Several All Blacks have spoken of their harrowing experiences during the earthquake that wrought havoc in Christchurch and surrounding areas.

The New Zealand squad arrived in Sydney on Sunday to prepare to play the Wallabies on Saturday but some have more on their minds.

Kieran Read, the All Blacks No 8, recounted his ordeal as he cowered under a doorway with his heavily pregnant wife Bridget during Saturday's heavy early morning quake.

"It was a pretty freaky, pretty terrifying experience," he said.

Read's wife is a geography major and quickly realised what was transpiring at 4.30am on Saturday.

"She kind of knows about these things. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though, she was pretty scared."

Six months pregnant with the couple's first child, she led the way to safety.

"She moved like a cat, she was pretty quick. I was just following her to the doorway," he said.

When the sun rose, the Reads realised the extent of the devastation in neighbouring areas and he agreed it was a miracle no one was killed.

"When you look at the damage that's been caused I guess we're fortunate it happened in a quiet (time) period."

Assistant coach Steve Hansen stayed behind to coordinate recovery and repair work on his rural property at Tai Tapu on Christchurch's fringe.

"He's got major problems with his house," said head coach Graham Henry, who expected Hansen to join the team on Monday.

Originally from Christchurch, Henry first made a distress call to his 94-year-old mother, who lives in an aged care facility in the city.

Fortunately she was unharmed, while a quick ring around also established the squad's eight Canterbury players, Hansen and fellow assistant coach Wayne Smith also escaped injury although most reported damage to their properties.

"It was a really frightening experience and the All Blacks would like to pass a message of support to the people of Canterbury. Our thoughts are with them," Henry said.

Read said none of the players had considered pulling out of the test up although they would carefully monitor the situation back home.

"I don't think it will be a distraction," he said.

"You don't think it's going to happen twice. It's also been nice to be able to talk about it with the guys that experienced it."

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