After years of reading posts on here ... the best advice I can give is Keep it Simple ...

NZ is not a third world country ... you dont have to stock up on underwear and small appliances, chocolate bars and soap, or just about anything else.

Use your shipping budget to bring the stuff that you CANT replace. Things with sentimental value. Things of reasonable value (not your old sofa). Things which are typical of or remind you of your homeland (art, specific furniture)

Dont waste your time trying to bring all sorts of electrical items (if coming from a 110v country) for which you will spend a fortune on adaptors and transformers. Have a garage sale and get new when you get here.

DONT try to get around the customs and MAF rules by hiding things in your container and/or lying on your declaration. It can prove to be very costly. Besides WHY would you want to start your new life by trying to sabotage your new country??

Assimilate. Settle. Adjust. If you have chosen to move to the other side of the world it must be for a good reason. For most of us it was for a better lifestyle. If life was perfect were you were (where you are waiting to leave) then why did you decide to make the move?
It used to be a given that new immigrants embraced the language and the culture of their chosen country. After all that IS why they emigrated .. right? Because they saw life in teh new place as a step up?

NZ isnt perfect . It is a young country with a frontier mentality.
DIY and 'she'll be right' should be on the crest.
People are independent and outspoken. They have seen the rest of the world and have come home happy to be here.

immigrants who come here to whine and complain and try to change NZ into wherever they left make it hard for everyone else.
Potential immigrants who spend months trying to work out how to break all the rules before they even leave .. should probably stay where they are

NZ is a great place and the people are generally welcoming and helpful ... until you start trying to shove 'good old wherever' down their throats .. they are getting a bit fed up with that mindset.

I met a man the other day who has been here 12 years. One of the first things he said to me was "Gosh i get so tired of my countrymen who whine about being here"
I think that says it all