[selchie]

I suppose that the best thing would be to ask a shiping company. They may be able to fit your 10 foot container into a larger one. Otherwise, I believe they can crate up your belongings and put the crate into a container with other small loads. I recommend comparing the costs of doing either of those or renting a 20 foot container.

From what I saw, books are expensive in NZ - nearly twice the cost of the same in the US (based on face value, with no currency conversion). If you have books you value, or are determined to read someday, you might consider bringing them. I'm not sure about the replacement cost of DVDs. The better toys might be worth keeping, too. After your kids grow out of them, they could be good rummage sale (similar to boot sale) items.

About the question on whether or not to bring furniture and electronics: That depends on a lot of factors, including your attachment to said items, their quality and replacement cost. Your own personal willingness to bother with either shipping them or replacing them is important. Personally, we'll take our furniture because we've gathered some nice solid pieces over the years, and don't want to part with them. There will be some funky pieces which we'll probably sell off or give away.

We've heard about incompatabilities between US and NZ electronics, and might have problems operating our DVD player and stereo. However, we will probably take them over anyway. If they don't work over there, I suppose we can arrange to send them back and have a friend sell or buy them. We're likely to replace our old TV, and hope for a good, decently priced flat screen model when we get there.

We've discussed this subject before, with perhaps more useful info therein. It could be worth a seach.