Worth squeezing in a day trip to poor knights in november?

[jdevic]

I am having a few days in North Island for a road trip from Auckland to Wellington in mid November. I heard good things about Poor Knights and know the visibility may be bad for that time of year due to plankton bloom. I wonder if it is worthwhile to drive up from Auckland for a day diving?

I will arrive at Auckland airport at 3:30pm on a Sunday, then fly out of Wellington to Tonga at 1pm on Thursday. My plan is:
Sunday: drive out Whangarei as soon as I land
Monday: dive poor knights, then drive south to somewhere in between Auckland and Rotorua (any suggestions?)
Tuesday, lake taupo / lord of the rings sites
Wednesday, overnight near Wairarapa for some astrophotography.
Thursday, morning in Wellington and then fly out.

Does it make sense?
I know it is very rushed, but I only have about 10 days to spare in total from Canada and I really want to check out Tonga for a few days.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Wingy]

Yes - I really enjoyed poor knights - great temperate diving.

 

[WetPup]

Makes sense, and it is a lot of driving (I did something similar around Christmas last year, but I spent 3 days diving, not 1).

Personally, I would drive through to Auckland on the Monday, because by the time you get back from diving, it'll be late afternoon. Just getting to Auckland with evening traffic will be tiring enough. Head out really early to Taupo-Rotorua, and Matamata (where Hobbiton is) on the Tuesday. Get to the geothermal fields in Taupo if you can, great fun (I say this as a geologist though...my idea of fun may not be the same as yours). Easy to do both in a day.

 

[jdevic]

Makes sense, and it is a lot of driving (I did something similar around Christmas last year, but I spent 3 days diving, not 1).

Personally, I would drive through to Auckland on the Monday, because by the time you get back from diving, it'll be late afternoon. Just getting to Auckland with evening traffic will be tiring enough. .

Thank you so much, WetPup - I was a bit concerned about driving 5-6 hours after a full day diving too... The main reason I was thinking about bypassing Auckland on the way back was to avoid the traffic. I checked the map, I guess there is no way to bypass Auckland area completely. Do you have any recommendation as to where to stay in Auckland area to avoid the evening traffic and have an easy early start the next day?

 

[WetPup]

I'd probably say try and find something south of Mount Wellington somewhere, close to Highway 1. That way you'll be going the opposite way to the traffic on Tuesday morning when you want to get out. Traffic will pick up at around 6-6.30am. Sorry I don't have a specific recommendation, I have friends I stay with in Auckland city.

 

[jdevic]

I'd probably say try and find something south of Mount Wellington somewhere, close to Highway 1. That way you'll be going the opposite way to the traffic on Tuesday morning when you want to get out. Traffic will pick up at around 6-6.30am. Sorry I don't have a specific recommendation, I have friends I stay with in Auckland city.

Thank you very much!

 

[Bert van den Berg]

You might consider taking a bus or shuttle from Auckland to Whangarei/Tutukaka instead of driving after a long flight to New Zealand. You will get to see much more and more likely to survive. The roads between Auckland and Whangarei are narrow and quite dangerous.

And yes, diving the Poor Knights in November is very worthwhile.

There are several dive operators working out of Tutukaka with Dive Tutukaka being the largest. They also have very nice accommodations at a good price. If you elect to use them tell Kate that Bert sent you.

 

[Wingy]

Good advice Bert - I found the roads really do require attention. Those speed signs when you approach a bend really should be well heeded. If I'd known there was an alternative to diving, driving, riding horses on the beach, visiting the toilets and then driving all the way from Keri Keri back to Auckland in 24 hrs I would've done that.

 

[WetPup]

Agreed. I found the roads to be fine to drive on during the day, but at night can be a bit hairy if you're not familiar with them. Can only imagine how much harder it is if you're not used to driving on the left.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Poor Knights are fantastic and well worth any effort to dive them.