Hi,

Australia/New Zealand is my dream vacation and I am finally going there on the Celebrity ship Dec 7-21. The cruise ship is offering excursions which are not only EXPENSIVE but boring. I wanted something adventerous. I am only in the ports 9-12 hours and I need to make sure I am not missing out on anything.

I go to both Taraunga & then end the cruise in Auckland. There's a thing called "Waitomo Adventures" where you repel into glow worm caverns and black water raft. It looks awesome! Where the heck is it though? Would I be best to go there from Taurangua or Auckland? Also I was dying to Zorb the Angrodome in Rotorua.If I can only do one, what would you suggest? I am disembarking in Auckland at 7am and my international flight leaves at 7pm. What do you Kiwis think?

I also stop in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney & Philip Island. I had heard that a few guys from Dunedin were starting day trips to cage dive with the great whites. That happening yet and/or by these stops?

Any unusual and fun excursions that would be accessible to me from where I am going to be, I would LOVE to hear. I also enjoy hand on wildlife activities. Like I would prefer to swim with the whales rather than watch them from afar. I know it has been outlawed in many areas but I hear it is still legal in some parts around NZ?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Waitomo is over on the NI west coast, about three hours drive south of Auckland - http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting.aspx and http://www.vic.com/new_zealand/adventures/caves.html and it's about two hours or so from Tauranga, Rotorua only being about 45 minutes away.

If you boat goes to Auckland straight after Tauranga can you jump ship there, hire a car and do both, driving back up to Auckland the second day via Waitomo - you'll see some great countryside for sure.

As to getting good value tour deals generally, I'd look up backpacker hostels via www.bbh.co.nz in the cities you're docking at and send an email to a couple for they'll have all the latest on various tours available.

Some references to cage dives here: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=e...arch&meta= but again, I'd check in with some locals via bbh.

Don't know about swimming with the whales in NZ but you can do whale shark swims over at Ningaloo reef in WA, near Exmouth but you'd need to check on whether its seasonal or not - see if there is a www.yha.com.au at Exmouth or in area.

Bushranger,

Thanks for your post. Getting off the ship may be a doable and great idea. I cannot find Waitomo Caves on the map so where would I go first, Rotorua and then the caves?

Do you think getting off a ship that includes my sleeping and food would be worth it for what I am wanting to do?

Waitomo Caves adventure look awesome but would you be able to tell me where other glow worm caves before I "jump ship"?

Not sure why you are having trouble finding Waitomo Caves on a map.

Go to, for example, wises.co.nz (Wises maps), or aa.co.nz (maps and directions online link).

It's about two hours each way from either Auckland or Tauranga (slightly less from Tauranga), plus about 4 hours for the adventure in Waitomo. You need to be aware that the traffic around Auckland can be quite bad during rush hour, and should be back at the airport 3 hours before your flight. So 12 hours is a bare minimum that you'll need.

Also check the schedule for the activities you want, they are not going to operate just for you, and may be full on any particular day.

http://www.waitomo.co.nz/

"Do you think getting off a ship that includes my sleeping and food would be worth it for what I am wanting to do?"
That's really a personal choice jgd but if it's right at the end of the cruise, maybe you'll be up for a change.

I'm not an expert on Glow worms locations and the only other ones I've seen are up at Whangerei, a much bigger haul north from Auckland and then you'd need to be getting right across the city on way back to get to the airport.

I was more generous than mlgb in driving time but the airport on southern side of Auckland and not taking touring time could make for a quicker trip back but you would still be needing to get off the boat, get a hire car and get out of the city in or near morning peak and so attempting to do it in one day from Auckland and be back in time for the flight would in my book be more stressful than jumping ship, but you'd also need to check whether that's allowed!

If not, or decidong not to do, I'd just stick with Zorbing and taking in the delightful odours of Rotorua, some great lakes scenery about there to compensate.

OK So my TA is checking to see if I can disembark in Tauranga. I have decided I would prefer to do so. The Original Black Abyss Rapids Tours looks insane and EXACTLY what I would love to do. So what do you think about this plan:

Get off the ship In Tauranga. Go to Waitomo Caves first to catch a 2pm tour. After the tour drive to Rotorua.

Spend the night in Rotorua so we'll be able to Zorb bright and early. There are no tours and Zorbing is a quick experience. We would drive to Auckland afterward.

What do you think?
If you agree its a good plan (or at least doable plan) are there any places to stay in Rotorua or between Waitomo & Rotorua you'd recommend?

Thanks for all your help!

To save on travelling distance, I'd have done it the over way myself, making a bit of an inland loop out of it and an adventurous one at that:
Take SH2 and then SH33 to Rotorua
(On the way, just before you get to 33 turn off, at Te Puke on left going out of town there's a great Antique Motor Museum) - http://www.totaltravel.co.nz/travel/...ations/te-puke and also Jet Boating somewhere too it would seem.
I can vouch for the Museum or can say it wasn't so bad a couple of years ago and they do a reasonable Capuccini, and you'll likely have the place to yourself.

Do your Zorbing and on to SH30 for a bit before turning south for Taupo and more thrills - http://www.freefall.net.nz/

.If you take SH1 further south around the eastern side of Lake Taupo, you can decide then depending on how you're going for time to head west and onto SH32 and 41 to Taumarunui, nice smaller town for O/N or if time permits and the navigating nose hasn't contracted gettinglost fever, you could keep on SH1 through to Waiouru, a stunning drive over the Alpine Desert road (yes, as green as NZ is, it does have a little high altitude desert of sorts).
At Waiouru, turn west onto SH49 and then north onto SH4 and that takes you back to Taumarunui for the night.
. Nice drive of about an hour in the morning up SH4 and onto SH3 will get you to Waitomo, and then after the cave tubing, it's a couple of hours on SH3 to Hamilton (a bypass there) and on to SH1 back towards Auckland, keep an eye out for turn off to the Airport, well marked with the usual plabe pic signing.

And btw too, though New Zealand's highways are designated SH1, SH3 etc., they'll be a much more intereting drive than the Interstae routes crisscrossing the US, and more like what single carriageway US secondary trunk roads are like.

Just remember to keep to the left so the driver is adjacent to and left of road centre and rembering that it will be a right hand turn that will take you across path of oncoming traffic - and when doing turns anywhere, just remember where you should ebd up - still on the left!!!

bumping mlgb

Unfortunatly I have to do it the loop way. We have to do the Waitomo Caves tour first. It is a 5 hour tour and it'll be cutting it close trying to make our plane home.

But what do you mean by "an adventurous" drive? lol. I'm into adventure but wrecking is a bit too extreme for me.

We'll have a GPS in the car we're renting. So hopefully that'll help navigate us in the dark from Waitomo to Rotorua. We'll soon find out!!

Here I was Dawn thinking you had taken a leap of faith somewhere and fell into a pit of fire and brimstone or something like that, but No1, by adventurous and I had to go back and see what context I had put it in - I just meant you could take a free fall jump along the way.

Well enjoy all the same, and at least staying in Rotorua you should be able to get a few hangi, smother them with Sulphur without even asking and it's supposed to be real good for clearing up blocked sinuses.