Moving items from Canada to New Zealand

[TwoStrayCats]

Hi everyone

for those of you who have moved from Canada to New Zealand can anyone recommend a good shipping company?

we live in Alberta

I am not sure at this stage whether or not it is worth taking "everything" back with us, but there are definitely some personal effects (like clothes, books, keepsakes) that I want to take home

just trying to figure out some costs to do so

thanks so much in advance!
Lily

[Super_BQ]

Container shipping ex-Vancouver is still quite expensive to NZ. I had a 20ft container shipped 6 years ago and that costed about $2k. You can bet it would be double today unless you pick a route that goes on a low priced carrier and the container travels to several destinations before arriving to NZ.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/srch/nvg...=sold&lang=eng

They were better than excellent because I specified the shortest and most direct sailing to NZ. When it arrived in Christchurch, not a single sign of sweat could be found (makes passing MAF inspection easier).

You could palletise your personal belongings for shipping but be very thorough in itemising everything for NZ customs.

My curiosity asks, why move away from Alberta? It's the most prosperous country in all of Canada where people there enjoy an over-zealous standard of living because of all the excesses (cheapest gas prices, no provincial sales tax, debt free province, etc.).

[TwoStrayCats]

Thanks for all the info Super BQ I will definitely look into it!

Their are a couple of big reasons for the move, I am a New Zealander
been living in Alberta now for the past five years and really enjoy it, but my Mum back home is getting older now (mid 70's) and all my family is there.

My Canadian partner spent six months living in the town we will move to with me and my Mum so at least he has a good idea of what he's getting himself into :P

Also, we are trying for a family and I'd love to raise my kid/s back home, then when they got older they could go on their own adventure! I've been living away from NZ for almost 10 years now (spent time in Europe too) so I imagine it's going to take a re-adjustment being back.

Also, my partner is considering coming back to Alberta for three months each year to work for the bigger $.

and lastly no more harsh long winters! -30 is pretty hard to deal with :P

Lily

[Addicted to NZ]

We used Crown Relocations - http://www.crownrelo.com/canada

40 ft container ,everything packed in Canada and unpacked New Zealand (door to door)- total cost was about $18,000 Canadian ($3000 of the $18,000 was cost of the insurance coverage). Not sure how much shipping from the far end of Canada added to the cost.

To our amazement the container arrived in roughly 5 weeks (wth?), was expecting 3 months. No issues with customs and only one item MAF asked about - some kinda bagged cooking leaf. Only 2 items damaged - a large expensive picture frame (repair cost 20 bucks), and one broken wine glass.

All boxes were removed after unpacking.

No extra cost incurred or surprises, that people mention (on the forums) when dealing with some other shipping companies.

We brought everything, by our estimates we had (to our astonishment) $125,000 in household goods (estimate from filling out insurance coverage forms). If we had sold off everything before coming...perhaps we might have got %10-%20 of the value (people really want a deal and when they know you are moving to the other side of the world) and face the expense of replacing everything in NZ.

[TwoStrayCats]

thanks for the great info Addicted! will definitely check them out and for prices
I'm wishing now I hadn't sold off everything before moving to Canada (I had a whole house lot of stuff stored at my Mums

[AngJones]

We used North American Van Lines (aka Tippett Richardson)... from Toronto to Auckland. We got a 40 foot container and the cost was about $16K before insurance. The company was FANTASTIC.. from the packers to the movers. We are tracking our furniture online as it's due to arrive in Auckland on Sept 25th. Would HIGHLY recommend them.

[ferncastel]

Thanks for the info! I'm currently getting quotes from Crown Relocations, NZ Van Lines & Orbitz International for my move from Vancouver to Auckland. I'm thinking of just going with the cheapest one, since I only have about 150 cubic ft of stuff, mostly boxes and suitcases (no furniture), but I'll let you know how it goes...