Is it better to ship your furniture and whiteware to Australia or sell it all and buy secondhand when you get there?

We moved over last December. We shipped our stuff over with NZ Vanlines. They were awesome. We looked at whether it was better to ship our stuff over of buy new. The majority of our stuff was new, so it was better to ship it over. If you have older stuff and will need to replace it in the next few years, you might be better off selling it and buying new over here. Most things are cheaper here.

We used Quantas air freight for excess baggage and valueables (photos, clothes, small house items) cost is all based on weight, and you pay a one off fee, in NZ, then a one off fee in Auzzie. We shipped about 110kilos and it was $1.98 per kilo. Then we brought over our bulk items (bed, Plasma, Lounge Suite, couple boxes of Kithen items) with ausmove by container - took 6 weeks, but only cost us $1,000. You wouldnt believe the price of furniture, and electronics here - so you will probably be better off selling your stuff on trademe and going throug the excitement of buying new!

So in regards to that comment i suppose it would be the same for a invilad parent as well wanting to transfer from new zealand? I just repled to centre link for a reply, and see how i go, i have one son and wish to move over to Aussie from nz

Hi we shifted to Brisbane from Napier in Dec, got three moving prices and went with Crown Relocations. As we had mainly new geaar, we brough it all over - we used a 20ft container -all up cost including insurance and unpacking at our end was $8600. Fully recommned Crown Peter

Hey all. We moved from NZ to Sydney Jan 09 and sent 200 odd kg through Qantas unaccompanied baggage which cost around NZD$500 and AUD$75 on pick up at Sydney international cargo. This is a super cheap way to get your gear over, but you must pick up the gear yourself as this is personal property. If you can use a company's adress as end address, then you can use a freight forwarder to send to final destination. You can take anything as unaccompanied freight, as long as one item/package doesnt exceed 32kg and it is not deemed to be for commercial use

If you want to pick up your unaccompanied baggage when you arrive at your destination, be sure you send it at least five days before your departure.

We shipped our things with NZ Vanlines received our quote of 2.5k wih was great as or lounge suite itself 1yr old was 3.5k we had alot of quality materialistic items that we would not be able to sell anywhere near the price. took 70% of our house for 2.5k which was a great deal, however 2 boo boo's from Palmerston Nth Vanlines.

1. forgot to factor my grandmothers cabinet very old large and sentimental they included it at no additional cost when I noticed (rectified)
2. gave us a 4week window with quarantine we arrived 3weeks later to Melbourne it hadnt left NZ took an additional 2mths for our things to be released.

No apology deduction or explaination. (not rectified)

Query everything apart from that above they are very polite.

We have gone with NZ Vanlines, and at this stage we are not impressed with them, we had our stuff packed up Easter week, (wed) and were told it was penciled in to leave NZ on the 1st and would take approx 2 weeks to arrive in Aus, well its the 16th May and have not heard anything from them, My Partner rang them a week ago, they told us they would let us know by email later that day when it be leaving Yea still nothing, I wish we had gone with Crown. also if you are going to change your Licence to an Aus one, you will need 2 cards ie: credit card eftpos card, your passport and some proof you are living here ie: Lease agreement, any mail with your address on it. so keep all your cards till you get here. cost $40 for 2 yrs

I am seriously considering packing my own container and having it shipped from Lyttleton to Fremantle at the cost of approx $4200.00. That seems to be pretty straight forward, but can anyone tell me if I need to have an agent in Australia to clear and release my container or can I do it myself. I have prices for port clearances and documentation etc, but am worried that I will get there and find that when I get there I will need an agent and get hit with extra costs. Also do I need to remove my container from the port to be emptied. Hope someone can help me.