Hi,

My husband and I are in our early 30's and will be traveling to the North Island from Monday, 8/14 through Saturday, 8/19. We'll be visiting Sydney beforehand, but I was hoping you'd be able to review and provide any feedback on our NZ itinerary. We're from the USA so we're trying to minimize the driving.

Monday:
Fly from Sydney to Auckland. Explore Auckland for half day.
Overnight Auckland.

Tuesday:
Pick up rental car in Auckland Central and drive towards Rotorua.
Visit Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves.
Overnight in Rotorua.

Wednesday:
Morning to Early afternoon: Drive to Wai-o-Tapu and see the geyser erupt at 10:15am, and visit Waimangu Volcanic Valley.
Mid afternoon to evening: Drive to Taupo (1 hour away) and see Huka Falls, Aratiatia Rapids, and Taupo Lake.
Overnight Rotorua.

Thursday:
Return rental car in Rotorua Airport. I checked with Hertz and I think they allow a one-way rental. Take a flight from Rotorua to Kerikeri and arrive midday.
We are thinking of staying overnight in Kerikeri because we don't have a car. But we could potentially take a cab to Paihia if that's a better idea?

Friday:
Tour of Cape Reigna.
Overnight in Kerikeri or Paihia.

Saturday:
Take a plane from Kerikeri to Auckland.
We have the option of flying back to the USA either at 4pm or 7pm.

So my questions are:
1. Does this itinerary make sense?
2. If our main attraction is really Cape Reigna for Thursday/Friday, does staying at Kerikeri make sense to make our lives easier since we don't have a car? I know a lot of people head to Paihia for the Bay of Islands, which I think we can do by taking a taxi. And I think I've read other people saying to base themselves in Ahipara or Kaitaia for Cape Reigna tours, but we don't have a rental car, so I think it'd be hard for us to get there.
3. I see that New Zealand Air have 4 flights from Kerikeri to Auckland on Saturday getting us into Auckland as early as 9:30am. Our flight goes back to the USA from Auckland in the evening, and it's important not to miss this. I'm not sure if we really have a backup plan should something go wrong with the Kerikeri to Auckland flight. Rental car companies in Kerikeri don't look open on weekends. There's Intercity buses, but the schedule might not work. It seems like we'd have plenty of time to get ourselves back to Auckland, but wondering if this is risky... Thoughts?

Tuesday is going to be a mad rush. You might be better off by doing the Great Sights tour. https://www.greatsights.co.nz/new-ze...kland-rotorua/ Otherwise, you will have to time yourself precisely to fit it all in. Then you could pick up your car in Rotorua.

The last release of water at Aratiatia Rapids in August will be 2pm. So skip that.

Avis and Hertz in Kerikeri operate 7 days a week. But on weekends, they only accept rentals from incoming flights. You'll have to call them to make the reservation.

There's also an airport with flights to/from Auckland at Kaitaia, but I think Kerikeri has more to offer town-wise.

Unless there is some horrible storm grounding flights, I don't think you have much to worry about for the flight to Auckland. Having flown out of Kerikeri myself, I can tell you that is is a very quick check-in process. When they say to be there 30-minutes before departure, they mean it. We had an 8:40 am flight and arrived at 7:45am -- no one was at the airport!

Thank you! We looked into Great Sights tours, but I guess we were trying to avoid going on large bus tours. I also heard Spellbound Tours for the caves are much better as they are less rushed and have some kind of private access to the glow worm caves...? Though, if we use Great Sights, it does cut down on our driving time more. Something to think about...

Maybe if we can't fit Waitomo Caves in on Tuesday, we can back track and go Wednesday afternoon in lieu of going to Taupo. What does everyone think about Great Sights bus tours? Would missing Taupo for being able to tour Hobbiton/Waitomo on your own better or worse than using Great Sights so we can definitely get to Taupo?

We'll stay at Kerikeri then! We are interested in staying in a nice town where there are restaurant options, etc.

Do you just want to go on a general cave tour, or something more adventurous? We went blackwater rafting in Waitomo, which was fabulous.

Lee Ann

All your activities will not fit in your tight schedule!
Tuesday is all wrong - Waitomo Caves are not near Rotorua more like the opposite direction. Doing all these sights in one day is too much. August is winter here with short days and maybe wet or grotty weather so you don't want too much driving around in the dark either.
Tuesday - head for Waitomo, do a cave tour and then over to Matamata for the night.
Wednesday - You can then hit the 10 am Hobbiton tour, be done by lunchtime and go to Rotorua.
Thursday - see some of Rotorua before flying to Kerikeri but it hardly seems worth it.
I'd stay in Kerikeri rather than Paihia. Moving away from the airport only adds more time needed to get places. Check if there is a bus trip from Kerikeri to Cape Reinga.
I think here Waitomo Caves has to go. Hobbiton IS on the way to Rotorua so if you left Auckland early you could see Hobbiton and then to Rotorua on the Tuesday.
Go for the 7 pm flight as motorway traffic can be heavy at the weekends. A 4 pm flight means getting to the airport at 1 pm to check in which could be tight.

I just re-read your itinerary and realized it's the drop-off of the car at KKE on a Saturday that is a concern. There's a key drop box right outside their office for that.

I suggested the Great Sights tour because they have the timing down. And if traffic were bad getting out of Auckland and they ran late for the tour, I'm sure the caves/Hobbiton would work with them to get their passengers taken care of. There's safety in numbers, so to speak. I imagine the Waitomo Cave tour is the short 45-minute one.

If you wanted to do a more leisurely tour, such as Spellbound, I'd recommend you do that and head from there to Matamata for the night. Then do Hobbiton and a thermal park the next day, ending at Rotorua. This would mean missing the 10:15 Lady Knox geyser and Taupo.

I'm not a bus tour kind of person. And I also like the idea of a small-group tour, such as Spellbound. We did Glowing Adventures -- it's a bit more physical and you will get muddy. But again, it was a small group on a family-run business/farm. We've actually done this particular cave twice, the first time was 6 years earlier. There's also Footwhistle and Lost World cave tours. What's important to you (cave formations, glow worms, rappelling/ziplines, staying dry or getting wet, photography) -- there are different caves and tours for all interests.

Taupo is nice, we got great sunset photos there and the sailing to the Maori carvings was worthwhile. But I think I would do a cave tour of your own liking and skip Taupo.

Thank you ALL for your help!!! I knew that Tuesday would be too jammed packed between traveling and doing both Waitomo and Hobbiton, but I figured if this is a Great Sights itinerary that we could try to replicate it as well. I'll scratch that idea...

I took all of your advice into consideration and now adjusted the itinerary by taking out Cape Reigna. It seems like a lot of traveling and moving around for a short period of time. Do you think this itinerary is better?

Monday
Fly from Sydney to Auckland.
Explore Auckland for a half day.
Overnight Auckland.

Tuesday:
Pick up rental car in Auckland Central.
Drive to Waitomo Caves area (2 hours).
Take Glowing Adventures 3-hour tour at 2:30pm.
Overnight in Waitomo area.

Wednesday:
Drive from Waitomo to Rotorua.
Maybe Redwoods Forrest hiking??
Overnight Rotorua.

Thursday:
Wai-o-Tapi geyser at 10:15am, plus some hikes for 2-4 hours.
Maybe Waimangu Volcanic Valley?
Maybe Taupo to see Huka Falls and Great Lake Taupo?
Return rental car at the airport by 8:30pm.
Overnight Rotorua.

Friday:
Take Great Sights bus tour from Rotorua to Auckland.
Tour includes Te Puia, sheep shearing at Agrodome, Rainbow Springs, and Hobbiton
Overnight Auckland.

Saturday:
Explore Auckland.
Flight out back to USA

So my questions are:
1. Does this sound better to do the cave tour that I want (a 45 minute tour with Great Sights seems a bit underwhelming, but will still need to talk about it with my husband to see if he likes the more active Glowing Adventures tour), but also giving up Cape Reinga?
2. I'm open to other ideas for Wednesday and Thursday in Rotorua. My husband and I are both active and fit and like to be in nature, which is why maybe I thought Redwoods is a good idea. (We've gone on several hiking trips to different national parks in the States, but we are far from being experienced hikers.) We are also considering maybe the Polynesian Spa or ziplining though we've done similar activities on other trips before. We aren't really into the ZORB activity. We probably don't need to see Wai-o-Tapu, Waimangu, AND Te Puia, so if you had any insight on which is best, that would be great. Any other ideas for us for the Wednesday and Thursday?
3. Is Tongariro Crossing out of the question for us given the distance from Rotorua and that it'll be snowy in August?
3.

Just no, to the Tongariro Crossing. In August, you would need a guide, ice picks, and crampons.

I would keep the car and drive yourself back to Auckland. I think the car rental would be cheaper.

1. I'd do the longest/most expensive tour to really get the impact of the caves and there's no chance of bad weather underground!
2. Plenty of good hikes around Rotorua. I was disappointed in the Polynesian Spa as the ad you see for the couple in the hot pool right by the lake costs about $50 which I think is a rip off.
3. Definitely cannot do the TAC in August and in your timeframe.
You are here in the middle of our winter so some things will not be at their best. Cape Reinga is probably better in the summer. On a wet foggy day you may see nothing at all up there.
Why do the bus tour? You can do Hobbiton comfortably on your way back to Auckland. The last tour is about 4.30 I think so you have time for something else in Rotorua that morning.

Got it... No to Tongarario Crossing.

As for doing the Rotorua to Auckland Great Sights Bus Tour, I just thought it might cut down on the amount of driving we'd need to do. We're Americans and never driven on the left side before so we're still trying to gauge how comfortable we'd be. Is the Rotorua to Auckland round trip drive relatively easy? From what I read, the roads are mostly narrow and winding with one lane in either direction. I understand that it takes longer than you think to get from one place to another. We are early risers and aren't planning on driving when it gets dark. Overall, I think we should be OK and may drive back up rather than the Great Sights tour, but we'll think on that a bit.

Are there glow worm cave tours longer than 3-4 hours? If you knew of one off the top of your head, id be interested! Otherwise, I think I have some more research to do as to how to fill up our days in Rotorua. I'm sure there should be plenty to do us!

Lost World Epic: http://www.waitomo.co.nz/en-gb/adven...d-tour-7-hours

The road is good between Rotorua and Auckland. Depending which way you go you will be on State Highway 1 most of the trip. There are passing lanes to help the traffic move along. Through Hamilton is probably the best route.

You can go to any travel agency company they are help you.

Thank you, everyone!

Is anyone familiar with the Mt Tarawera Crater hike? It looks like Kaitiaki Adventures does guided tours here but they don't seem to be running on the date we will be there (Thursday, 8/17). However, it looks like I can book a guided tour through Tripadvisor or Viator. I'm just not sure what company it's going through...

I would ask Kaitiaki directly. The website says they go every day but when putting in your dates it says the next available hike is 3 October which is a bit weird.
You could visit White Island (active volcanic island) if you want something different! It's $$$ but they will pick you up from your accommodation and take you there. It's off Whakatane about 1 hour from Rotorua.