Driving in Auckland
 

Is driving in Auckland safe? how is the public transport there?

f you are not from the UK, driving on the left will be weird for you, and starting to drive in a big city like Auckland is not that recommended..If I were you, I would take the bus in the beginning of the trip.

Read more about the transportation in Auckland:

http://www.triptouch.com/new-zealand...nfo.php?wtid=1

I live here and it's a nightmare, especially for a first timer as I do not believe our direction signs are very clear at all. Defensive driving is a must but having just come from Paris maybe it's not so bad after all.

Take the bus, and <i>leave the driving to them.</i> ((*))

ilanshterman76:

My wife and I have been to New Zealand 4 times and always arrive or leave out of Auckland.

We have always rented a vehicle and while I drive on the right side at home, driving on the left was easily adjusted to.

From time to time I would attempt getting in on the passenger side and a few times when I activated the turn signal, why the wiper blades operated instead!

However, I soon got used to the driving. Major mantra ... keep left!

I live in a city of about 1 million and we must have the worst drivers in this and perhaps other worlds. That may have conditioned me to drive in Auckland with not much worry.

We are a relaxed couple so we do not gt involved either in the morning or evening rush hour. We used the freeway and got across town quite easily. We belong to our local auto club who have reciprocal arrangements in NZ and they were a great help too. There are lots of good free maps from AA in may tourist sites.

When we ventured into the heart of downtown we did take the bus and that left us worry free about parking as well as traffic. Other than that, driving ourselves gave us a lot of freedom to come and go as we pleased and when we wished.

Which ever way you visit New Zealand you are sure to have a great time.

Woodie

No, it is not safe, imo, to drive in Auckland if you just got off a plane after a 14+ hour flight from a country where the driving is on the right side of the road. The taxi driver who took me into town told of an American who got on the wrong side of the freeway and ended up killing a woman, and he ended up in jail.

Also, getting into the city was not straightforward. You don't just get on a freeway and follow the Auckland signs. The route involves a good bit of driving through suburbs.

The public transportation is good in the city. The airbus from the airport is very convenient. Take that and then taxi to your destination, if necessary. There is a loop bus that is very convenient as well as a free bus.

Adding to what almost everyone has said, there are all the works and the one-way streets. Plus it seems that if you are coming from the west coast of the US you are generally arriving during the morning commute.

You'd have to have to be familiar with Auckland, have or be a good map reader, and have a pretty good reason to drive instead of taking the airport bus or a supershuttle.

As long as you drive on the left on a right hand drive, you'll be fine.

A follow up on my reply. Check this out.

http://www.mydriveholiday.com/new-zealand-road-guides/

that's funny. i arrived after dark, slone and can't see well at night and it couldn't have been easier (i live in a dirve on the right country). the rental car lady laughed at me when i said &quot;what if i get lost?&quot;

traffic is no fun, but if you are from a developed country there will be no stress- there are like 4 mil people in new zealand, so in auckland alone, think small city.

i would say the public transport is sad, especially compared to sydney. you will need extra time if you are relying on it as a tourist.

the driving, though is very safe and easy. imho.

kerikeri :)

Kerikeri, do you live there? Auckland is a big city of 1.4 million, NZ may only have just over 4 million but over a quarter are in Auckland. The transport from the airport is quick and easy, either take the bus to downtown for around $16 or take a shuttle to your exact destination, hotel etc. for around $30. The buses leave from the front of the airport, the shuttle vans from the left side, it's easy and stress free. Depending on whether you only want to do the tourist spots the link bus does a circle to most of those and there is a hop on hop off double decker like those in Toronto, London, Paris etc etc.

&quot;kerikeri do you live there?&quot;

not sure where 'there&quot; is, but as this is a travel board, i am giving a traveler/tourist's perspective.

as a visitor -- which i can only assume the original poster is -- i found the driving safe.

as a visitor, i found the public transportation inconvenient for what i wanted to do -- which is explore out of town.

as many people visit sydney and places in new zealand on the same itinerary, i was making a comparison.

i stated the population of new zealand to give some perspective for those who might be coming from other lands.

i did not mean to give offense to you regarding the size of your city.

i was told by two b and b's in auckland that the airport shuttle is not to be taken at night due to the very long time it takes to do the drop-offs and pick-ups, so i hired a car. (one of them advised against it on their website as well).

kerikeri :)

I assumed OP was going into the city to stay and traveling in the center city. My advice is to take the bus, shuttle, or taxi instead of driving if you are getting off a long haul redeye flight after 15 or 20 hours total travel time. You can rent a car the next day.

If you are flying from Australia and your body/brain is on an Australia time, then that is a whole different story.

What do you think of driving from the Auckland airport after a redeye flight from the US (midwest) to, say, Thames or some other place in Coromandel?

Do you sleep well on planes? I usually do and feel fine when I arrive in the morning in Auckland from the west coast. It's later on in the day, mid afternoon, that the jet lag hits.

thames is pretty close, relatively speaking.

grab a coffee in the airport and off you go.

even when you don't sleep well, your body will at some point allow you to sleep for at least a few hour snatch on the plane.

and for some reason in the morning, you &quot;reset&quot; and as the other poster stated, you won't really crash til afternoon. you could easily make it to thames.

keep your camera out for the drive!
kerikeri :)

Thanks for the input.

Is the driving from the airport to Thames not as challenging as Auckland city?

I am also considering just taking a bus or flying up to BOI area, out of the Auckland airport.

I took a taxi into the city from AKL on Christmas Eve. This was late at night, on the last NZ flight from SYD. The streets were pretty empty and it seemed easier to get into town than the last time. But this was because I was familiar with it. Still, our driver had to jam on his brakes VERY hard. A car at the light didn't go forward as expected when the light turned green. That car was sitting next to a car that was turning right and had a red light. Our taxi and a car in front of us drove around the knucklehead driver (probably a tourist) to go through the light. I looked back and that car was still sitting there in front of a green light.

While we were in Queenstown the local paper had an article about an accident the previous day. An Israeli tourist driving at night on a 500m straight plowed head-on into a kiwi ladies' car. She went to the hospital. The tourist was ok. Police said the tourist was on the wrong side of the road - the long brake skid marks proved that.