[settersred]

Can someone give me some idea how long I should allow for travelling from Auckland to Wellington, stopping at the following places.
Auckland - Coromandel - Tauranga - Taupo - New Plymouth - Wanganui - Palmerston North - Wellington.
Can I drive from one to the other in say, a morning? spend the PM sightseeing sleep over and then move on to next or would this be rushing things?
We have 4 weeks but want to spend wk1 on NI, wk2 Nth of SI and wk2 & 3 in Christchurch.
Any advise appreciated and if I have missed a good place to visit on the way down, let me know.

[DSC]

We did a similar itinerary in 2004 but including Rotorua. We did it over 3 weeks, although it is possible to drive between the places you mentioned in a morning or so I guess.
In my opinion you would be rushing things. You would see alot of the country, but through a car windscreen.....

[Hobbit]

Hi All,

I don't dirve, but when I visted NZ a few years ago and my sister took me out and about, it took approx. the following times from Auckland: 4 hours to Mount Manganui (a lot of single lane, windy roads, with no possibility of overtaking, so just sit back and enjoy the scenery), and then another 1-2 back up to Rotaura; 7 hours to drive to Napier. My sister's partner regularly dives to New Plymouth (?150k), and that takes 5 hours. I guess AKL straight through to Wellington would be a whole day's driving.

Oh, and by the way, it seemed to me that you can overtake on the inside as well in NZ!

Kate.

[gil]

Kate,
Try this http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/index.php and click on "Times and Distances" on the menu on the left hand side,

Gil

[sizzlingbadger]

Why are you staying so long in Christchurch ? Is this the area you're hoping to settle in ?

I think you'd be rushing to see the NI in a week. The drive straight through from Auckland to Wellington is 10-12 hours. If you're looking at doing some of the touristy things in places as well you may want 1 or 2 nights.

Probably better to go with a flexible itinerary and not tie yourselves down to such a tight schedule, that way you'll enjoy yourselves a lot more.

[ellenmelon]

i know for a fact that its at least 4 if not 5 hours between new plymouth and wellington so doing all of that itinerary in such a short amount of time would be a bit of a stretch..a lot of things you would see would be through the window of your car! :) if you add in traffic and breaks for the driver it can often take longer than expected.
however it can be done (me and my mum did 600k in scotland in a day..we were VERY tight for time) but just be aware you might feel cheated if you miss out on stuff and you can get really tired doing so much travel without even a "do nothing day".

[anna_c]

You certainly could do each of those legs in a morning, with the exception of Taupo to New Plymouth which would likely take a bit longer.

Whether you'd want to is another matter - I think you'll be exhausted and not get very long anywhere. Also you'll likely only get a Sunday in one of those places, meaning what you can do is quite limited.