Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - NZ North Island

Hi…
I would like some itinerary advice.
We will be arriving in Wellington on the ferry in the late afternoon of Feb 7th. We will be renting a car. We fly out of Auckland early the afternoon of the 11th. We are more interested in spending our time seeing the natural beauty of the land than seeing the cities - but that being said, one of us (me) will insist on going up the tower in Auckland. Having never seen a volcano (well, other than long extinct ones), things along this line would rank high on the list of priorities. Any ideas on how we should allocate our time?
Thanks in advance.

One of my favorite places in the Auckland area was Waiheke Island, about a 35 min ferry ride from the city. Lots of great restaurants, wineries, and beaches. Had a really good lunch at the Mudbrick winery where you have spectactular view of Auckland in the background.

You can rent cars by the hour at the ferry terminal on the island, or there are a couple of ferries where you can bring your car along as well. Think this would make a nice day trip.

You have 3.5 days in hand.

Feb 8th - drive to Taupo arriving afternoon, and overnight there. You have enough time to explore a bit along the way.
Feb 9th - drive to Rotorua (short drive) and spend most of the day & that night there.
Feb 10th - drive to Auckland arriving afternoon. If you want you could detour to visit Waitomo along the way.
Feb 11th - in Auckland.

You can easily modify to drive all the way to Rotorua on 8th to then give more time in Auckland (eg do a day trip to Waiheke).

Not really enough time to see the south part of the North Island, but noteworthy are Napier, Rotorua is a must see for the volcanic activity, and my very favourite part of NZ was Thames and the Coromandel peninsula (3 hour drive SE of Auckland). You probably only have time for Rotorua and Thames (maybe not even that). Thames is a bit like Carmel (artist colony in the middle of nowhere, except within day trip of millions of people).

Absolutely the best volcano experience we had in NZ was the trip to White Island.

We were staying at Rotorua at the time, 1.5 hour drive to the small airport in Whakatane. A helicopter ride to the White Island, a tour around the island with a mask and helmet, a helicopter ride back to Whakatane and another 1.5 hours to return to Rotorua.

There are boat trips to White Island as well but you get a superb view from the helicopter.

NZ has so much to offer that the visit to the Sky Tower in Auckland should be the last thing to do..

Many thanks for the suggestions – they have really helped. This is my tentative plan:
Feb 7th – Pick up the car in the afternoon and drive part of the way towards Taupo – stay somewhere along the way.
Feb 8th – Spend the day on the way and in Taupo. Either spend the night in Taupo or in the evening drive towards Rotorua and stay there.
Feb 9th – Spend the day and night in the Rotorua area.
Feb 10th – Drive to Whakatane, and do either the helicopter or boat ride to White Island (we are still ‘discussing’ which would be better…), after that head towards Auckland and spend the night there.
Feb 11th – In the morning get up and do the Sky Tower and then head towards the airport (so yes, Sky Tower will be about the last thing I do in NZ… )
Sound do-able?

There is nothing worthwhile between Wellington and Taupo. You may as well start early the next day, and you'll get to Taupo by lunch.

I'd also spend the night of the 8th in Taupo, start early the next day as there is a worthwhile sight on the way (can't remember the name) where a major thermal park. Taupo and Rotorua is only about 90 mins or so.

There is nothing worthwhile between Wellington and Taupo. You may as well start early the next day, and you'll get to Taupo by lunch.
The whole reason I figured we would start out driving right after getting off the ferry was that we could get some of the driving done in the evening, which would leave us more time for Taupo the next day. You are saying it's not worth it?

The Desert Road offers you a few opportunities to take photos (and they're volcanoes too). But if you start your drive late in the afternoon, it'll be dark when you get there.

I'd spend a few hours in Wellington, rather than driving half way and trying to find a motel to stay the night. Alternatively, just drive all the way to Taupo when you get off the ferry. You'll miss Wellington and the sights on the Desert Road.

Daylight saving, it will be light until around 2000.

So start the drive and stay somewhere before the desert rd, then get the great pics during daylight.

Enjoy

Adam

There aren't a lot of accommodation options between Palmerston North (a couple of hours north of Wellington) and Waiouru (at the southern end of the desert road).

Perhaps then Palmerston North is the place...at least we'll have a couple hours out of the way then.

Also, when heading north, which is the nicer drive - going around Tongariro National Park on the East side, or the West side?

Thanks again for your help!

They are both nice. East side (Desert Road) is much quicker - shorter distance and a better road. It is also closer to the lake, so I'd recommend this way.

West side has limited views of the lake, and is not as good a road.

The East side it is, then. The other mr davidwnc is a civil engineer who designs bridges and stuff, so I'd prefer to take the route with better roads, as (for some odd reason) I don't wish to have a 4 hour discussion on the state of the roads... :)

By the way - any recommendations on interest/nice hotels in Taupo and Rotorua?

There isnt anything interesting or noteworthy until you get to the $1000+ /night range (Lake Taupo Lodge). Presumably that isn't what you are looking for (but if you are, it is well worth it, one of the nicest lodges in the world and good value despite the high price). There might be some good B&B's around (haven't checked recently), but the regular hotel/motel accomodations are OK but lacklustre (I guess it is far enough from AKL to not get consistent international tourist traffic to sustain a larger good quality hotel; hardly surprising given how much trouble AKL has doing that). The beauty of the volcanic features more than compensates for the hotel rooms :) ... this was one of the 7 wonders of the world (the pink terraces) until they collapsed in the 19th century, but you can still see vestigial traces.

Pardon me butting in! All good advice so far.

If you don't wish to spend time in Wellington, consider heading north as far as Palmerston North the first night. Not a lot to see but plenty of acceptable motels, especially along Fitzherbert Avenue.

Re driving to Taupo - at the start of the trip north from Palm Nth (Palmy to the locals!), consider the "back road" (State Highway 54) via Feilding/Cheltenham/Rewa, which comes out on SH1 north of Hunterville. Not quite as fast, straight and bland as the equivalent bit of SH1, but stunning scenery and you miss out a few boring bits (Sanson/Bulls). It's a great drive and can be very quiet traffic-wise. Warning!: Once you get to the Desert Rd, the first section after Waiouru is straight and it's easy for your speed to creep up - NZ police cars can read your speed as you approach them, so watch out or they'll suddenly spin around behind you - voice of experience speaking! I only drive this route about 4 times a year, but that stretch of the road is well known for the number of police cars and speeding motorists caught.

Taupo has a huge range of accommodation - Lake Taupo Lodge/Huka Lodge are top-end, but lots of good motel/hotels along the waterfront. Have stayed many times at Clearwater Motor Lodge, right on waters edge, natural hot water stream beside it. Spacious rooms, in-room spa bath, great sunsets! There is plenty to see and do around Taupo, however time-wise you may be better to go on to Rotorua for the night.

Rotorua: Sorry, not my specialist subject but plenty to see and do!

Whakatane: Mr Marquees and I did the boat trip to White Island about 4 years ago and it was the highlight of that NZ trip. We went on with a company called PJ Tours - it was an all-day trip and I would not have wanted to drive on to Auckland afterwards. Fairly large boats and quite rough seas, helpful crew and a great guide on the island - we were split into 3 small groups for our walk around. Helicopter might be an option time-wise (we were on a budget :D ) - the helicopter group landed beside us just after we got on to the island. However on the journey back we encountered a large group of pilot whales - we stopped and drifted among them for quite some time which was wonderful.

Auckland: Another big city! Ferry over to Waiheke would be my choice rather than Sky Tower, but if you are a sucker for heights you can do a feet-first bungie-type jump from it! Breakfast at Orbit, the Sky tower restaurant, is a great way to start the final day of your trip, but not sure if it is open for that early on weekdays.

Just a final thought: if you are into volcanoes and don't have time or inclination to do the Tongariro Crossing (famous volcano walk south of Taupo): the Eastern route (SH49 & 47) to Taupo misses the good photo opportunities of the Dessert Rd, but turning off at Waiouru and going via Ohakune and National Park adds journey time but would give you the chance to catch the chairlift at Whakapapa Skifield part way up Mount Ruapehu. Have done this twice - it's fascinating to see the jagged terrain at close hand minus snow - can be cold even in Feb, but they supply loan jackets at the chair-lift. Not sure if it runs every day, and would be pointless if weather isn't great, but well worth it on a good day.

Sorry to ramble on - hope this helps. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time whatever you end up doing.

Thanks for the help - your suggestions have helped me figure out what to plan! Cheers!

Hi - some similar questions here. We're traveling in the opposite direction: arriving AKL, then heading south.

Our plan is to do the Tongariro Hike (for certain) but are flumoxxed on how to spend the day couple of days on the North Island before jumping down South

Our preference is more rural/nature than city but wouldn't want to eliminate any great towns.

Questions:

1. Is the Taupo area worth a visit for a day or so? Have heard and read mixed reviews ...
2. Any drives worth taking after completing the Tongariro hike, particularly headed south towards Wellington or north back to AKL to grab a flight?
3. What are the best sights and best routes from Taupo down to Wellington in a car? Any must do's or day hikes?
4. Best places to cycle?
5. How long is the ferry from Wellington to Picton? Is it easier to fly from Wellington to Nelson and grab another car in Nelson?

Many thanks!

I would suggest going to Coromandel peninsula and staying in Whitianga for a day or 2. Its a bit like Carmel and Monterrey peninsula in terms of ambiance, and quite different from Rotorua etc. This also gives you option of returning to AKL for your flight to the South Island (which may or may not be an advantage but does open options).

If you have some time to spare after the Tongariro Crossing (which is incredible, just did it last weekend) swing by Mt. Taranaki. Not directly on the way to Wellington, but not too much of a detour either. If you dont, take the 1 south instead of the 4, makes for a much shorter drive as there is a lot of construction going on.