Hi Dawn,
We opened an account with the ASB in New Zealand through the Commonwealth Bank of Australia based in London (a stone's throw from the NZ Embassy).
http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk/
This meant we could have pounds sterling deposited or transferred to them with and then forwarded to our ASB account with the minimum of delay. There is a charge of GBP15 for transactions under GBP30,000.
No problems with them at all.
:)