mfernett

My fiance and I are travling to NZ for 11 days over Christmas. This trip is a last minute decision and we are a bit overwhelmed with how much there is to do there! We are flying into Aukland Sunday, and that's all we know at this point. We have heard good things about Waiheke Island, Russell and Bay of Islands. Also, we've heard the volcanoes are a must see. It makes no difference to us if we go north or south from Aukland - our main concern is that we pick a few areas and enjoy them to the fullest. Moving around every other day isn't too appealing, but we do want to see as many of the highlights as possible within our time frame. Should we hire a car or take a train for getting around?

Thanks for any suggestions for making our trip (and Christmas) a good one!!

Melissa

ElendilPickle

It sounds like you're planning to stay on the North Island. Given the amount of time you have, it's not a good idea to try to fit both islands in. If you'd rather see the spectacular "Lord of the Rings" mountain scenery, the South Island is where you want to be; you could take a flight from Auckland to one of the cities there.

Here's a link to how we spent 10 days on the North Island in April 2004:
community.webshots.com/user/ElendilPickle

Lee Ann

marg

Definitely hire a car or perhaps a small motorhome. It will be much more convenient that trying to co-ordinate train schedules and you will be able to stop and look as it suits you.
There are so many lovely places in New Zealand it is difficult to pick out just a few but our North Island favourites are the Bay of Islands and the Coromandel Pensinsula - not forgetting Rotorua which has to be seen.

Bushranger

The only intercity train service on the North Island is Auckland to Wellington and though not a bad way to see the countryside of the central NI, it'd limit your touring, so it is really a car trip.

Waiheke Island would make a pleasant place to stay if you are having a long flight and some re-cuperation is desired.

Russell is a lovelly spot in the Bay of Islands and generally speaking do a google on Bed and Breakfast for locations as you will find ample.

I'd say that without rushing yourself too much and doing a lot of driving you might be looking at something like
. 2 daya Waiheke
. 4 days to north of Auckland
. 4 days to south, and that allows for one day transit.

Heading North of Auckland, the Warkworth area is lovely and there's various cruises from there, one being the Royal Mail Cruise.
There is also what is called the twin coasts tour - you'll see signage on the main road heading north - SH1.
I'd reckon a night in Warkworth, a couple in Russell and then drive up to Cape Reinga, there being numerous little harbourside/bay villages on side roads to pull into pull into on way, Whangaroa and Houhora Heads being a couple of delightful spots and then taking the west coast roye back via Kaitaia to Kohukohu and ferry across Hokianga Harbour to Rawene for the night, Masons Hotel there being a great older (125YO) stle hotel.

The western route brings you back to SH1 a bit north of Wellsford and at Wellsford you can take another western route [16] and that will bring you back via the NW Motorway to Auckland joining SH1 Motorway just west of the CBD and you could follow that until the SH2 turnoff if deiring to tour around the Coromandle Peninsula.

You will however be stretching yourself to do all Coromandel, Rotorua and Tongariro NP[Volcanoes] as you really need to allow for a couple of nights at either Taupo or Turangi and do a days walk at the NP - it's no Sunday walk!

I'd suggest your other nights be in Hanilton area, Waitomo Caves being down SH3 a bit and then take SH4/49 for Ohakune/Waioru And then back up SH1 which will take you across the Mountain Desert Road for some great vistas - you're travelling along the eastern edge of Tongariro NP with Turangi ahead.

You could have a dat to drive via Rotorua and on to Tauranga for the evening and miss the nice! Sulphur smells as much as you like.

If you have anther day left, a loop around the Coromandel on way back to Auckland is an option.

That alone is going to

mlgb

Yes, there really isn't any train service, so make a car rental reservation.

You may have a hard time getting reservations at this point so start right away.

The Bay of Islands is a good 4 or 5 day trip. Stay in Paihia, cruise over to Russell for the day, continue on to Northland (Coopers, Cable Beach or thereabouts if you can find anything), trip up to Matai Bay, then over to the west coast via Hokianga Harbor. Continue on down via Helensville (nice B&B called Malolo House) and to Muriwai or Bethells Beach, and back to Auckland via the Waitakere Ranges. You can do a number of walks inside the park and they have a good visitor center at Aritaki.

You could try the Millenium/Copthorne chain which has some locations around the North Island. I stayed at their Copthorne Bay of Islands resort and the superior rooms with the bay view were okay. It's convenient if you have a car, and next door to the Treaty Grounds. Go to http://www.millenniumhotels.co.nz/co...nds/index.html for availability.

Or wotif.com for last minute vacancies (but don't expect to pick and chose).

mlgb

I found my old trip report on the North Island with more details.

If you play golf, I highly recommend the Titirangi course in an Auckland suburb. First class Alister Mackenzie design. Excellent walking course (slightly hilly) with bits of native bush throughout.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34918906

mlgb

North Island photo link

http://picasaweb.google.com/kiwifann...ndNorthIsland#

ElendilPickle

>>You will however be stretching yourself to do all Coromandel, Rotorua and Tongariro NP[Volcanoes] as you really need to allow for a couple of nights at either Taupo or Turangi and do a days walk at the NP - it's no Sunday walk!<<

When Bushranger mentions a "days walk at the NP" he is most likely talking about the Tongariro Crossing. It does take a full day and you would want to spend the night in Taupo, Turangi, or in the park if you choose to do it.

However, you can spend time in the park and do some shorter walks if you would rather not do the Crossing.

Lee Ann

mfernett

Thank you all for the detailed responce - especially bushranger! Wow. We have booked a room in Aukland city for 2 nights just to have a look downtown and taking a day trip to Waiheke for some wine touring and dinner. Driving north to the Bay of Islands and now deciding if we should stay in Paihia or Russell, and for how long? Should we use either place as a home base for Bay of Islands or a couple nights in Russle/Paihia and then perhaps a night or two at a different area. Bushranger where is Rawene? I couldn't find it on the map.

I still haven't booked anything south of aukland...could someone provide a detailed itinarary for the south part of our trip (last 4 days).

Melissa

mlgb

Rawene is a tiny town inland on the south side of Hokianga Harbor. You can find it using Google Maps.

One of the photos in my slide show if of "Old Lanes Store Home Stay" in Rawene near the ferry. (It's the one right after Ngawha Hot Springs. There is rumor of a good restaurant in Rawene (near the ferry), but I was 5 minutes too late to try it. Following are a few shots of Hokianga Harbor, and a very good fish and chips shop, "Opo Takeaways".

Russell is quaint but not a great touring base since it requires using the ferry to the mainland. If you stay in Pahia you can take the ferry over and back. Pahia town is not as quaint, although you can find some nice views and restaurants there. I liked the Waitangi location just because it was quiet and there were nice views out over the Bay of Islands.

ElendilPickle

>>I still haven't booked anything south of aukland...could someone provide a detailed itinarary for the south part of our trip (last 4 days).<<

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to see the volcanoes, spend a night or two in Taupo, Turangi, or Tongariro National Park and tour that area.

Rotorua has geothermal areas and Maori culture. We went to an evening concert and hangi at Te Puia http://www.nzmaori.co.nz/ which we really enjoyed.

Waitomo has caves, glowworms, and a variety of adventure activities. We went cave tubing with The Original Blackwater Rafting Company there.

Lee Ann

Bushranger

Melissa, as Lee Ann indicates your "southern" itinerary is really going to be determined by what you want to do.

I suggested you head for Hamilton after Auckland, doing an anticlockwise route as just getting that far after your northern exploits and past Auckland will be plenty enough and then you're not all that far from the Waitomo Caves if you want to head there or alternately you could head across to Rotorua and on to Taupo/Turangi for the Tongariro Crossing Walk.
A few links to give you an idea of that:
http://www.tongarirocrossing.co.nz/
http://www.tongarirocrossing.com/ and that one has a link to www.metservice.co.nz for you to check on weather as that can be a decider even about Xmas time.

Going via Waitomo you can also do the crossing from National Park Village on SH4 - http://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/there being a crossing forum on that site you could get some useful experiences info from, and some pics. of the type of scenery you'll have.

If seeing the volcano country ala the crossing walk remains your top southern desire, one possibility for you to look at is adjusting your northern trip a little, ie.
plan your overnight stopping on way back from north, to overnight say at Warkworth, Orewa or Helensville[or closer in] if using the NW motorway so that you have plenty of time to head right past Auckland/Hamilton for either National Park or Turangi, checking on weather forecast and decide on the walk.

If the weather did not look to be so good, you could always go to Waitomo or Rotorua and you'll still have a day or so up your sleeve for weather to get better.

As Lee Ann indicates, there are some great national park areas with heaps of walks/falls etc. in the region.

One other word of caution for you - when getting your hire vehicle ask if they have one with remote boot [trunk] release disconnected and a sticker on window alerting potential thieves to that for two lots of people known personally to me both suffered from vehicle break ins!! in recent times - it happens a lot apparently when people park cars at trails car-parks.

A vehicle with boot[trunk] release disconnected at least allows for all your gear to be in the boot and more secure.
If you do that with a vehicle without the internal release disconnected, they will just bust a window and pull the release.

hikrchick

I'd like to make a recommendation for Napier, on the east coast of the North Island, about halfway down. I used Napier as a base for a few days and did an afternoon van-escorted wine tour at some of the local wineries. I enjoyed it very much. The wine was great too. You can get information at the i-site visitors center.

Can't help with hotels as I stayed in a hostel -- fabulous as hostels go, but still a hostel...

If you are interested in New Zealand history, in Paihia, where I stayed for about 4 or 5 days, I enjoyed the Waitangi National Reserve, which is about 5 or 10 minutes' drive from Paihia. I walked there. That is the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. I spent about 2 hours there.

Bushranger

http://www.hickerphoto.com/waikato-m...3-pictures.htm
The Makaropa Falls down Waitomo way somewhere [and discovered by another poster heading that way] is an example of some of the scenery about - haven't been able to get a decent location to them but people in Hamilton or Waitomo will know.

And yes Paihia is a much better location than Russell for touring from but main place people head from there is up to the Cape and instead of returning to Paihia, if you want to do the west coast, the country driving [once away from the Kaitaia area and coast] where you'll virtually have the road to yourself is a treat in itself and I'd keep that until the start of your return south.

Warkworth is not all that big a drive from Auckland [and Auckland is not rated all that highly other than for its harbour], so you could consider that as an initial resting base - http://www.warkworthnz.com/warkworth.php?page=mc_kawau

ElendilPickle

>>One other word of caution for you - when getting your hire vehicle ask if they have one with remote boot [trunk] release disconnected and a sticker on window alerting potential thieves to that for two lots of people known personally to me both suffered from vehicle break ins!! in recent times - it happens a lot apparently when people park cars at trails car-parks.<<

Great minds think alike, Bushranger.

Another option, if you do the Tongariro Crossing, is to take a shuttle from wherever you stay the night before. It will drop you off at the trailhead in the morning and pick you up at the other end that afternoon.

Lee Ann

Bushranger

Author: hikrchick
Date: 12/19/2008, 07:34 pm
I'd like to make a recommendation for Napier, on the east coast of the North Island, about halfway down.

Agree, Napier and eastcoast would be great but they would need at least another couple of days hikrchick to get in what they want to plus Napier region.

I meant to add about the shuttles Lee Ann but the links I put up do all refer to the shuttling.

robinb86

if you are going to the south island, Doubtful sound near Te Anau and Queenstown is beautiful!!!