I’m moving back home from Oz later this year and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to repatriate my bike. We’re going to be bodding about a bit on the way home, so I don’t want to take it in my bike bag on the plane. We are going to be shipping some stuff home in a container but I’ve heard that can take ages to get home and to clear customs.

The obvious route would be to courier it but there’ll be a gap of about 2 to 4 weeks between me leaving Oz and getting home.

Any ideas?

We did the same last year. We air-freighted bikes amongst other things. The more you send the relatively cheaper it becomes. We used Qantas air freight.It wasn’t prohibitively expensive. Arrived home within a week or so of us arriving home. No problems with customs. Can’t remember exact cost but way more convenient than boat.

I just road out to an air freight ware house in Auckland, can’t remember who.

They were great. They hung onto it for 3 months as I was trecking in Nepal. They then sent it so I could meet it. This saved a fortune as I did the customs paper work this end

Ride it… watch out for the cheeky trails in Afghanistan on the way back.

or… on a more serious note,

can you not just get it sent to a mate/family member who will look after it for you

Or would it be cheaper to sell it there and buy a new one here (once you’ve paid for freight and packing).

I go back and fore a bit to Oz, so I keep a spare bike there.

Throw money at the problem?

Jetta Express

Not used them myself and would be interested if anybody else has.

Seven Seas shipped a bike to and from NZ for me. Wasn’t too expensive and goes sea freight (so might take a while). They’ll even give you a box and hold it for a short time until you can collect it.