Removals to Australia and New Zealand handled end-to-end from our Lower Dicker depot — biosecurity-compliant packing, sea-freight via Felixstowe or Southampton, AQIS and MPI quarantine experience, destination agents in every state and on both islands.
Removals to Australia and New Zealand are the longest-distance moves we run from our Lower Dicker depot, but in operational terms they are some of the most predictable — sea freight runs to a published schedule, container shipping is a mature industry, and the destination agents in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Auckland and Wellington that we work with have decades of experience clearing AQIS and MPI quarantine. The hard work happens in the packing: Australia and New Zealand operate the world’s strictest biosecurity regimes, and a single contaminated item can hold your entire container at the port for weeks of inspection and treatment. We pack to that standard from the first carton onwards. We are a British Association of Removers (BAR) Overseas Group member with marine transit insurance arranged through a specialist Lloyd’s-syndicate broker.
Australia remains the single biggest English-speaking emigration destination from the UK. The climate (year-round outdoor living in most of the country), the salaries, the public health and education systems, the existing British family networks, and the cultural overlap all make it a familiar choice. New Zealand draws a smaller but consistent flow — the lifestyle is similar but the scale is more village than city, the wilderness more accessible, and the immigration rules historically more flexible. We move retirees joining adult children already established overseas, working-age families on skilled visas, post-grad professionals on working-holiday extensions, and a steady minority of returning Australians and Kiwis who lived in the UK for a decade.
Every move begins with a free survey at your Sussex address — in person across East Sussex, Kent and West Sussex, or by video survey for outlying postcodes — followed by an itemised quote within 48 hours that includes UK packing, road haulage to port, sea freight, destination port handling, customs entry, AQIS/MPI inspection costs and delivery to your destination address.
Mark or one of our senior surveyors visits your home for a no-obligation survey. We walk every room, identify items that will need biosecurity pre-cleaning (garden tools, outdoor furniture, BBQ kit, hiking gear), note any antiques or fragile pieces that need specialist crating, and discuss timing. Within 48 hours you have a fixed-price written quote covering UK packing, port handling, sea freight, destination agent fees and delivery.
Every item that’s been outside in the UK gets pre-cleaned to AQIS standard: garden tools wiped and brushed free of soil, outdoor furniture cleaned and stored separately, hiking boots cleaned and packed individually, BBQ grease removed. Wooden items not made of dressed timber are flagged for ISPM-15 fumigation in the UK before loading. Food, plants and seeds are simply not shipped — we tell you at the survey what stays behind.
For a 3-bedroom or larger house, a 40-foot sole-use container is usually the right answer — sealed in your driveway in Sussex, opened only at your Australian property. For a 2-bedroom flat or smaller, LCL (Less than Container Load) groupage is far cheaper: you pay per cubic metre and share container space with one or two other UK-Australia shipments. The LCL trade-off is timing — we wait for consolidation.
Our containers ship through Felixstowe (east-coast) or Southampton (south-coast) depending on the sailing schedule. The vessel routes Suez-Singapore-Australian east coast (6 to 9 weeks to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) or Suez-Singapore-Fremantle (5 to 7 weeks). New Zealand sailings transship at Sydney or run direct to Auckland (8 to 10 weeks). You receive a tracking number and we send fortnightly position updates.
On arrival the container is opened by Australian or NZ customs and biosecurity officers. Our destination agent represents you at this inspection. If everything is clean (which it should be after our pre-packing) the goods clear within a few days. Then road haulage to your destination address: same-state moves complete in days; cross-state moves (eastern arrival, Western Australia delivery) take longer because of Australia’s scale.
Sydney inner suburbs, the Northern Beaches, Hunter Valley, Newcastle, the Central Coast. Highest-volume destination by far. Typical sea transit 6–9 weeks Felixstowe-Sydney, then 1–2 weeks AQIS plus local delivery.
Melbourne metropolitan area, the Mornington Peninsula, Geelong, Ballarat, the Great Ocean Road. Comparable timeline to Sydney. Strong for British retirees and finance-sector relocations.
Perth, Fremantle, Mandurah, the south-west wine country. Shortest sea route from the UK (5–7 weeks via Suez and Indian Ocean). Mining-sector relocations and a large British retiree community.
Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Cairns. Typical 7–9 weeks transit. Year-round outdoor climate, lower property prices than Sydney/Melbourne, popular with retirees.
Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin, Canberra. Smaller ports require transhipment from Melbourne or Sydney — add 2–3 weeks. Otherwise straightforward.
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga. Sailings via Sydney transhipment or direct UK-Auckland. Total transit 8–10 weeks. MPI biosecurity is even stricter than Australian AQIS — we pack accordingly.
The single biggest variable in time and cost on an Australia or NZ removal is biosecurity. Every container is opened on arrival and physically inspected for:
A contaminated item triggers a treatment fee (fumigation, heat treatment or steam-cleaning) and a delay typically of 7 to 21 days while the inspection-and-treatment cycle completes. In rare cases items are seized and destroyed. Our packing process is designed to avoid this entirely — we pre-clean any outdoor item to AQIS standard at the survey or packing stage, we arrange ISPM-15 fumigation of wooden items in the UK so the destination certificate is in hand, and we don’t ship anything edible. The result is that the vast majority of our containers clear AQIS or MPI on first inspection.
Cars shipped to Australia or NZ face strict import rules. UK-registered vehicles over 25 years old (Personal Import Scheme in Australia) can usually be imported without major modification; newer vehicles face Australian Design Rule compliance costs that frequently exceed the car’s value. We typically recommend a specialist car-shipping partner who manages the import permit and ADR work; we coordinate so vehicle and household arrive within a few weeks of each other. Pianos travel inside the same container with our trained piano-moving crews using dedicated pad-wrap — the climate change between UK winter and Australian summer is significant, so we recommend a tune at destination. Antiques over 100 years old may need a UK cultural export licence; we identify those at the survey. Wine is restricted — Australia and NZ both require import permits for wine shipments and the duty plus excise often makes it not worth the trouble.
Most of our Australia and NZ removals follow this rhythm:
If your destination dates slip we store at our Lower Dicker depot in steel strong rooms until you’re ready to ship.
Australia and NZ removals are unforgiving of shortcuts. The packing crew either pre-cleans the BBQ grill or your container sits at the port for a fortnight while it’s steam-treated. The fumigation either happens in Felixstowe or it happens at destination at four times the cost. The destination agent either knows their way around AQIS paperwork or your delivery slips by another week.
We’ve been doing this since 2017 from our Sussex depot. About a quarter of our annual international workload is Australia and NZ, and we work with the same destination agents in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Auckland that we’ve worked with for years. The crews who pack your house in Eastbourne are the same crews who’ve done it on dozens of Australian moves — not a casual team hired the week before.
Read what customers say on our reviews page, browse the gallery for photos of recent moves, or call Mark on 01323 848 008. We’ll give you honest answers about what’s worth shipping, what biosecurity rules mean in practice, and what realistic timelines look like for your Australian state or NZ city.
Door-to-door, allow 8 to 14 weeks total. Sea freight from Felixstowe or Southampton to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane is 6 to 9 weeks; to Perth (Fremantle) 5 to 7 weeks; to Auckland 8 to 10 weeks. Add 1 to 3 weeks for AQIS or MPI biosecurity inspection and customs clearance at destination, plus the road leg to your inland address. Sole-use containers run on a fixed schedule; shared (LCL) shipments wait for consolidation.
Australia (AQIS) and New Zealand (MPI) run the strictest biosecurity regimes in the world. Every container is opened on arrival and inspected for soil, plant material, untreated wood, food residues, animal products and certain pests. The biggest cause of delay and treatment cost is contaminated outdoor items — garden tools with soil, BBQ grills with food residue, hiking boots, golf clubs, lawn mowers, garden furniture with leaf debris. We pack these items separately and pre-clean to AQIS standard. Any wooden items not made of dressed timber may need fumigation (ISPM-15 certified) — we arrange this in the UK to avoid destination delays.
A 20-foot container holds roughly the contents of a 1 to 2-bedroom flat (about 30 cubic metres). A 40-foot container holds a 3 to 4-bedroom house (about 60 cubic metres). For anything smaller a shared (LCL) consolidation makes more sense — you pay only for the cubic metres you use and share container space with other UK-Australia shipments. The LCL trade-off is timing flexibility (typically adds 2 to 3 weeks to the schedule). We quote both at the survey and explain which works better for your inventory.
Comprehensive marine transit insurance is strongly recommended and we arrange it through a specialist Lloyd’s-syndicate broker. Premiums typically run 2 to 3% of the declared value of your goods. Standard carrier liability is minimal (a few pounds per kilogram) which is not adequate for a household. We will walk you through the policy options at the survey and have the certificate issued before the container sails.
A 20-foot sole-use container from Sussex to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane is typically £6,500 to £9,500 all in. A 40-foot container is £8,500 to £13,500. LCL shared shipments are quoted per cubic metre and typically work out at £180 to £260 per cubic metre. New Zealand is broadly similar to east-coast Australia. All quotes include UK packing, road haulage to port, sea freight, destination port handling, customs entry and delivery to your Australian address.
Sometimes — if the container has space and the car meets Australian or NZ import standards. Both countries are strict about emissions, safety and right-hand-drive compliance. UK-registered cars over 25 years old can usually be imported without major modification (Personal Import Scheme); newer vehicles often face Australian Design Rule compliance costs that exceed the car’s value. We usually recommend a specialist car-shipping partner who handles the import permit work; we coordinate so vehicle and household arrive within a few weeks of each other.
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