Auckland Travel Forum

Ny wife and I will be visiting Auckland in late Feb or early March. What would the eather be like at that time from a temperature and rain perspective? We like to do local and some touristy things. Can anyone suggest city and side trip actions to fill 7 to 10 days?

What is the chance of renting a studio apartment for a week?

Many thanks.

George

Late Feb/Early March is still mid summer in New Zealand. Normally you must have nice and warm weather (as we had during out visits), but as everywhere the weather is unpredictable nowadays. So be prepared for some 'bad' days too.

Auckland:
Sky Tower, Auckland Museum and Domain, Kelly Tarltons Underwater World, Cornwall Park & One Tree Hill or Mt. Eden, Parnell Road with its shops, Viaduct Basin along the harbour.
A little bit outside the town: Auckland Botanic Garden

Side trips from Auckland:
- by boat to Devonport: walk around and enjoy the view from some old volcano's
- Rangitoto: a former volcano
- Waiheke Island: just a paradise with lovely beaches and even vineyards; it is also possible to visit Stony Batter, a World War II coastal defence battery.
- Waitakere Ranges: with 'wild' beaches on the west coast like Piha (famous surfers paradise), Karekare or Anawhata (one of the most remote beaches in New Zealand); this regional park also offers many walking trails.
- Muriwai: Worth a visit for its rough coastline and beaches, but most of all for the large gannet colony.
- a little bit further away you could visit Goat Island Marine Reserve with a guided boat tour with a glass bottom boat around the island (on your way north also visit Puhoi - a former Bohemian settlement).

happy travels
Jaap

Jaap has listed most things you can easily do from Auckland. I would add Tiritiri Matangi, a predator-free island in the Hauraki Gulf where you can see a lot of rare birds in the wild, including the flightless takahe. Great Barrier Island is another great place. Also day trips to the Coromandel Peninsula are a great thing to do.

The already mentioned Waitakere Ranges are fantastic, the rainforest right outside the city. You need a car to get there. Only to Piha there is a shuttle service in summer. This is a very busy beach with a great (and dangerous) surf, featured on TV rescue series. So it even got more popular in the past years. I think Bethells Beach is more spectacular anyway... ;-)

An important addition to the weather info is that summers in Auckland normally are very humid, air humidity can be about 60 per cent, so you might sweat a lot if it is not windy.

Apartment rentals are no problem. I walked past several ones in AKL last weekend. My husband commuted to Auckland for two years four days a week and stayed in an apartment most times. Also motels do special rates for weekly rentals, for example the Parnell Village Motor Lodge. (More details about it on my AKL page.)

Hello there! Weather will be mid to late summer.Temperatures around 19c to 26c. A good time to be here,not to hot and not cold and generally no rain. We can have cool evenings or if you visit by the sea,a bit of a cool breeze! If you only have 7 days I suggest you do a quick 2 nights in our capital,Wellington!( Bottom of nth Is.) A night or day trip from Auckland to Rotorua,to enjoy our maori culture! A couple of nights in Pihia,which is north of Auckland,(including a ferry ride across to beautifull Russel! (10 mins )And in Auckland itself,stay in the city around our Americas Cup Village! Go up our Sky Tower!,(to have a great outlook of the city!)Take a ferry ride across to Devonport or if you have a night to spare visit our beautifull Wiaheke Island a short trip from Auckland downtown!These will give you an overall impression in a short time.We might be small be we have an amazing amount to look at and you can be a bit overwhelmed.I love my country and am well travelled thru out it.Enjoy and wellcome.

Head up into Northland. Waipu and Waipu Cove are sleepy little towns with a great beach. Further up is Pahia (not sure about the spelling) and the Bay of Islands and Waitangi and all the historical info and sites up there. We really enjoyed that. Also the Kauri Pine forests are great to see. Rent a car and take your time just to drive and pull into where ever you want. Auckland will be lovely and warm at that time of the year but not too hot. Have a great trip.