{"id":197,"date":"2014-01-19T04:43:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T04:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/expedia-expert-a-taste-of-auckland\/"},"modified":"2022-08-08T23:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T23:19:09","slug":"expedia-expert-auckland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/expedia-expert-auckland\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedia Expert: A Taste of Auckland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Market Manger Tori Calver gives us the inside scoop on a short trip to Auckland and why this city is worth a stopover.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite being home to 1\/3 of New Zealand\u2019s population, Auckland<\/a> is often not high on the tourist\u2019s wish list, but it should be. Expedia’s savvy Aussie travellers stay for two to four nights, plenty of time to explore the city. \u00a0The South Island is well known for its beautiful scenery \u2013 mountains, lakes, rivers, rolling plains \u2013 and adventure sport opportunities \u2013 sky diving, jet boating, skiing, bungee jumping and more. It has multiple nature walks and is the greatest testament to New Zealand\u2019s clean and green image (made even more famous by the film adaptions of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). All this and more justifies why people flock to the south island, but I would advocate that any visitors to New Zealand spend a few days in the City of Sails during their trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the 2010 Rugby World Cup (yes it\u2019s true Kiwis really are crazy about rugby) the city has been completely reinvigorated. Restaurants, cafes and entirely new shopping precincts keep popping up, challenging even the locals to keep up with what\u2019s new and trendy. Just like the harbourside Viaduct was created out of the Americas Cup, the Wynyard Quarter and vibrant Britomart areas sprung up from the Rugby World Cup. Now they\u2019re a foodie paradise, with almost every nation represented (Mexican, American, Japanese, Indian \u2013 the list goes on). <\/span><\/p>\n

The SKYCITY complex has positioned itself as a forerunner in this vibrant restaurant culture, with top NZ chefs setting up great new restaurants in and around the Sky Tower (Al Brown\u2019s Depot, Peter Gordan\u2019s Sugar Club and The Grill by Sean Connolly are among the standouts). In Mount Eden, you’ll find award winning restaurant Meredith’s, where the food is almost too pretty to eat.
\n
\nAuckland is also a great place to use as a base for day trips in the North Island; whether it\u2019s to the surrounding beaches such as the iconic surfing spot Piha Beach or the many wineries on Waiheke Island. No trip to Auckland would be complete without hopping on the ferry to Waiheke Island. A 30 minute ferry ride from the city, Waiheke is an excellent day out. You can choose to be master of your own itinerary, visiting the various vineyards (sampling the local wines along the way of course) and lunching at one of the great winery restaurants (Cable Bay and Mudbrick are both favourites with locals), or hop on a day\u00a0<\/span>tour<\/a>\u00a0to the major sites.\u00a0If you\u2019re hiring a car in Auckland you can pop up to Matakana for a day, visiting the local Saturday markets and checking out the sculpture walk at Brick Bay before going to a local beach or lunching at a nearby winery.<\/span><\/p>\n

For all these reasons (and many more) Auckland should definitely be added to your bucket list, particularly if you have a fondness for great food and wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Market Manger Tori Calver gives us the inside scoop on a short trip to Auckland and why it\u2019s worth a stopover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,6,2,3,39,14,7],"tags":[88,58],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-destination","category-experiences","category-explore","category-food-and-wine","category-interests","category-oceania","tag-auckland","tag-tips","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExpedia Expert Take the time to see Auckland | Expedia.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Market Manger Tori Calver gives us the inside scoop on a short trip to Auckland and why it\u2019s worth a stopover.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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