Auckland

[Susiesue61]

So following in from who we should fly with, is it worth spending a few days in Auckland, and what would be good to do?

Personally I found Auckland to be the least exciting place in New Zealand, but then I'm not a big city fan

A ferry trip to Waiheke Island? I’ve been on a wine tour there before and it was amazing (Craig Revel Horwood voice). Bit pricey, though. The sky tower was quite cool and Auckland War Memorial museum was interesting. I only did a couple of nights there last time so didn’t see that much. I didn’t feel particularly as though I was missing any more great sights.

As I understand it, Auckland is more about relaxed living and visits to the beach. Therefore it’s somewhere to relax before you start a road trip. A friend goes regularly to visit a friend and it’s not really about unmissable sights, more about being a friendly place with lovely beach suburbs.

Auckland is one of those places where you really need a car. Not much in CBD really, mostly just businesses. I take dc1 for the weekend to watch a show sometime, we like the sky tower and the museum and gardens around it are really good. Probably don't need more than a day really though. Beach suburbs are lovely, but to be honest there are beaches all over, you might be better heading to somewhere like the Coromandel.

Wellington is completely different, lots to do within walking distance and fairly compact. I much prefer going on city breaks to Wellington, so if you were going to spend time in one of the cities it is probably a better bet.

Domain, gardens and the museum
ferry to Waiheke island - lots of fab wineries - Man of War is my favourite and Stony Batter (the defence installation) is interesting, especially the tunnels.
ferry to Devonport also very nice
I agree with pp that Auckland is perhaps one of the least interesting cities in NZ.