Okay, for those of you who travel this route how long do you think it would take to get from Auckland to Whakatane using the most direct route, and what way would you go.

My husband and I have to drive down on Tuesday leaving Auckland somewhere between 3-4pm. We are aiming for Whakatane Tuesday night, then on to Opotiki and back to Auckland on Wednesday.

about 3 1/2 hrs maybe a tad more

i usually go over kaimais through morrinsville i think or is that matamata :dunno:

About 4 hrs if go through Matamata and over the Kaimais. can check on google maps the distance. It about 296km's

ok so i googled it lol it said it takes 3 hours and 43 minutes and you go to waihi and on to tauranga to whakatane .

thanks - we did the trip a month ago but took a couple of days to get there (we were on holiday) so now when we have to do the trip for a more serious reason we are trying to work out the best way to go. We would have flown but can't get flights back home on the Wednesday.

I love opotiki, have relatives there, we go fishing with a kontiki and pull in a lot of baby sharks, few rays and the occaisional snapper.

the fastest route for me is.

auckland, Matamata, Tauranga (back road), TePuke, Matata, coastal road, whakatane

for me, it takes around 3 hours, leisurely drive, it would take 3.5 hours

I found that there are too many towns to slow down for, if you go the other route through Paeroa and waihi.

+1

DON'T GO VIA WAIHI - the gorge adds a lot of stress as well as time to the trip.

DON'T GO VIA WAIHI - the gorge adds a lot of stress as well as time to the trip.

it is pretty though but on this occasion we will give it a miss.

Thanks everyone for your assistance.

Well we did the trip down yesterday - 4 hrs to get there including a 20 minute stop at Matamata. On to Opotiki this morning to the funeral. Its so wrong, no parent should have to bury their child! Back this afternoon, 5 1/2 hrs including three stops totaling about an hour. We made really good time.

Thanks for the assistance with the best routes to take. We went through Matamata and Te Puke. Traffic was very light on the way down and only a dozen or so trucks on the way back to slow us down.

We went through Matamata and Te Puke. Traffic was very light on the way down and only a dozen or so trucks on the way back to slow us down

the reason why i travel that way

sad you had to drive down for a funeral