Hi Zac,

Thanks so much for your response and for the tips about AirNZ! Very helpful, and will certainly encourage my use of them in the future.
I'm relieved to hear that the connection is possible, albeit tight
There are 3 of us traveling so it may be an even swap cost wise between using the bus-vs-car.....will definately look into it though. I am still on the fence about tossing the tickets and buying some for a day earlier, but I hate to cut yet another day off the trip. I think I'll go with your input and "live on the edge"....worst case, I guess we take the next NZ flight? It sounds as if you use NZ frequently? It will be my first experience with them and have heard many good things.

Thanks again for all the helpful input!
Valencia

P.S. the "problem" flight is on July 4th...perhaps this is a "sign"?...lol
Hope your flight/trip is a good one