Auckland to Wellington by 4 Routes

Destination	Distance	Time   Hours	Time Minutes
Auckland to Mangatawhiri	60.8		44.00
Mangatawiri to Waiouru	330	4.00	1.00
Waiouru to Wellington	258	3.00	11.00
	648.8	7	56
Auckland to Hamilton	122.4	1.00	23.00
Hamilton to Taupo	152	1.00	56.00
Taupo to Waiouru	112	1.00	27.00
Waiouru to Wellington	258	3.00	11.00
	644.4	7	56
Auckland to Kihikihi	156	1.00	56.00
Kihikihi to Turangi	162	1.00	56.00
Turangi to Waiouru	61.7	1.00	4.00
Waiouru to Wellington	258	3.00	11.00
	637.7	8	7
Auckland to Te Kuiti	156	1.00	56.00
Te  Kuiti to Waiouru	187	2.00	22.00
Turangi to Waiouru	61.7	1.00	4.00
Waiouru to Wellington	258	3.00	11.00
	662.7	8	33

Start at the top.  Aucks via SH 27 and SH1.  Busy road but great straights on SH27 especially.

Auckland via Hamilton to Cambridge and on (SH1) Dodge a bullet, take another route

Auckland via Taumarunui and on SH4 and onward.  The road is littered with great scenery. The actual roads are always Road Works in Progress.

As stated above almost all four have similar distances and times.  I have driven all and by far the quickest route is Auck - Kihikihi - Turangi. SH1 is a very busy road and SH 4 is difficult driving. 

SH32 and why it is the quicker . Very little traffic especially Camper Vans and Trucks. Most of the driving (95%) is on lovely straight roads (and awesome scenery) and as the Police hardly have a presence you can nudge 120 kph in relative comfort. On average I would average 30 minutes less then going via Taupo SH1. A must is to have a comfort stop at Lake Waipapa and the Waterfall.

Basin Test, the Weather as it's forecasted.

Too often the Basin Test is beset with stinging Southerly or Nor Westerly gales.  However we've been blessed to have reasonably comfortable conditions for the teams and crowd during the 1st test.

So what about Feb 2016's 1st test there?  Well long range is one that appears to also provide comfort for all.

Friday  15 overnight, 23 high with overcast conditions and light airs.
Saturday  17 overnight  24 high overcast with light northerlies.
Sunday  18 overnight  25 high overcast and freshening northerlies
Monday  18 overnight  20  high fine northerly
Tuesday  17 overnight  21 high northerlies

Of course being New Zealand and stuck in the middle of a vast ocean things could change so open this link, save it to your faves and check on it daily.  Wellies 10 Day forecast

Roaring Like a Lion, Purring like a Pussycat

Like their senior cousins, The Hurricanes, the Wellington rugby team has been an enigma.  Often touted as a team that should be top 4 material in domestic rugby, years have seen them struggle to match it in the top flight.  But if one was to look at the past 7 years one would be surprised.

2008 AirNZ Championship  1st
2009 AirNZ Championship  2nd
2010 ITM Cup  4th

Then the Chris Boyd as Coach era:

2011 ITM Cup  6th
2012 ITM Cup  2nd
2013 ITM Cup  1st
2014 ITM Cup  7th and relegated.  OOPPSS!!

So why did that oops happen?  That's a million dollar question and one educated Wellington rugby followers and knowledgeable types can pin down.

Was it better teams in the ITM Cup ahead of them?.  Well no, they lost 9, won 1 and lost a majority of their crossover games versus supposedly weaker opposition.

Was it a poor selection of club players on offer? Possibly.  Is the club competition robust enough to provide top tier players?

Was it the coaching staff?  Well Boyd slipped from top four in his first year finishing the team next year second last in the comp.  Sure he picked it up again in his second and third years, but the bubble burst on the fourth year.  Relegation of a big city team (forget Dunedin, Hamilton and Tauranga are bigger these days) is frankly preposterous.  Did last years team have the bulk of players from the previous year when they won ITM Cup?  Must be the coach!

So Boyd moved away from the team to take up a role as Hurricanes coach and so far has proven a winner.  I'm guessing he does that job knowing his wards can't be relegated.

Solving Wellingtons traffic woes

Ok I'm not a qualified planner, but I am an ideas man.

Fact - the Waterview Tunnel Connection in Auckland is 4.8km long of four lane highway at a cost of 1.8billion dollars.

Fact - the Victoria and Terrace Tunnels in Wellington are woefully inadequate for modern traffic volumes and schemes.  Also connection between Terrace and Victoria Tunnels is restricted to one way, as is the Hataitai link to the Airport.

Fact: If Auckland can solve their traffic issues, so can Wellington.  They just need to get more creative.

The crux of Wellingtons traffic issues is the bottleneck created in the city from both SH1 (Ngauranga Gorge) and SH2 (Hutt Motorway).  So why not build a huge roundabout/Spaghetti Junction at the base of the Gorge feeding into a choice of two tunnels that feed the Airport area.  It also gives Wellington CBD two entry/exit roads in case of emergency.  If there is fear that earthquakes will damage the tunnel one only has to look at the Lyttelton Tunnel and see how it survived the Canterbury quakes!!