My family and I have previously resided in NZ and established PR visas. After a few years in the state we have found ourselves pining for our return.

One consideration is we want to sell our home this time and ship our possessions. I'm trying to figure out the scheduling.
Ideally we'd want to vacate/pack around July
Tour around our home region of the US seeing family for 2 months
Settle into a flat in Otago around early September.

My understanding is we need to be in NZ to "receive" our container. I don't understand the logistics of getting it from a port to our home, or how long we would have the container at our disposal.
Since so many flats in that area are furnished what makes sense for our possessions? Short term storage?

Is there anything you feel is particularly foolhardy to bring (yard tools given biological risks?). My perception based on being there 6 years ago was anything non-electronic makes sense to bring with, rather than down-size and then have to re-buy.