Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Layover in Aukland

Is 4+ hours enough time to even set foot outside the airport and find anything to do?

My only other experience in NZ is down in CHC where I was able to do plenty as the buses were so easy and the airport small to continue on a layover.

The layover will be on a sunday.

Assuming you've already checked in for your outbound flight from AKL, you may be able to go into the city/harbour to have a meal. Even with little traffic, it'll take a good 20-30 minutes to get into the city. 4hrs will be a tad risky.

What is your route? If you're coming from an international flight, it may take you some 30 minutes just to go through the formalities even if you don't have checked luggage.

Assuming you've already checked in for your outbound flight from AKL, you may be able to go into the city/harbour to have a meal. Even with little traffic, it'll take a good 20-30 minutes to get into the city. 4hrs will be a tad risky.

What is your route? If you're coming from an international flight, it may take you some 30 minutes just to go through the formalities even if you don't have checked luggage.

Routing would be MEL-AUK-LAX that day. Bags I assume since its a layover would be checked through from MEL to the US.

20-30 minutes to town is a bit much for a 4 hour window I think. I was just hoping it was closer or there would be something to do there near the airport.

Thanks for the reply.

Another option is the Villa Maria Winery and tour, which is about 5 minutes from the airport. Villa Maria is a well know NZ wine, popular in the US. They have a brand new, state of the art winery at this location which is 118 Montgomerie Road. If you are going to be there at 11 or 3, they have winery tours. The rest of the day they have continuous tastings.


Please note that Villa Maria is a "cork free zone", having pioneered the use of the Stelvin, aka screw top, bottles which in my opinion are fantastic but misunderstood, especially in the US.

For additional details, see http://www.villamaria.co.nz/about_us.php