What to do with 8 hour layover in Auckland
 

I will be traveling through Auckland (from the US) on July 27, 2004 with my wife and daughter (12 year old) and we'll have a layover of approximately 8 hours (8:15 to be exact). So, can we do anything in the city? What would you recommend? Will we have to travel through customs either on the way out or the way back? We'll also return to Auckland on August 10th and have 5 good days (6 nights). We're thinking Coromandel, Rotorua, and Waitomo (with a car rental). Any suggestions on time split across these locations? Accomodations?

I would suggest taking a day room at one of the airport hotels, so you can freshen up, leave your bags etc. Then if the weather is ok a taxi to the city (30 minutes / US$20-25) and take a fast boat (35 minutes and regular sailings) to Waiheke Island and have lunch at the Mud Brick Cafe.

Hi There kidnme

Bigarms suggestion is an excellent one.

If the weather is not so hot (and July in this city is iffy at best) you could head to Kelly Tarltons on the waterfront to view the penguins and aquarium there. It is all underground so not weather dependent. My kids love it though in saying that they are a lot younger than your daughter.

You could follow that with lunch at Hammerheads next door or head down to Mission Bay for lunch at one of the cafes overlooking a city beach and the harbour. Taxi's between these point are easy to get and are not that expensive.

Hope these suggestions help.

As far as you second visit is concerned.

Depending upon what time you arrive in NZ & whether you are staying the night in Auckland first, you may wish to head straight to Waitomo, spend the day there and then drive onto Rotorua.
Spend a couple of nights in Rotorua to soak (litterally) up the atmosphere. Then on via Tauranga/Mt Maunganui up to the Coromandel for the rest of your stay.

I would not recommend staying at Waitomo. Its Ok but not much more than the caves there.

The purenz site has good links to accomodation facilities by region.

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/

Happy travelling

Steve

As Steve said, there isn't much in the way of accomodations in Waitomo. There is the Waitomo Caves Hotel, which is pretty old and, from what I heard before we went there, in need of an update.

We stayed at the Kiwi Paka YHA hostel in a private room with bath. There are several other hostels there; you can check and see if they have double rooms or family rooms available. We found hostels to be a nice way to meet other travelers. www.bbh.co.nz is a helpful hostel website.

We stayed at the Lake Plaza in Rotorua; it was a good, clean, basic room - nothing fancy, but fine for our needs. We didn't spend much time in the room. <g>

Lee Ann

Take a taxi from the airport to the top of Mt Eden. Enjoy the views of the city and harbour. Walk to the bottom and cab to Ponsonby/Herne Bay for refreshment. Avoid the inner city if possible, unless you have time to take a ferry to Devenport or Waiheke (both excellent options too).