Leonard Young

Will be traveling to the North Island of New Zealand during the 1st 2 weeks in March. Would appreciate suggestions for places to go, Bed & Breakfasts and restaurants.
Thanks

Hans Lapping

We spent about 15 days on the North Island last August and had a very good time. Auckland is a nice enought city, but you really only need to spend three days there at the most. Make sure you go to the Auckland Museum, walk throught the Domain, check out Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Experience, walk along Quuen Street and visit Parnel Village. The above can all be done in two days and that should be enough for Auckland. Everyone says go to Rotorua to see the Thermal reserves, we went and were not impressed with Rotorua-- I would only drive through rather than spend time there. We really enjoyed the Lake Taupa area. The Huka river and falls are quite nice, the lake is gorgeous and the village is nice. From there you can got to the National Parks and see the Volvanos. I would then continue South and head to Wellington for two days to see the governmental buildings. Then head back borth via the east coast and go to Napier-- a wonderful Art Deco city in the midst of the wine country. Then I would head through the Cormandal Penninsula and to Thames and then fianlly up to Pahia and the Bay of Islands for a few days of sailing. That should you 15 days and should be a very nice trip. Enjoy!

Sue

Hi there. Well March should still be pretty warm. The top of the North Island has 90 mile beach and is a wonderful bus trip actually along the beach itself. Auckland has a wonderful museum, MOTAT which is the museum of transport and technology, our zoo is one of the finest. Rotorua is excellent value, particularly Orakei Korako which is just south of Rotorua/north of Lake Taupo where you can actually walk amongst the geysers and mudpools. A fascinating place - just make sure you keep to the paths. There is also an excellent recreation area on the way in where you can go by aerial gondalier to the top of the hill, and luge back down if you wish. I recommend that you tap into www.aa.org.nz which is a new site put out by the Automobile Association which has masses of excellent information re homestays, B&B's, suggested itineraries, etc etc. The East Coast is very pretty, the West Coast has black sand the whole way down. Hope you enjoy your stay.

SHARON JOHANSEN OUTDOOR GUIDING

The Coromandel Peninsula, 2 hours from Auckland is an absolute must, many activities for all ages, fitness levels and interests, it is called NZ in miniature, treks and tours to magnificent beaches, majestic mountains, semi-tropical rain forests, Maori medicines and foods of the forest, gold and Kauri timber logging history. Claybird target shooting, 4 wheel drive safaris, flying fox, 230 metre scream merchant, glow-worm tours, scenic boat trips, fishing, diving and much, much more.Great range of bed & breakfast accomm. I can recommend many places and things to see with more than 19 years experience in guiding . Only to happy to help you plan a vacation through NZ.

petrice

I would recommend going to the Bay of Islands, specifically the town of Russell. We stayed at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel there which is an old, historic hotel and very beautiful. From Russell you can take several day sailing trips - either viewing tours or the "swim with the dolphin" tours, which we thought was really neat. We saw tons of dolphins and even 2 whales when we were there in Oct 1994. Enjoy!