Ferries run every :10 and it's a :15 ride for $12. We walked through the wharf and easily found…read morethe bus stop wait. This beautiful island feels more like. Cape Cod than Auckland. There is a very laid back relaxing vibe here, it feels like we are a world away from the bustling city of Auckland. We easily spent 6 hours here & could have stayed longer. Victoria Road is where the shops and restaurants are located . The architecture is Edwardian and Victorian, but I didn't think it looked particularly special. I found some locally made artistic greeting cards & enjoyed the charming gift shops. We stopping for dinner at the Patriot. There are 4 pristine beaches on Davenport. There are a local and also Torpedo Bay Navy Museums here. There are many charming shops, cafés, restaurants and friendly people.

We stayed in Devonport on the beach. It's a charming beach city, but it wasn't as cute as I…read moreexpected. It was not on my favorites list. We ate at several of the restaurants. All were good enough, but nothing was amazing. Mount Vic was the highlight of our stay here. This is definitely worth the lovely walk up.

Large clean well marked train station bar the ferries & port. Starbucks,a florist, mojo are…read moreinside. Lots of machines to refill our at hop transit card & staff that was a big help. This is the the public transport hub in the central business district. It opened in 2003 but was a post office from 1911. It combines a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive modernist architectural elements, and a bus interchange. It is at the foot of Queen Street, in the main commercial shopping, dining & transportation hub.

If you're getting around Auckland, you're probably going to go through Britomart Station. This is…read morethe central hub for all ground transportation in the area, and everything seems to stop through here. It's right across the street from the Ferry Landing, and there's lots of stores, restaurants, gift shops and things to see and do around here. When I went, the place was swarming with scooters! They were everywhere. Plus, the place was heavily under construction, with big scaffolding over the facade, and shipping containers set up to walk through so nothing falls on pedestrians. The exterior is nice looking, and everyone seems to know where this place is. They have kiosks set up to check your bus tickets without having to deal with a clerk.

We had a delightful time, with Meredith as our guide! She picked us up bright and early, and even…read morecame into our hotel lobby area to find us. She had plenty of facts to share, providing the local perspective of how Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand. It was a super smooth experience! We went to Hobbiton, and the tour group smartly booked the early lunch slot, meaning that we were able to access the buffet uninterrupted.

During our trip to Auckland, high on our list of things to see was Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves. As…read morenone of us can drive, we can't just "rent a car" (as many people suggest) and drive out to Hobbiton or Waitomo Caves, so we had to find a tour company to take us. My sister researched tour companies and settled on Bush and Beach, as they offered a smaller tour group, as opposed to a large coach with 50 people. (In addition to my sister, husband, and I, there were two other people with us, a mother and son from New York, who were lovely people.) For $395NZ per person (the current price is now $450), the price included admission to Hobbiton (the tour and lunch combo) and Waitomo Caves. While $395 is not cheap, considering it included admission to the attractions (which is now $158 and $75, respectively -- it was probably cheaper last year), transportation (we spent several hours driving), and the driver's time (a full day -- we were picked up from our hotel at 6:45am and returned around 12 hours later), the price was very reasonable. It was a great day, but what made it such a memorable experience was Damian, our driver. Damian is honestly the highlight of my trip to Auckland. He was just so AMAZING. He was friendly and personable, and you could tell he really liked his job and meeting people. On our drive he told us interesting tidbits about the area and history of New Zealand and made the drive very interesting. He was so engaging. If that wasn't enough, he bought all of us "hokey pokey" ice cream, which is apparently a famous flavour of ice cream in New Zealand, and on our way to Waitomo Caves from Hobbiton, he took us to see Waipapa Dam and the surrounding area as we had some extra time. Seeing Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves is a great experience in itself, but Damian pushed it over the top. [Yelp collections: NZ/Fiji 2023; New Zealand 2023]

Travel days can be hectic and stressful…read more.. Since this was our first time arriving in Sydney, Australia, and departing from New Zealand, we arranged our pre- and post-cruise air and land transportation through Oceania Cruises. We were more than impressed with the itineraries that they scheduled for our foursome. Our New Zealand driver picked us up from our hotel, Sudima Auckland City, at precisely at 5;30 PM, allowing us an uninterrupted 30-minute drive or 24 miles to Auckland Airport (AKL). Along the way, our driver informed us that Auckland Airport (international) is this nation's busiest and largest airport, yet it has only two terminals. One terminal handles international airline connections through Air New Zealand, Qantas, Emirates, and Cathay Pacific, among others, while the other handles domestic airlines such as Virgin Australia and Airwork. He also advised us on navigating the three levels of the International Terminal, since we were unfamiliar with the airport's layout, which helped to make our departure less stressful. From the Air New Zealand drop-off point, we proceeded to the ground-floor check-in kiosks since we needed bag tags for our checked luggage, even though we had checked in for our flight on the app 24 hours in advance. Check-in was very easy, and a friendly agent was available at the kiosks to assist everyone if needed. After attaching our tags, we took our bags over to the agents to weigh and associate them with our flight tickets. We then passed through to the first-floor retail shops, highly efficient immigration and security, and duty-free vendors before reaching the second floor, where the departure gates were located. We also were impressed by the comfortable modern and Māori-inspired designed décor. While negotiating the crowds and making our way to our departure gate, we had allowed for a 3-hour cushion so we calm down and grab something light to eat pre-flight. We couldn't think of purchasing more souvenirs since we had spent the past 20 days in Australia and New Zealand and everything was packed in either our checked-in or carry-on luggage. So, our appetites were diverted to several food vendors, which, amazingly, offered tasty food and beverage options along with quick, friendly service. Before we knew it, time seemed to fly by and we were ready to board our flight home. We boarded stress-free to our selected seats and promptly fell asleep on a smooth and quiet flight thanks to Air New Zealand.

The airport is nice and clean. I did notice that there are far less restrooms available than in…read moreother airports. Also when you arrive you will be checked again and again by customs. Quite strict about bringing any food, animal, plant or soil matter into the country. I get that, but after you get asked the same question at the 3rd or 4th checkpoint it starts to get a bit redundant.

I went here yesterday for the first time, suggested by some friends from Auckland (who I hadn't…read moreseen in 15 years) as a nice place that would be child friendly. Driving up from Hamilton with two sets of directions (printed from Google maps and navigation from my phone) and we still got a little lost... I'll take some credit for that, but also to forewarn you that the signing up to the park isn't that great and it's a little out of the way. There was plenty of parking when we arrived around 10:15 on a Saturday morning. There were already a lot of people there, appeared to be many birthdays and parties, rented jump houses and the like. There are lots of picnic tables around. It would be friendly for strollers/prams/push chairs. We also brought our son's little balance bike, and he enjoyed riding around on it there. Mostly, it's flat gravel areas for walking, flat grassy areas and very little paved area. The park was free to enter and to view the animals. It didn't appear to be staffed during the time we were there. You just walk around the various animal areas. We saw some rabbits, chickens, sheep, cows, goats, horses and a pig. My son (3-years-old) liked it, but wasn't blown away. Maybe we've been to too many animal parks lately. After walking through the animal areas (took about 30 minutes at a very slow pace), we grabbed a picnic table and chatted until my friends had to leave. One, somewhat bizarre thing, is that we couldn't find any garbage cans/rubbish bins here. So, if you are planning to generate trash, bring some bags with you. There appears to be some camping areas and some walking tracks. We didn't go around any of these, so I don't have any comment about those. Overall, I thought this place was fine, but not amazing. It's free, so you can't complain too much :)

Except for the rain, I had an excellent Ambury Park experience. You go through it as part of the Te…read moreAraroa trail (hiking trail that spans the length of NZ) so it makes an excellent place to stop for the night. I bumped into a park ranger as I arrived and she was really awesome, and since I was hiking the TA, allowed me to camp free of charge. The grass is flat, the toilet facilities are clean, and there's water available: everything a tramper could ever want. I didn't spend much time wandering the rest of the park (after walking in the rain all day I was kind of over it) but it's a nice outdoor area and a great place to take the family.

Although we arrived at the international terminal from the US, we flew out of the domestic terminal…read moreto Queenstown on Jetstar a few days later. We took an Uber from Hilton Auckland to the domestic terminal. It was clean and organized but it was hard to find a water fountain. There were a few food options to grab a bite. Security was incredibly efficient. Compared to the US, the process was smooth and the staff were friendly and welcoming. The signage was clear, and getting through security took less than five minutes. In the US, we're used to arriving at least two hours early for domestic flights, but in New Zealand we were told to be there one hour beforehand and even that felt generous given how quick everything was.

The attitudes of every customs officer they employ. They're rude, abrasive, and downright assholes…read more Especially the goon with his dipshit mustache.

My wife and I were on a week long vacation to Auckland and we saw many good reviews for this tour…read more We boarded and took a 40 minute trip to Waiheke Island for some scientific readings and then it was off to see some dolphins and birds and whales. They told us if you find these cool Gannett birds, it should tell you where the dolphins are. They divebomb the fish as the dolphins rile them up. We saw at least 400 dolphins on this trip and then we saw a whale, and they kept us out for an extra hour to check out a dolphin in the harbor. Great crew, that was very fun and you can order beer on the trip. Plus!

We had the most fabulous time today! We saw manta rays, wholes, dolphins and even a shark! Zara…read moretaught us a few things about phytoplankton, tiny plants living near the surface of the ocean, that are responsible for producing the oxygen we breathe for 3 of 5 breaths ! If we do Ty take care of our oceans, we'll have a hard time breathing! My 5 yo and 8 yo said it was a great day that they will never forget.

What an amazing experience! Plenty to see during my trip!…read more They have the zoo broken up into different sections with animals of different regions. I was mostly interested in seeing the animals of Australia and New Zealand. There was a pretty good displayed variety in each section . I spent the whole day at the zoo, and don't regret it one bit ! The only thing I regret was not being able to really see the kiwi. They are nocturnal and the enclosure that they are in is extremely dark and hard to see. I did see one for a short amount of time belong into a bush. I definitely recommend this for families or anybody visiting from outside of the region

This zoo is ahhh-mazing! As a tourist to Auckland, I paid the entrance fee (it's free for New…read moreZealand residents) but it's well worth the price. I spent over three hours here and saw animals I've never seen before. It's huge zoo, and there are five sections divided in geographic locations. There is a schedule of presentations throughout the day and we ended up at a porcupine presentation that was quite entertaining and educational. The zoo is scenic, clean and well kept. There are cafes, toilets and rest stops thoughtfully located and convenient for visitors. The animals are well cared for and I saw abundant staff and volunteers throughout the visit. We ate lunch at Te Puna cafe that overlooked the South East Asia section and surprisingly was quite affordable with hot and cold grab and go selections. Highly recommend to visit.