Newark Airport Hotel for a day
 

G'day and thank you in advance for your responses.

I (along with a friend) arrive in a couple of weeks to the Crowne Plaza Newark Airport 901 Spring St, Elizabeth, we have just one free day there before we go off on a tour ... We will probably be jet lagged from the red eye flight from Sydney Australia but we'd like to do something for a few hours that might be easy. We are in our 60's. In the following couple of weeks will be busy doing things like the Statue of Liberty cruise and even Niagara Falls and San Francisco.

Do you have a suggestion ... eg could we catch a bus or train or something to a location for a few hours of exploring and come back easily? eg.

You could take the train or bus relatively easily into Manhattan.

The NJ Transit Bus #112 run from right near the hotel - stops at North & Dowd Aves.

The North Elizabeth train station is <1 mile from the hotel - you could walk, or perhaps the hotel has a van to drive you.

Thank you so much J62 a few hours in Manhattan sounds fantastic.
And ... would we easily find our way back?

You would need to get details on exactly which bus to take to return and can find info on the NJTRANSIT web site. You will be going through the Port Authority Bus Terminal, but they get about 8000 buses per day - both local commuters and longer distance buses - so you need to have a schedule in hand as well as the bus number. Note you will be taking an Elizabeth bus - not Newark.

And note that while Elizabeth is not especially pleasant Newark (the city, not the airport) is not a place you want to go.

Thank you nytraveler really appreciate your advice for us.

Here's the bus schedule. The hotel will assist you in finding the bus etc as they get this question from many guests
http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0112.pdf

clarkgrisworld that was so kind of you to put the bus schedule up for us. I'll take it with me.

Know that property and it indeed in a very unlovely location with little of any attractiveness in the immediate area. Staff, however, are generally quite accommodating.
Another option to visit NYC would be to use Uber to get into and back from Manhattan. Especially since you will be contending with jet lag, may be worth the additional cost to have door to door service and no worries about schedules and bus numbers. It is what I would do.