[T-R3xx]

My wife and I are coming to NZ to scope things out, talk to some local IT recruiters, check out the neighborhoods, etc, the last two weeks in November. We have booked everything except accomodations. I would love to hear from anyone regarding nice middle-of-the-road hotels or B&B's in both Auckland and Wellington. Also - any places we should stay away from. We especially love places with 'personality'.

We would love to hear your opinions, both good and bad. Thanks!!!

[real_sunfire]

For Auckland I highly recommend Aspen House - http://www.aspenhouse.co.nz/.

It is a cross between a B&B and a hostel - it has a nice breakfast/dinning
room where you can sit down at any time to have a cup of tea and
biscuit (both free), and a patio outside. The staff are very friendly and it is a five minute walk from Queen's Street (Auckland's main high street).

Judging from the website it looks like it has expanded alot since I was last
there (2001) so you may want to investigate further before booking.

Rgds.,
Nick.

[Avalon]

Im afraid I have generally stayed in big hotels in the cities - specifically City Life and Heritage in Auckland. J Street apartments are the only ones in Welly I have stayed in that I would recommend. Buit these ARE central city hotels, so may not be what you are after.

However - its worth looking on Ratestogo.com for thier prices and comparing with others.

Rates to go is a last minute site - so you can only book withing 20 days - but for stays further off it bounces you to a site called Hotel Club.

Most of thier rooms are in big hotels but they range in price and quality - as well as location - so its worth a look. We have made some big savings over the years - and this is our first port of call for accomadation wherever we are going.

If you do look at it - make sure you check out the Rating for each place - this is provided by "us" - the public who use the hotels - not the site - and on top of a mumber - people often write thier observations of a place.

[Do B Brief]

When we came over at the end of July we stayed at the Hutt Park Holiday Park:
http://www.huttpark.co.nz/ in Wellington

It is a cheap and cheerful place for campers etc but there are some cabins with sinks/shower and some sort of kitchen facility either in the cabin or communal.

I'd say they are a bit tacky but as I said, they are a cheaper way of doing things.

The worst is that it is outside of the Wellington centre and you either need a car (10 - 15 mins) or get the bus into Wellington (about 20 - 25 mins).

There are motels scattered about here and there:

http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/NorthIsland/wellington-motels.shtml

Get your map of Welly out and get planning.

[xanctus]

also having a car is quite painfull for parking matter with these 2 cities.

[Do B Brief]

I have to agree with xanctus there, $#@$#$@ expensive parking.

$10 a day (Mon - Fri) or the pay and displays are about $2 an hour (max 2 hours)

[T-R3xx]

Thanks for the great stuff so far.

We will not have a car until we get to Wellington. We're taking the train from Auckland to Wellington.

[Bern]

We're coming to Wellington in 3 weeks and are staying at a B&B called Frinton by the Sea. It was recommended on an earlier post. We'll need a car but we planned on renting one anyway. They've been lovely to work with to set up the trip.

[T-R3xx]

Dave G - I sent you a PM.