I greatly appreciate your suggestions. And I'll definitely be visiting Rotorua, and now, Napier on the next trip to New Zealand. As I mentioned part of the reason for stopping in New Zealand, while en route to Australia, was to decompress from the extremely long flight. Originally I had thought of renting a car and driving out to the Coromandel Peninsula. Of course, this could just as easily have been Rotorua. But then I started to take into account the 2½ weeks of driving I'll be doing in Australia and thought why not take it easy in the beginning. After all it is a vacation. Of course, my research on Auckland revealed a lot more things of interest than I had originally thought available. The result-more activities than time in which to do them. We should give this condition a name in the manner of Murphy's Law or the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. Let's see...how about the Traveler's Postulate which states a traveler will find that the amount of sights/activities available in any location are inversely proportional to the amount of time to be spent in said location. And the First Addendum to the Traveler's Postulate states any research done by a traveler on a particular location increases the amount of available sights/activities at that location exponentially.

So, there you have it. The burden of travel. It's a nasty job but I'm sure yourself and 1000+ other Travelziners are willing to pitch in and help me do it.

As to my thoughts of overnighting elsewhere, technically those would be within the metropolitan Auckland area (or it's immediate environs). In particular a visit to Waiheke Island seems like it would be more relaxed by overnighting there. From what I've read it seems analogous to Whidbey's Island in the Seattle area.

Anyway Candice thanks for your suggestions. And I agree with you about areas being too touristy. Sure I love staying out of tourist hordes. But that's not going to keep me from visiting the world's great sights. And no matter how I rationalize it or what term I use (traveler, vagabond,...) I'm still a tourist. So, I'll be happy to share my thoughts on Auckland when I return. And, of course, I'll be doing recon for you in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.

John in San Diego