auckland new zealand help

[yawningmonster]

hi, my mum is in north shore hospital, I fly in on Friday. will get a hire car from glenfield and need to drive 1. to a supermarket to get supplies, 2. to her home in murrays bay and then to the hospital. i have looked on a map but it looks terrifying! Highways and motorways etc. Can anyone tell me what would be the easiest routes to manage, I live on outskirts of christchurch where it is very easy and quiet and am not very confident. please advise..thank you...ps will be traveling with easily stressed out small boy.

[sibble]

Hi, I'm in South Auckland and don't know the North SHore very well. There are some North Shore mumsnetters on here who will hopefully be able to help. I can only say off peak the motorways are not very busy but people can be pigs at letting you change lanes so if you are not confident just stay in the slow lane when you join the motorway. If I can help at all while you are up here let me know. Hope your mum is OK.

[yawningmonster]

thanks sibble, will keep bumping for the north shore mners. she has had a stroke unfortunately but will know more once I am there.

[MrsJohnCusack]

oh ym I am so sorry to hear that
I hope some aucklanders will be able to help you soon. I don't know anything about it unfortunately

[yawningmonster]

thanks mrsjc, was going to come on your jilly cooper thread and wave to you but don't know anything about her work so would have been in over my head much like driving in Auckland....can you tell I am freaking out

[MrsJohnCusack]

yes I can tell you poor thing
sorry I can't help! the traffic in Auckland is supposed to be awful isn't it, maybe you won't have to drive very fast ?!

[AnnainNZ]

Hey yawningmonster. I'm in West Auckland. Can I ask why you are hiring the car from Glenfield - it's a long way from the airport! How are you getting to Glenfield, is someone picking you up? If not then 0800 SHUTTLE is the big shuttle bus door-to-door company, you can prob just pick one up at airport, odn't really need to book. There are plenty of car rental places at the airport too.

I don't know the shops on the Shore very well but I do know there's a supermarket (New World I think) in Brown's Bay, which is just north of Murray's Bay. (I happened to be in Browns Bay a couple of weeks ago as they have an English food shop there - was picking up Jaffa Cakes!)

There is also a biggish Foodtown within the airport grounds so if someone is picking you up you could stop there.

From Glenfield I guess just head to the motorway, get on at Tristram Ave and it's only 2 junctions to Upper Harbour Highway, where you can come off for Murrays Bay. I know it looks huge and complicated on the map, but the traffic isn't that bad outside of rush hour and it's worse further down the motorway, towards the city - once you're as far north as Upper Harbour Highway the traffic has thinned out a lot

Coming back down the motorway, 2 junctions south to Tristram Ave for the hospital - I do know it is signposted on the motorway - at the right exit there is a big sign saying "North Shore Hospital - this exit" (Auckland traffic signposters get it right - shock!) It looks like you can avoid the motorway and get frim Murrays Bay to the hospital via East Coast Road but I don't know if it's any easier than motorway.

Honest, the traffic isn't that bad outside of rush hour. Or it doesn't seem so to me anyway. Hope your mum makes a speedy recovery.

[yawningmonster]

Hi anna, thanks for that, it is a bit hard to tell where it is best to get on and off the motorway on the map I have. I am getting the car from Glenfield as Shore Shuttles is collecting me from the airport and taking me to their car hire office which is in Glenfield. I did have the choice of taking a car directly from the airport but the idea of driving a strange car with a screaming toddler half way accross a really busy strange city was a bit more than I could cope with. I was hoping by keeping the driving restricted to the shore I might make things easier on myself

[AnnainNZ]

You can avoid the motorway completely if you want - from Glenfield just go east, underneath the motorway at Tristram Ave, left onto Forrest Hill Road, then onto East Coast Road. This will take you up to Murrays Bay, also to Browns Bay for the supermarket and back down to the North Shore Hospital. It would only be about 10 mins slower than on motorway so may well be worth it if you don't like motorway driving (I'm not too keen on it myself). Please let me know if there's anything else I can help with, I am on bedrest with mild pre-eclampsia so I have, ooh, HOURS of time to look things up!

[yawningmonster]

thanks so much anna, since I will be helping to occupy you and all (you poor thing) I don't suppose you know where the nearest Westpac would be,

[AnnainNZ]

www.nowwhere.com.au/Westpac/LocateUs/nz/ is a branch locator, just type in the suburb and it will tell you nearest branches.

I'm pretty sure there's a Westpac in Browns Bay