Hi Teatrea
Its a great place for a driving holiday as you can get off the beaten track. If you head north of Auckland its always a nice drive to the top at Cape Reinga. Make sure you take State Highway 12 and pass through Dargaville on yr way back so you can stop off and look at all the amazing Kauri forests Unreal. Also some lovely scenery north of here around the Karuhiruhi area. At the top of the country you can drive down 90 mile beach (think its only 55 miles though) - so drive up the road to the cape and back down the beach. Or vice versa depending on the tide.
Around Auckland itself there are some great things to do - if you have lots of time I would suggest you head over to Great Barrier island for 4 or 5 days. Absolutely paradise. But as this will probably not work for you - make sure you catch a fast ferry out to Waiheke Island for the day. Hire a bike to ride around, a car or just catch the local bus. Its absolutely beautiful and also happens to be home of some great vineyards and food options. NZ is either about adventures or food and booze!!! Lots of times you can do all 3!!! This island is amazing. Its abt a 30m fast ferry ride from downtown.
Also have a walk around the wharfs at the viaduct basin - home of the Americas Cup when we had it. Lots to see and look at. Normally fleets of massive super yachts parked up - well worth a sticky peek.
www.waiheke.co.nz/South of Auckland on the west side is the infamous Raglan - a must do in every surfers life. Also a pretty cool town to walk around and get some food. Just south of there is a spot called Waitomo (not far from Otorohanga) which has some amazing caves - you call do all sorts of caving and abseiling etc some great family adventure stuff from plain and easy to full on extreme stuff. Wicked fun.
www.waitomocaves.com/newwebpages/ihome.htmSouth of Auckland on the east side is the Coromandel Peninsular. Great spot. So many amazing beaches and lots of good walking trails. If you get some swell that place can really turn it on. Hot Water beach is a favourite of mine - at low tide take a spade down and dig yourself a hole - then lie in the warm bath that greets you. Great fun. Kids love it. Also take a walk down to Cathedral Cove - one of the best spots in NZ I reckon. Especially out of season as there will be no one there.
www.thecoromandel.com/In the middle of the country you have National Park - its got 3 nice mountains to look at, climb, play on etc Whatever you so desire. One of NZ's Great Walks is there - its called the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Its incredible. Its not a technically difficult walk but you do need to be fit and make sure you pack lots of warm clothes as the weather has a mind of its own in NZ and can strike at anytime. If you do not have the 3 days - you should do a one day walk to the blue lake or similar. Well worth it.
www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/?gclid=CNmF6-Pc06QCFYQQHAodHUGbLAAs other have mentioned Rotoura and Taupo are classic tourist traps but with loads of cool stuff to do in them. Roto-Vegus (as we call it) has some of the most amazing rides that you can do - its a pure adrenalin junkies paradise. There is also things like the geothermal pools, maori village, farm experiences and trout fishing. If you like riding bikes make sure you check out the mountain biking scene - some of the worlds best tracks are right there in town - you can hire nice bikes from the entrance to the park and head off for 20 mins or 4 days - you choose. Easy tracks to very technical ones. Love that place.
www.rotoruanz.com/Gissy and Toeball can give you the run down of their area - but lets just say that a drive around East Cape and down to Gissy is well worth it. Very very very beautiful part of the world.
Further South is my old hometown of Hawkes Bay - Napier has an infamous past - prior to the Christchurch earthquake it was the scene of the largest most recent earthquake to hit NZ. It flattened the town and the fire that came after it got the rest of the buildings. As a result the place was rebuilt from scratch effectively. Given it happened in 1931 and this was right in the middle of the art deco era - Napier has become known as one of the best examples of art deco in the world. Its also home to some find foods, vineyards, waves and people!!!!
www.hawkesbaynz.com/South of here on yr way to Wellington you will come across many cool little towns along the way. An hour out of Wellington is Martinborough - a little town dedicated to
food and booze - great wines. There are also some of NZ biggest waves spots not far form here. Very isolated part of the coast with some very heavy reef breaks for you to charge on. Not for the faint hearted with a big southerly swell and the cold water!!!
Wellington - they say you can not beat it on a nice day - well that may be true but how many of them do they get???? Nice place to visit - especially Te Papa (the museum) and if you do get a nice day make sure you make the most of it!!!!
Five things to do whilst in NZ
1. Raglan
2. Drink Monteiths (and lots of it and all flavours)
3. Have a bacon and egg pie from the bakery
4. Drink some Pinot noir (prefer from the Central Otago region but Martinborough vineyards make a good drop as well)
5. Visit Waiheke Island
And one more thing - next time make sure you go south!
Anyway thats all for now - if u have any questions let us know. Have yrself a great time.
