Beth we are doing the shared load. We are not planning to ship furniture. Mainly clothes, books, music, household items. I got a quote from these people:
Removals & Excess Baggage Specialists: International & Overseas Household Removals, Excess & Unaccompanied Baggage Shipping Worldwide for fifteen 4.5 cu ft boxes.
According to their calculator
Packing Information - Excess Baggage that's about 20 suitcases full of stuff.
The quote came in at 635 pounds (that's UK money units, not weight - where is that pesky symbol on the keyboard?), door to door Houston to Nelson.
The person I spoke with said the load will go to UK first and be combined there, then to NZ and who knows where else in between. I don't know how this quote lines up as I have only gotten one at this point.