If my internet were down, I don't know that i'd care about automation not working - I'd probably be in a corner lost, not knowing what to do with myself!
All kidding aside, I'm curious which router didn't support the NAT looping... I've had trouble getting it to work on Cisco (it's a pain - search for "NAT on a stick") but it's always worked fine with cheapo netgear routers. Unless you have some particular attachment to your existing router (need it for VOIP or something special) I'd just swap it for a netgear that supports the feature and move on.
Another workaround I have done in the past is use use my own DNS server in the house (on the router or elsewhere - somewhere always on) and set the internal DNS to respond with the internal IP; then when you're outside the house you'll be hitting public DNS and getting the public address. When I was running Cisco ISR routers in my house, I had to do this because the NAT on a stick was more trouble than it was worth.