Hi Guys,

sounds like there were no casualties from the earthquake, which is the best news.

We're still on track to arrive in August, so now just looking at accommodation for when we first arrive and trying to budget for that. We need to stay in Auckland, CBD or North Shore Area as thats where we'll be working so will need to live in that area.

How long did you stay in serviced apartments or your holiday home? and what are my options for temporary accommodation, we are a family of 5 so that makes things a bit more tricky.

Thanks

Hello elk,

We stayed at a property in Sartors Avenue, Browns Bay, Auckland on a self catering basis.

Here's the link. You can put in your own search criteria too as you need accommodation for five of you. The place we stayed at was just big enough for the two of us.

http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/properties/12837.asp

We've also stayed at the Albany Executive Motor Inn.

Another one is the Browns Bay Olive Tree motel, good & cheap. Well, it is for us, anyway.

Here's another link. I haven't used this service but here's the link http://www.bookabach.co.nz/

Hi. There are just 3 of us but we stayed in the Ascot Epsom Motel. They do quite large family rooms too. It was nothing fancy but clean and warm. Epsom is in the Auckland district too. Have a safe journey and good luck house hunting. xx

When we arrived, we stayed in a motel up near Papanui for 6 nights at $99 a night

Cleaning stuff they used was a bit extreme but it did us. Enabled us to get the stuff we needed, find a place to live and for me to get my bearings on how to get to work.

Plus, Northlands mall was a 5 minute journey away and I discovered mexican food used seedless jalapenos to spice the food up. Oh dear, you call this spicy! I soon learned that seedless jalapenos burn little Kiwi mouths so they had to find a chilli that was milder than a chicken korma

Thanks guys

Gosh what an introduction to NZ, that place looks like a drop in centre for the homeless.

We WERE homeless !

We booked a holiday home through here. http://www.bookabach.co.nz/

Fully furnished and because we arrived "out of season" and wanted to book for 8 weeks we got a nice discount.