Removalists in Stockton

Stockton is the one Newcastle suburb on the far bank of the Hunter, a flat peninsula of cottages and beach units facing the harbour entrance, and that geography is the whole story of a Stockton move. The passenger ferry from Queens Wharf crosses in about five minutes, but it carries people and bikes only, not vehicles, and has done since the Stockton Bridge opened in 1971. A removal truck cannot use it. So even a move from the Newcastle CBD, a few hundred metres across the water, means a truck drives the long way around, roughly 20 kilometres and about half an hour via the Stockton Bridge over Kooragang Island. That drive is part of every Stockton job and we build it into the day from the start. Once there, the suburb is flat and the streets, like Mitchell Street, Dunbar Street and King Street, are generally accessible, so the carry is usually the easy part. It is the river crossing that makes a Stockton move different from anywhere else we cover.

Every Stockton move starts with the access, because that decides the truck, the crew and the carry. Here is what we plan around:

• Stockton sits across the Hunter from the city: the Queens Wharf ferry is passenger and bicycle only, so a removal truck cannot use it.
• A truck reaches Stockton by the road around via the Stockton Bridge over Kooragang, roughly 20km and about half an hour from the CBD.
• That drive around is part of every Stockton move, so we build it into the day from the start.
• The peninsula itself is flat with generally accessible streets, so once there the carry is usually the easy part.

We know streets like Mitchell Street, Dunbar Street, King Street and the access that comes with them. Send your pickup and drop-off addresses with your quote and we will tell you exactly how we would handle the parking, the carry and any staircase.

Every suburb we cover is in the one local government area, the City of Newcastle, so the same parking rules apply across the network. The council does offer an On-Street (Temporary) Parking Permit, and a removal is one of the purposes it lists: it lets a vehicle park beyond the signposted time limits on a street, the 15-minute, 1-hour and 2-hour zones and loading zones, for the dates you nominate. You apply for it through the council at least four business days before move day, and it is worth knowing one thing about it: the permit does not reserve or guarantee you a space, it only lifts the time limit where you can legally park. There is also a Work Zone permit, but that is really for long-term building and construction works because of the cost and the lead time to install the signs, so it is not a tool for a house move. In practice we plan and time a legal loading spot as close to your entrance as the street allows, scout it before the day on the tighter inner-city streets, and where it helps we will apply for the temporary permit so the truck can stand past the signposted limit while we load.