Going to Auckland for 8 days; Searching for Advice

Drive out to the Coromandel Peninsula and spend a night out there.

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Looks pretty legit

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It's an epic drive around the entire thing. There's a Hot Water Beach on the east side that is pretty cool to check out. I stayed in Whitianga for a night.

Go to Rotorua. Probably requires more than a day trip.

Bay of Islands is supposed to be nice.

Tongarrio Crossing is an amazing day hike (but long and requires advanced planning)

Thanks for the suggestions.


Any restaurants a must?

My advice...get out of Auckland. For food, well, you don't expect great food outside of Louisiana. If you get it...cool beans.

A cool spot for a meal in Auckland was Dr. Rudis.
LINK

If you are doing the Waitomo glow worm caves, then consider "black water rafting" aka "cave tubing."

black water rafting

Rotorua has tons to do as well. They have:

-a redwood forest with an elevated walkway. We did it at night and it was pretty cool

-duck boat tours...a bit meh but still a good time (the drivers are pretty funny)

-Skyline Luge...my favorite thing to do in NZ.

Luge

-Zorb balls
zorb

-white water rafting over the highest waterfall legally allowed

rafting

-"the squueze" jet boat tour and geothermal waterfall. To get to the waterfall, you gave to "squuze" through a rock formation and walk up a creek. The trees above you look like something from Jurassic Park.

squeeze

They also have a cool spa
(The Polynesian Spa) that was pretty legit.

Lastly, the Maori tribe has a cool cultural center that was really legit and worth visiting imho. You will see "the Haka," but this link explains it quite well imo:
haka


In short, if you can re-arrange your stay and spend 2 or 3 nights in Rotorua...
I would highly suggest it.

Additionally, "Hobbiton" is along the way and was a pretty good stop. The South Island is prettier, but Rotorua has tons to do.


No matter what you choose to do, have a safe trip.