Sightseeing Around Auckland

The best part about traveling by car or RVing in New Zealand– you can eat when you’re hungry, rest when you’re tired, see what you want to see, and never have to worry about the tour bus pulling out while you’re in the bathroom. And by the way, it’s not a bathroom in New Zealand. You better check the Kiwi Dictionary on that one.

Winter Garden

Photo By: peter kurdulija

While you’re in Auckland, you’ll want to visit the Auckland Museum. In the Auckland Domain near Parnell, you’ll find the Winter Garden and the Museum, which was combined with a war memorial in 1929. The Auckland Museum has guided tours and a Maori Cultural Performance most days as well as special events. Through April 10, their special exhibit Wonderland: The Magic of the Rose, will tell you everything you wanted to know about this popular flower. If you like music, the NZTrio has a concert series in the museum’s auditorium. To find out what’s happening at the museum while you’re in Auckland, try the Auckland Museum’s Event”s Calendar.

Moka

Photo By: kiwi love usa

If you’re interested in Blues, Pop, Heavy Metal, or anything else that has a melody or makes a noise, the Concert & Gig Guide will help you find it. For loud noise and plenty of action, catch a New Zealand Warriors game. New Zealand’s rugby team has a few home games in the coming months.

Wade McKinnon

New Zealand Warriors

Photo By: paddy napper

A little more dignified than a rugby game, Auckland’s Cup Week is at Ellerslie March 6-13. Said to be New Zealand’s richest and biggest thorough bred racing event, this three day party has fancy horses and fancy ladies. Kiwis always like a party and their Birdcage Bash is big– and exclusive. To get in, you have to be at least 18 years old– New Zealand’s legal age to drink, and you have to dress snazzy. This event is known for its fashion and glamour. Don’t expect to show up in a pair of shorts and jandals.

The Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat) has a little of everything from trams to an aviation collection covering over 100 years of New Zealand transportation. On the Great North Road, next to Western Springs Park, Motat’s aviation collection is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. It includes the only Solvent Mark IV Flying Boat in the world and also one of the few remaining WW2 Avro Lancaster Bombers. Restored steam trains are also a popular part of Motat. For operating days, see Motat. A collection of operating tram cars covers 120 years of steam, cable, and electrical tram traction.
Number 248 runs from Motat’s Great South Road site past the zoo to Motat’s Motion Road site

Melbourne Tram at Motat

Photo By: AA654

If you enjoy speedway racing, or just want to get a little mud in your face, catch the Midget World Series or the Spring Car Classic at Western Springs Speedway. A circle track, six classes race here including midgets, springs and motorcycles. Most Saturday nights between November and March, you can find US and Kiwi drivers competing for the chance to tear up their car or tear up their body in the chase for the trophy. A natural amphitheater, the Western Springs Stadium holds 30,000 for sports events and 50,000 for large music concerts.

Crash at Western Springs

Photo By: westernferret

While I’m not a fan of organized tours, I like to take a tour of any new city just to get a feel for the city and figure out what’s out there that I might want to visit. The Auckland Explorer Bus, a hop on, hop off sightseeing bus tour runs all day and offers free hotel/motel pickup. Leaving the Ferry Building at the end of Queen Street, the Auckland Explorer Bus stops at fourteen Auckland attractions including: Kelly Tarlton’s, the Auckland Museum, Mt. Eden, Auckland Zoo, and Motat. Western Springs Speedway is on nearby Stadium Road.

Plan your New Zealand trip your way. If you travel by car or RV in New Zealand, spend time exploring those spots you’d like to visit. Sometimes the things you remember most are the unexpected surprises or unique people you meet in another country. Auckland has many unexpected surprises.

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Auckland: Water, Water, Everywhere

If you’re RVing through New Zealand in a campervan, renting a car and staying in hotels, or just poking around Auckland, you’ll find water everywhere. Surrounded by water, Auckland, the City of Sails, has much to offer if you like boats, maritime history, or just plain sea life.

Sky Tower

Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Photo by: Beejayge

Near the Ferry Berth on Quay and Hobson Streets, the New Zealand Maritime Museum covers Kiwi maritime history from the Maori migration to modern day cup sailing. You can check out the boats, life-sized exhibits, or collection of models and artifacts on a guided tour or poke around on your own with an Audio Guide. If you'd like to get out on the water, the museum's Ted Ashby sails Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The SS Puke and Breeze sail most weekends.

Auckland Waterfront

Photo by: Beejaygee

The waterfront itself is a good place to spend an afternoon. Ferries come and go as well as other interesting boats. My first trip to New Zealand in 1985, I wandered the docks and visited with one of the crew of the damaged Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, which was lashed to the dock. The Rainbow Warrior had been ripped by two bombs killing one crew member, Fernando Pereira. The French government had ordered the bombing. The Rainbow Warrior crew have since scattered around the world. Today, the Rainbow Warrior is a living reef off the Cavalli Islands in Northland.

Penguins at Kelly Tarlton's

Photo by: Beejayge

Probably the only place you'll find snow and ice in Auckland is Kelly Tarlton's Under Water World. South of Central Auckland on Tamaki Drive, you can time travel back to visit a life-size replica hut of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the South Pole explorer. Then, visit a penguin colony in an antarctic snow cat. In Underwater World, you can view the sea life while traveling through a clear tunnel on a moving walkway. If you want a closer view of the sharks, you can get nose to nose with one. A professional dive instructor will help you meet the sharks. You'll get a lot wetter than you would on a ride through the tunnel, so bring a towel.

Maybe you don’t want to rub noses with a fish, but you’d still like to get a little sand in your shorts and meet new friends. November to March each year, Auckland’s Stroke & Stride Series invites locals and visitors to enter one or all of eight swim/run events. Swim in Waitemata Harbour Bay then run along Auckland’s waterfront dripping salt water– and maybe win a prize.

Good Morning Auckland

Photo by: Beejayge

You’re never far from water in Auckland, so dig into New Zealand maritime history, take a boat trip, or at least take off your shoes and get your feet wet.
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All photos are by Bryan Goddard who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Bryan has more than 1,000 photos uploaded on flickr. Click back on his links and you’ll find a slideshow of  his many New Zealand photos. On BeeJayGe, his website, you can find more photos of his New Zealand travels and a link to his blog.

Lyn Harris

RVin NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand




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Auckland on the Cheap

Auckland

City Centre

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Photo By:

Hanni

The first time I traveled New Zealand, I didn’t worry about traveling on the cheap. I flew into Auckland, rented a car and spent three weeks zigzagging from Auckland to Christchurch. I stayed at quality hotels, wandered into any restaurant that took my fancy, checked out the Waitomo Caves, watched the well mannered sheep at the Agrodome, and even managed to squeeze in a two day farm stay. Then, I flew home and went back to work to pay off the credit card bills that trickled in over the next couple of months. Those were the days when I was young, dumb, and richer.

That’s still a good way to travel if you have the big bickies. There’s nothing quite like hanging out at a top quality hotel or resort and wallowing around in all that pampering to make you feel special. It will probably strain the budget if you want to spend four or five months in New Zealand. If that’s your plan, you might need to consider at least some of that "On the Cheap."

Auckland Sunset

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Photo By:

Kenny Muir

Melanie McMinn has a new blog Auckland on the Cheap. She lists inexpensive activities and cheap places to eat in Auckland. Melanie is not a travel agent or promoting a business so you get information about a little of this and a little of that– whatever happens to be cheap in Auckland. If you’re traveling to New Zealand and have a question about saving money in Auckland, send Melanie an email. If you’re a Kiwi and have a tip to share, she’d like to hear from you, too.

Enjoy your time in Auckland even if it is "On the Cheap." As Melanie says, "After all, fun doesn’t have to be expensive!"

Lyn

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Auckland/Western Springs

Winged Sprint Cars

Photo By:

Carl Blake

If you like cars, boats and airplanes, or anything else that goes varoom, varoom, New Zealand is the place for you. While RVing in New Zealand, we spent a good part of our time finding anything that went fast and made noise-- or did at one time. We found motorcycle races at Mata Mata where sidecars with feet dragging crew maneuvered around corners-- most of the time. We found Destruction Derby races in the Far North where little kids yelled, "Go Uncle Joe!" and threw dirt clods at the drivers trying to bang Uncle Joe. As far as I know, they don't close Auckland down to run motorcycles through the streets, and I don't remember any kids throwing dirt clods at the Western Springs Speedway, but Auckland has Motat.

The Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat) has a little of everything from trams to an aviation collection covering over 100 years of New Zealand transportation. On the Great North Road, next to Western Springs Park, Motat's aviation collection is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. It includes the only Solent Mark IV Flying Boat in the world and also one of the few remaining WW2 Avro Lancaster Bombers. Restored steam trains are also a popular part of Motat. For operating days, visit Motat. A collection of operating tram cars covers 120 years of steam, cable and electrical tram traction. Number 248 runs from Motat's Great South Road site past the zoo to Motat's Motion Road site.

If you enjoy speedway racing, or just want to get a little mud in your face, catch the Midget World Series or the Spring Car Classic at Western Springs Speedway. A circle track, six classes race here including midgets, sprints, and motorcycles. Most Saturday nights between November and March, you can find US and Kiwi drivers competing for the chance to tear up their car or tear up their body in the chase for the trophy. A natural amphitheater, the Western Springs Stadium holds 30,000 for sports events and 50,000 for large music concerts.

Four kilometers west of the city center, parking is fairly easy if you're RVing or traveling by car. The Auckland Explorer Bus stops at Motat. Western Springs Speedway is on nearby Stadium Road.

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Auckland/Sky Tower

Auckland Sky Tower

Photo by: Jaimie Walsh

If you're spending time in Auckland, you'll want to see at least a few of the popular attractions. A good place to start is the Sky Tower. Within walking distance of the bus station, at Corner Victoria Street and Federal Street, Sky Tower, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, has several restaurants and bars. If you enjoy gambling, Sky Tower casinos are open 24 hours a day. On level 2 of SkyCity alone, you'll find all the popular casino games as well as more than 1,200 machines, or pokies.

Three glass elevators take you to three circular observation levels-- Sky Deck, the Main Observation level, or Sky Lounge. From there, you can see over fifty miles in any direction.

If you came to New Zealand to scare the daylights out of yourself, try the new Sky Walk. Snapped in a safety harness, you can walk the circumference of the tower on a 1.2 meter wide ledge. And, if you make it through that one, try base jumping 630 feet from the tower. It's probably easier on your back than a bunji jump. You don't hang upside down or bounce around.

For a little less excitement, just order a drink in the Sky Lounge, relax, and enjoy the view.

Sky Tower

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Photo by catz2

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Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

www.rvinnz.com

Auckland/Getting Around

Auckland Link

Volvo Bus

Photo by: Kiaora 34nz

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Traveling around Auckland can be enough to start your holiday off with a friendly fight. Just because you find an off ramp, don't expect an on ramp to be nearby. It's like picking your way through a maze to get back on the motorway. We spent part of an otherwise pleasant afternoon driving back and forth under the motorway with, "Not that road. We tried that one before." It can be done. Just don't cut yourself short on time and don't expect to find a parking space waiting with a welcome sign.

RVs and rental cars are available at the airport. If you're staying longer than a month, you might consider buying a vehicle. All vehicles are inspected for safety by the government before applying for a Certificate of Registration. If you're interested in purchasing an auto, try the Car Fair. You'll find the Local Buses are clean, convenient and run on time. A shuttle is available from the airport to the central Auckland bus station near Victoria Park. For sightseeing, buses are convenient-- or spend a little more and hire a taxi.

For more information on buying a New Zealand RV, see RVinNZ.

Lyn

Auckland (1)

Auckland City Centre
Photo by Haani

Chances are you'll fly into Auckland International Airport south of Auckland. Near Manukau Harbor, it's not the easiest place to face your first time driving on the left side of the road in a strange vehicle that flips on the windshield wipers and smears bugs every time you reach for your turn signals. You'll probably want to check out at least some of Auckland's tourist attractions, so you'll need accommodations for a night or two.

There are several quality hotels near the Auckland Airport. If you are driving an auto or RVing, the Great South Road runs parallel to and crosses over the motorway. Grocery stores, restaurants and motels are all along this old highway. Fifteen to twenty minutes south at Manurewa or Papakura, traffic thins out and prices are reasonable-- don't forget your AAA card. Before checking into a motel, stop at a supermarket for breakfast and snacks. Rooms have mini kitchens with coffee and tea.

About a thirty minute drive north of the airport, central Auckland offers a variety of accommodations. To find something in your price range, try Auckland Hotels.

Another option if you've rented an auto or RV is to book into the Top 10 Holiday Park, at nearby Manukau City. The Top 10 Holiday Park is close to downtown Auckland, a mall, and Rainbow's End Adventure Park-- a large amusement park. Rooms are rented with or without linen. Bring your own linen for a lower price. You'll share toilet/shower facilities and the community kitchen and TV/reading room. Another advantage of the Top 10 Holiday Park, if you're driving an auto or RVing-- city buses stop right outside. Auckland is a large city squeezed through a tiny isthmus. If you're not ready to tackle city traffic and the frustration of finding a parking space while driving on the wrong side of the road-- hop on the bus.

If you have a KOA card, bring it. Top 10 Parks offer a 10% discount with your KOA card. They sell their own card for about 20$US. The card purchased when you check in, is good for two years and is reciprocal with a US KOA card. In New Zealand, your KOA card brings discounts on entertainment and food.

Don't leave home without your AAA or KOA card.

Lyn