Who had a place to stay sorted out before they arrived in NZ? If not, how long did it take you to find somewhere? Where did you stay in the interim? And did you have that temporary place sorted before going over?
Lx
Who had a place to stay sorted out before they arrived in NZ? If not, how long did it take you to find somewhere? Where did you stay in the interim? And did you have that temporary place sorted before going over?
Lx
Oh gosh - I spent ages looking for holiday home in riccarton areas for temporay stay while looking for rental house while we were in UK. Found one, then for some reasons, the lady didn't get back in time with final confirmation and we decided to look into plan B, find and book a place at motel at 2am, morning before we flew out to NZ!! Lucky this motel we stayed with www.ashleighcourtmotel.co.nz got two units free, so we booked one of them.
Just arrived at chch's airport, there was a call out for us and it turn out to be that lady had "problem" with phone/email system and have left message asking us to contact her. She offer to show us her holiday home that we can rent for 6 months. Took this chance to view it and glad we went next day cos there is no way we can staying this place because it was place we ever saw....
Took us 7 days before we ever found another place to rent and another 2 days before we can move in.
OH arrived on his own so pre-booked a serviced apartment in Auckland CBD and a hire car to collect at the airport on arrival.
In the space of 3 weeks he found and moved into a rental, purchased our car, new TV and new king sized mattress and organised to rent the basic bits of furniture we needed. He also did a shop at The Warehouse for some kitchen type bits that we needed - kettle, toaster, iron, ironing board, microwave etc. I also Fedexed two huge boxes with various bits including duvet for us and single one for DS, linen, pots, pans etc.
What time of year you are arriving will have an effect on whether or not to book ahead, especially if you are considering renting a bach/holiday home.
HTH
Anneliese
My employer provided two weeks in a hotel but it took us over three weeks to find a suitable home to rent....
Hi all we are flying out of the uk in October and will be staying with my aunt, she has a 6 bed place in Kapia bay (spelling prob not right) only her with OH and 3 rats (sorry very small dogs) so any help with the finding of rented accom would be nice, we are looking in the wellington area same as aunty.
Right, so not everyone was completely sorted beforehand then, that's good to know (good to know we are not the only loons ).
OH will be heading off to Auckland last week in July and we haven't decided on where to locate ourselves (that's another thread!), let alone try and find somewhere for him to stay temporarily. Me and the 3 wee ones should be joining him by the end of August or early September at the latest.
Anyone have suggestions for reasonable accommodation in Auckland (his job's in Wiri, but I don't think we want to stay in that area )
Lx
My employer provided us with 2 weeks in a serviced apartment - but we found a rental on the day we arrived and signed the contract the next day. Initially we planned on doing some painting / buying furniture and staying in the apartment but the house was so much nicer that we moved in a few days later and handed the apartment back!
we pre-booked at Howick Motor Lodge (on advice from forumites) and they were brilliant. Others have used them more recently and I know a family who extended their stay there, so comfy was it! http://www.howickmotorlodge.co.nz/ run by Dave and Mandy from Doncaster, they are so friendly and helpful, it's wonderful when you first arrive. They helped us rent a car and were a mine of local info.
Gil
Edit: meant to add that we found a nice rental within a month, then bought our own place 5 months later.
We have booked a holiday ome for 4 weeks when we first arrive - check this site out http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/regions.asp This is where we found ours.
Took a while here in Wanaka, although we lived well due to the generosity of CatherineP for a few weeks. For a town with so many empty holiday homes prepare for a wait, or maybe even try to get something from afar. To help pass on the goodwill that was shown to us, I'd offer to help out - it takes no effort to view places/take phots and email them.