After arriving early one morning in Jan. we have what amounts to 2 nights and 3 days to get to Wellington to begin a South Island tour. We have the option of renting a car at Auckland and driving to Wellingon. In this forum we have already discussed various driving routes. Wisdom would also lend itself to flying directly and not too expensively to Wellington and renting a car there to explore Cape Palliser, Marlborough, Kapiti Coast, etc. and presumably have more time in Wellington, before embarking on tour. I know there is no "right answer", for everyone has a different style of traveling. Therefore, I think it would be interesting and helpful to get opinions from both Kiwis and visitors who have done this.
Incidentally, should one stick to Air NZ for the entire trip or go through immigration and switch to a cheaper airline to hop over to Wellington? THANKS

Make that Martinborough not Marlborough! You can get crucified for making a mistake like that with this crowd!(just joking)

You will arrive in AKL at the international building, then have to walk a few minutes to get to the domestic building. So I believe that you will have to go through customs as soon as you arrive.

It will be cheaper to go with Qantas if you can get the Red e-deal.

I drove from auckland to wellington with a stop in Rotorua for a few days. I would recommend driving, as you will see a lot of beautiful scenery,especially around Rotorua and Taupo. It is a long drive, so I would probably stay overnight somewhere like Rotorua or Taupo. I would vote for Rotorua as there is a lot of activities there (Zorbing, luge, bungy, Maori villages, geothermal sites etc..) Regarding the airline question, I got a better price on quantas from queenstown to auckland than air NZ and found quantas to be very good. So i would shop around for the better fares.

That's a tough one. I would really have hated to miss Rotorua, but with only 2 nights, flying sounds like a better plan.
If you drive, you would have to hit the ground running ( driving) and you will be really tired.
I was advised to take it easy the first day in Auckland, after such a long flight. I just wandered around Auckland the first day, took the ferry to Devonport, got lots of fresh air.
SO, I'd advise staying in Auckland the first night, and flying out the next. Or transferring directly to a domestic flight and relaxing the first day in Wellington.

but you could relax the first day, and stay in Auckland, drive to Rotorua the next, and carry on to Wellington the third, but you'd really be pushing it, and wouldn't have time to do it justice.