whole house!! This seemed quite cheap to me and therefore hardly worth taking all our old junk!! So if anybody has any previous experience I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!!

Charlie

[thewoodies]

could you forward me the website for furniture included thanks

[Mellis]

Hi Charlie could you please forward to me the link also as we are looking at taking all our stuff, but would like to have all new.

[Leanne]

Hi Charlie! Welcome to the forum.
:)

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.:)

[slider]

Hello, and welcome to the forum :)

[AndyR]

welcome to the forum!

[dilanium]

Hello and welcome! Sorry I don't have any advice.

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Hello and welcome.

[Bobbysox]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum.
We arrived in NZ in Feb 08 from UK. We had a 20ft container shipped out with ALL our belongings in, and I mean everything!!. We are very pleased we did bring it all, because it's so nice to sit in your favourite chair with familiar pieces of furniture around you. It makes you feel as if you have just moved house in the UK. It also means you can bring the contents of your kitchen cupboards, wardrobes, garage, shed and loft if you want too. I am sure none of those items would be included in your $15,000 "package". So it would cost you a great deal more than the £3000 to ship it all. We had to list all of our belongings for the insurance cover and even with underestimating the value it still came out as over £20,000 or $52,000 at todays rate. Might be an idea to go round your house and tally up how much it would all cost to replace before you decide. Even though we have THE WAREHOUSE here ("where everyone gets a bargain") we don't have the equivalent of Argos or Ikea. I think you will be surprised as we were with just how much value is in your kitchen cupboards alone.
The only drawback is the time it takes for the container to sail half way round the world. We were lucky that we sent ours off a week before we sold the house, begged and borrowed stuff to get us through from neighbours until completion, and then moved to a friends house for ten days before flying out. We then stayed at a friend's house in Auckland for the three weeks it took to buy a house and move in. We then made do with borrowed stuff again from our new very friendly neighbours, and the real estate agent before our container was delivered 10 days later All in all the "box" took 9 weeks to arrive here. And that includes an extra week for MAF to do its inspection of our stuff due to us moving to a rural address. We were very pleasantly that we only had one broken picture glass, and a broken serving dish, neither of which were of any great value, so we did not even bother claiming on our insurance.
Hope this has helped, if you need to know more just ask.
Rob and Karen

Gravesend UK :exit Waitakaruru NZ

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

There is always the option of bringing your stuff and selling ehat you don't want to keep on TradeMe - that could work out more than covering the cost of shipping it and you might make a tidy profit.

[jackie m]

Hi & Welcome

Jackie

[thewoodies]

thanks bobbysox thats answered my query:nice1

[Charliefarley]

A big thanks for all the warm welcome messages, I am looking forward to our move more and more everyday.Also, especially after seeing the price of rural property at the moment (we are thinking of keeping cows, a big change from my profession in healthcare!!) I can't wait to get over there and have a good look around.
Thanks in particular to Rob and Karen who's advice has been the deciding factor really, we will be taking everything, trampoline,BBQ, kitchen sink and all! The $15,000 deal is great but of course you have to buy the house as well!! So only works if you want to live in Orewa, sorry guys didn't mean to make it sound that great but if you are still interested you can find the house on Trade me Orewa $750,000. I will keep looking out for more!
Bye for now
Charlie

[Bobbysox]

Charlie
Sorry for the delay in replying, work and stuff do cramp your social life.......

No problem, after all advice is free.... we learnt so much just by trawling through this forum. We have friends who have been living in Orewa since 99, it's not a bad place, lots of Brits now live there and there is even a shop selling all those things you can't find in the supermarket, like Shredded Wheat, Marmite, Mars Bars, they still don't have Maynards wine gums though.
Where abouts in NZ were you looking at moving to? and how soon? If we can help with anything further please let us know.
All the best wishes to you
Rob and Karen
Gravesend UK :exit Waitakaruru NZ

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hello and welcome.




Suzanne.

[Charliefarley]

Hi again Bobbysox
We are moving to Waiheke we think but not sure about the cows there!! Otherwise Waitakeres sounds inviting too or even South south of Auckland (lifestyle-block-sort-of-thing) and then again we really like the North Shore!!! But nothing definate yet, I'm sure places will have changed lots since I was there last (over 10 years ago). We need to research the (primary) schools too although I'm sure they're all pretty good apart from one or two. We have a few months to look around before deciding. How long have you guys been in NZ?

[Bobbysox]

Hi Charlie

We've been in NZ since 8th Feb this year. not very long I know, but we are certain we've done the right thing. To start with we did not know where we would end up, it all rested on finding the right business. We are about an hour from central Auckland, an hour from Hamilton and an hour from Tauranga, so in the centre of everywhere, or the middle of nowhere, depends on your view. :nice1 but it suits us just fine. We've been made very welcome here in Waitakaruru, and in Ngatea where we have our business.

Check out the prices of blocks in Waikato against similar ones on the North Shore and you will see a lot of difference. We only have the standard 1/4 acre plot but it 7 times the size of our last place in UK, plenty of room for veges to grow, and a great uninterupted view over the back fence to paddocks of cows with the sea beyond. It's just getting light here (0705 Weds morning) and I can't see another house, only a barn and the Coromandel hills in the far distance. :laugh
Keep in touch and if you venture our direction, please stop by for a chat.
Rob and Karen

[Charliefarley]

Would love to!!

[thewoodies]

can we all come?????:laugh:laugh

[Bobbysox]

Of course!!:nice1

[Bobbysox]

Charlie
I have sent you a Private Message.....:yes