1

Shopping malls, etc open as would be any attractions.

2

There will be things on in Auckland City and Wellington City for NYE, but both cities will be fairly empty as a lot of people go away over Christmas/New Years.

3

tough call. While a lot of Aucklanders do leave for the holiday, there are still plenty of people around and lots to do.
E.g. there's a big music festival up at Matakana - not sure where you are coming from & if you'd want to drive? A bit over an hour north of Auckland.
Waiheke island has a music thing too, more of a clubbie dance type thing though. 30 mins on the ferry from downtown Auckland. There's some other stuff on Waiheke too.
there's a bunch of concerts & smaller gigs on around town.
there are fireworks from the sky tower, and I imagine the Viaduct Harbour would be pretty busy.

I'm not sure what's on in Wellington but I hear there's this thing called google...

4

Thanks for the replies. Yes I've Googled, but while it can tell you what events are on, it can't give you a personal opinion on whether they're any good.

Whether we stay in Auckland or head straight to Wellington, it sounds like either city is going to have more going on than in Perth!

5

You probably really need someone from Wellington, like sneaker fish, to tell you what it's like there on NYE. I have had the very occasional NYE in Auckland and there are still plenty of people around, but don't know what Wellies is like. You might want to try sending sneaker a PM if she doesn't see this.

6

There are several big cruise ships due in WLG on NYD so things will be very busy. Courtenay Place is usually quite busy on NYE.

7

Wellington will be like any normal Saturday night - Courtney Place will start filling up with people who have been pre loading at about 10pm then it will be chaos until the early hours of the morning. It would depend on your age but i would avoid it (i'm 38) but if i was 28 and with my group of mates I would be mad for it.

Now I go to bed at 11pm...!!

8

I've come to learn that Cinderella's godmother worked on Courtenay Place because she's right that you should always be home by midnight.

I've spent plenty of enjoyable new years eves in Wellington, but I'm each case it was because I was not doing anything else. I didn't choose to stay, in other words.

But, with a view to helping I would suggest if you are going to be here to choose a place to go. Doubt just aimlessly wander. There's always something (band, entertainment and sometimes fireworks) at civic square. But if you want somewhere nice to go before and/or after you should buy tickets to an event. Last year I went to a concert at a bar (phoenix foundation at foxglove bar). And a friend went to a bar which had, for want of a better term, an all you can drink (hawthorne). so there is stuff...it's just not first choice for wellingtonians

Edited by: sneaker_fish

9

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions!

We've decided to go straight to Wellington rather than stay in Auckland for NYE, because it gives us an extra day or so at the end of the trip that can be better used visiting Coromandel or the Bay of Islands. We're both 35 and long past the age of wanting to spend the evening (and the subsequent AM) getting slaughtered, so I've booked a table at Shed 5 in Queens Wharf. Hopefully, we can table-hug till close to 12pm then watch the fireworks before toddling off to bed.

I've amazed (but happy) to hear that most things will be open on NY day - in Perth, pretty much everything is shut!