Beetrooper

Hi all , we are looking at going north to Whangarei after we arrive in NZ for
our reccie in Feb 2010.
with other peoples experience:
Should we either get the car at the airport and drive straight there ( we land at 12 noon)
or
should we get the car and drive half way stay overnight somewhere and go on the next day to Whangarei
what do you think?

do you think we will too jet lagged to go all the way?

Our route is

Whangarei - Auckland - BOP - Taupo - Hawkes Bay - Wellington - New Plymouth and back to airport. (19 days)

frogeye

Hi

I can only speak from my own experience, having only done the trip twice,but when we landed we were both shattered and took a taxi to a local hotel. We spent a few days recovering here - but one would have done if we had been pushed for time I suppose and hired a car from then.

We are about to do the trip again - land at Christchurch, spend 3 days here including some sightseeing trips and move on once fully recovered. It suits us.

I suppose it depends on how well you travel. We found that we both needed the extra time to recover, but only you will know if you are safe or not

Have a great time

teebrown

I would definately book a room for the night, jet lag really does creep up on you and hit you hard, get a good night sleep and set off in the morning, although we drive on the left there are some different rules like the right turn rule that you have to keep your wits about you.

Have a good trip

MnB

Hi I agree with the previous poster's.....we stayed a couple of nights in Auckland before heading off in hire car on first trip, second time we flew into Wellington and stayed before heading off..... jet lag does creep up on you.

Enjoy your trip... I'm sure you'll have a brilliant time!!
B x

scrubbedexpat094

I agree with the others, it would be safer for you to stay in Auckland for a couple of days & then head up north.

Have a great trip

The Jezzers

Fully agree with everyone when we did the recci trip we arrived in Auckland and spent the night in a hotel first you do need it. Jet lag creeps up on you.

Tomsk

It's easy to underestimate the effects of jetlag, and whilst you might feel fine the additional stress of having to concentrate on unfamiliar roads could also have an impact. That tiredness just creeps up on you
I'd strongly recommend adding a couple of nights in Auckland to your itinerary to give you time to recover from the flight...there's loads to see & do in Auckland anyway, so it won't be wasted time .
Not really wanting to put the frighteners on you, but there have been incidents where jet-lagged tourists have been involved in road accidents, sometines fatal such as in this story.
Alternatively if you're really not keen on staying in Auckland and want to get straight on with your recce, why not consider letting someone else do the driving. There's bus companies that do the trip, or you can fly & I'm sure that there are airport taxi services, I know that when my hubby travelled back to the UK he used a local taxi company that offer good rates for airport transfers from the entire BoP region...I'm sure there must be something similar in Whangarei.
Good luck with planning your trip though, sounds like you've got an interesting itinerary planned

Madmaxdeux

Pretty much everyone has said it so I think it would be pretty much a safe bet if I also say Do Not Underestimate the Effects of Jetlag.

It is one of the most common mistakes that visitors who have travelled from Europe do make and I wont hold any bones in saying it costs lives. Theres been several incidents in the last year caused by tiredness the most recent and tragic was in Christchurch.

You may think you are fine the wham usually late afternoon and near sunset especially on a warm day and in Feburary after leaving the UK that is guarenteed you will be tired pretty darn quick. You probably could get as far as Orewa North of Auckland but after that you will be playing russian roulette with the jet lag effect. Its worth checking into a hotel the first night in NZ for certain.

teeym

We had approximately the same time schedule for our recce trip earlier in the year. We 'did' Auckland for the first 3 days after we arrived, then picked up the car and went off to Whangarei (which Tony our Maori hire car guy, very patiently over the course of a 1/2 hr mini-bus journey, beat into me that it was pronounced "Fan-gur-ray" - once we arrived, we found out that just about everyone we bumped into in the town had a different take on how to say it!).

I'd highly recommend getting your Auckland fix when you arrive - not only does it get the jet-lag out of you, but also saves on a few days car hire and the need to pay for parking when you come back through. Certainly after a couple of days kip, Auckland to Whangarei is a dead easy drive and Whangarei to BOP shouldn't be a problem in a day. Staying in Auckland will also allow you to shop around for cheap car deals - the local companies offer really good deals on older cars if you don't have too much auto snobbery! Our 15 year old Toyota Corolla from GO Rentals was well under £5/day (admittedly in April) and did the job brilliantly*.

If you've not already booked your flights and fancy staying in Auckland when you arrive, certain travel agents seem to get some very good deals in nice hotels if you book them in conjunction with your flight as a package.

Just for your info our route took us:
Auckland (3 nights)
Whangarei/Tutukaka (2 nights)
Hamilton (3 nights)
New Plymouth (2 nights) - great drive from Hamilton to NP BTW!
Wellington (4 nights)
Napier (1 night)
Rotorua (3 nights)
Auckland (2 nights)


*If you overlook the small matter of it running out of electricity in a New World car park in Hamilton, which resulted in every Kiwi within a 5 block radius descending on us and offering to pop home to get their jump leads!!!

j19fmm

Spend a night close by when you land, you will need the sleep. Last time we were over OH fell asleep standing up whilst being shown photos of my cuzzys recent USA trip dead funny but certainly wouldn't have been if he was driving.
Coming back to the UK I always do the driving back from Heathrow. Some sort of 'I'm a mother, I'm used to being kept awake' seems to kick in...

Beetrooper

Thanks to everyone for your advice - i had a niggling feeling about the jet lag!
I have persuaded the husband to have a two night stay in Auckland before going north so we will also save on the car hire for two days.

Anyone know how much is a taxi to central Auckland would be? just so we know for when we get there.

Thanks to all again

Madmaxdeux

A lot less than it would be to get the Taxi from Heathrow to Central London

This will be useful

http://www.toandfromtheairport.com/auckland.html

A shuttle is a cheaper option than a Taxi

Cadibel

One thing I would recommend is not staying in Mangere - although close to the airport, doesn't give the best impression of Auckland!

scrubbedexpat094

I remember paying about $20 but that's nearly 3 years ago now.

Maybe Matewx can provide you with a good hotel deal