in/around Auckland or Wellington, NZ?

Well, you have a fast paced trip. If you had more time, I would suggest spending it on the South Island, so much to see and do.

Personal preference, Auckland. Unfortunately, public transportation is not nearly as good as Europe. One area i would suggest is Napier/Hawkes Bay. There are buses that make that route from Auckland and it's quite an interesting small city (60,000ish), on the coast with great food and wine.

We are "young" seniors, although my husband worked for a NZ company and we make a trip every few years to visit a winemaker friend of ours in Central Otago (wine country). We are comfortable driving, which you might want to consider.

I suggest you look through "Lonely Planet" for Auckland and Wellington and see what interests you.

Other question, where does your tour end? That might add in to your consideration of what to see and do.

Thanks, Mother Duck!

Whatever you decide, you'll need to lock it in soon. Everyone is on holiday in that period - lots of business close between Christmas eve and Jan 3.

If you're around Auckland, the city will have emptied out to the Coromandel, Bay of Islands, Taupo and Waiheke Island. These are also great places for you to choose, because they are popular with good reason!

Wellington - being a busy business capital - will likely be missing some of it's vibe with government and corporate offices closed, but it suits your request for rugged coastlines, good museums, fresh food and quiet nights. Places to explore would be over the hill in the Wairarapa - Martinborough, Greytown and the coast to the east.

If you wanted to link a few places together it could be Wellington, around Martinborough, and then to Napier/Havelock North and fly back to Auckland from there (book flights soon!).

I'd pick Auckland over Wellington and I would not go back to Wellington unless I had a very good reason. It was a little too small for me although the museum is great but 1 day was plenty. Auckland and Nelson were my favorite locations. In Auckland there is so much to do and see within a couple hours drive.

I loved the Queen Charlotte Track and the Tasman Sea if you thought about the northern part of the South Island. Easily worth a few days and you can fly pretty easily to Nelson from AKL

Better to base from Auckland and then travel to Waiheke Island, Coromandel, Rotorua from there. Nice easy drives from Auckland to most central North Island destinations.

As someone else said, make sure you take a trip to Waiheke Island while you’re in Auckland - it’s lovely, even the boat trip is a nice treat across the harbour, and there are some stunning vineyards over there to have a nice meal and glass of vino.

Wellington is crap weather (it’s always wet, windy and cold, prone to earthquakes, hilly and steep to get around, and difficult to get anywhere else from there too. Literally nothing worth seeing it doing around the bottom of the North Island and a flight from Auckland to Queenstown is probably cheaper than flying from Wellington, anyway.

Very glad you have Queenstown and some other South Island destinations listed - the South Island is just beautiful.

Re museums - NZ is a pretty “young” country, as in only a couple hundred years since Europeans got here, and even the indigenous Maori population only got here about 500 years ago. So our museums are nothing compared to the likes of Europe. Having said that, if you’re interested in seeing some history I’d probsbly recommend checking out the Auckland museum in Parnell, Auckland AND heading down to Rotorua, do one of the Maori tours down there - eg Tamaki village.

It is not clear whether the Auckland suggestions take into account your preference for public transport. Some of the mention driving and others do not address that at all.

With a week, you have ample time to visit a lovely part of the South Island that is not included on your tour, around Nelson and the Queen Charlotte Track. Easily done with public transport (we did it).

Take the ferry from Wellington to Picton and then a water taxi out to this beautiful eco-lodge:

http://www.lochmara.co.nz

They have kayaks you can use for free, and interesting grounds to explore. The walk to the Queen Charlotte track for coastal views is not too challenging to senior knees. The food at the lodge is excellent and the rooms are simple but modern. Our Bellbird suite had a patio overlooking the bay.

Two nights there, then return by water taxi ( which you book with Lochmara Lodge) to Picton. There is good bus service to Nelson ( book in advance). Nelson is a popular town known for great food and wine. Tours into Abel Tasman National Park by bus and boat start here. We did a full day tour that included walking a section of the Abel Tasman Track and a swim on one of the golden sand beaches, but there are other options such as kayaking or simply touring by boat.

From Nelson you can fly up to Auckland for the rest of the week and flight home.

I too would pick Auckland over Wellington. Wellington is nice but pretty small. But I'd pick Nelson and the north end of the south island over both as I love the Tasman Sea and the area is beautiful - fresh food, quiet nights and rugged coast line (easy to get to by flights but no real public transport) If you are into kayaking or biking or hiking there is the amazing Queen Charlotte Track. I saw many folks of all ages while we hiked.

But that said ... we stayed at an awesome BNB in Auckland - http://www.ascotparnell.com/ if you are looking for lodging, although I suspect they might be booked up as January is high season for sure.

I am not sure I understand your question. But if it is Auckland vs Wellington, then I much preferred Wellington. However, I don't think any of NZ's cities are worth much time in themselves, compared to the wonderful rural and small town parts of what is, is in my view, easily the world's second best country. If you need to be in Auckland for your flight out, then I would go there for your last two days. As well as the "island" visits already mentioned, the war memorial museum is fantastic.