UKC

Hi there,

In a few months time I will be heading out to New Zealand on a two year working holiday visa (woo!). As I don't want to travel around with all my climbing kit my plan is to just head out with harness and rock shoes and ship the rest of it out. By the time it has arrived I will have hopefully bought a van to store it all in.

Can anyone recommend any shipping companys? I've had some experience shipping with Anglo Pacific before, shipping to Oz, and they took ages (about 4 months) to deliver, is this normal? The cheapest I've found so far is Seven Seas. Has anyone ever used them?

Also if anyone has any general tips or advice it would be much appreciated, and I will be cleaning everything until it's gleeming before shipping it.

Cheers,

Mike

In reply to MikeR:
I will be cleaning everything until it's gleeming before shipping it.

Good plan, I'm sure we heard a (probably apocryphal) story, about someone being allowed to bring some sort of weapon in, but getting pulled up for his muddy boots.

As for shipping. I bought all my stuff out with me, then posted it back. NZ international post is very cheap and from memory I posted back a small rack, axes, crampons, winter clothes, plastic boots, and a bunch of books for about £40 and they all arrived safetly before me. Of course that doesn't fit in with your plan of not carrying stuff around, but if you could take them out and find somewhere to store them for a while, this might be a cheaper option than shipping?

Which way are you flying back by the way? I went back by the States and for that reason my luggage allowance (both ways) was twice as much as would have been with a return - far more than I could ever have wanted to pack.

Cheers,
Tom

In reply to Southern Man:

Cheers for the advice. There's no way I would be able to bring it out with me as I'm looking at sending out around 50kg of kit, plus I expect for that amount of kit it would be cheaper to using a shipping company than posting it.

I'm flying out via Dubai, haven't booked a return ticket yet as I don't know when (or even if) I'll be heading back.

In reply to MikeR:

Cool, well good luck with your search and have a lovely trip - it's a great place

In reply to Southern Man:

Thanks, I'm sure I will, can't wait to get out there!

In reply to MikeR:

Bump! Anyone out there who can recommend any companys?

Mike

In reply to MikeR: Hey. I used 'Abels the moving company' to ship from NZ back to the UK, was cheap and hassle free. I remember sending stuff out first to a friend in Christchurh, it was ropes, dry suit (diving) etc, it was sent by sea, took a few months and wasn't too expensive, but can't recall how much.

Also worth looking into, find a container thats heading that way around the time you want, and see if you can 'buy' some space in it as often they are never completely full etc...I think there are sites that provide this info but not something i have experience of.

Good luck!

p.s I lived, worked and climbed around Wanaka for a while a few years ago if you need any info just ask.....

In reply to MikeR: I airfreighted stuff from NZ to the UK...it was cheaper than shipping and faster. Worth looking into. Can't remember the name of the company though - I guess a google search and a few phone calls will gve you an idea.

In reply to Tobes and Bella: Thanks for the suggestions, a few more considerations to have a look into there.

In reply to MikeR:
Hi

I've got household stuff (well mostly my books) with Seven Seas currently on its way to me as unaccompanied baggage - seems ok so far and surprisingly cheap - the UK end was very good and easy. The boat is due in Singapore today (i've been google map tracking it) and it looks like it will take 8 weeks on the boat, then up to 2 weeks with MAF at the port here while they inspect it for apples, rabbits etc.

I'd definitely recommend shipping stuff - the prices here are really high, and the dollar is pretty strong against the pound right now(about $1 to 45p), so there's no bargains.

Posting back to the UK is certainly cheaper than the UK to NZ, but it's not that cheap, and the prices keep going up. You'd be better shipping back when your time is up rather than posting.

Cheers
Helen R

In reply to Helen R:

Interesting to know you can track the boat in transit. Another thing about them that sounds good is that they offer a full moneyback guarantee if it's late.

Hope your stuff all arrives ok.

In reply to MikeR:

They give you the name of the boat - after that google can find out just about everything...

In reply to MikeR: Have a great trip - what are you planning to do?

We shifted out with AP and they were pretty good (although we didn't have to pay...). Arrived reasonably quickly, which was a shame as we didn't have anywhere to put it until we bought the house! Stayed in storage but all worked out well.

We have sent back stuff with GeoLogistics in 2002 and they were great - cheap, fast, efficient shipping (only took 10 days), and again in 2006 when they were slightly slower and slightly more expensive.

Taking family and 128kg of luggage via LA is cheap but a pain in the backside - it doesn't fit on one trolley, which makes herding toddlers through security a challenge!

As Helen says, exchange rate much better for kiwi dollars in the UK than spending pounds here - a good pair of mountain boots costs about NZD800 (about 26 CDs or paperback books out here, or a season ticket for the main skifields) which is about 350 quid at the moment (which would but a lot of CDs or books in the UK).

Good luck!


B

In reply to MikeR:


Be careful, without a return/onward ticket you may be asked for evidence that you can support yourself e.g. job or $10k of spending money.

Cheers
LD

In reply to ben b:

Thanks ben, not really got a detailed plan, just hoping to find some work, climb lots of mountains and see if I like the place enough to live there.

I can just imagine the fun trying to herd toddlers and trolleys through LA airport! Fortunately I'll have neither.

Lurking Dave, thanks for the warning, I checked this out before and I just need a bank statment to show I have enough funds to support me and buy a ticket home.

In reply to MikeR Break it down to the bare minimum. It can get emotional with the customs out there if you're bringing in a lot of kit.
TNT did my stuff and it was good (and I had a box with roughly 50kg). The NZ customs tore it apart!. A real challenge M8!
Leave as much behind as you can possibly afford. Get on trademe.co.nz if you need replacement gear once you're there.
You really need a return ticket. Customs can get difficult with this too. And they may only give you a 30 day visa once you get there, which would be a bummer!
Best of luck.
I'll be going over in OCT ppk_42@yahoo.com give us a shout if you need more info.