Took a bus from the top of the road at Opua into Aukland, about a 4 hr ride and then a taxi to our airbnb in the Ponsenby district- rather a nice suburb with trendy homewear shops and cafes. The bnb was an apartment in a rather utilitarian block of identical apartments. We were met by the owner who had bought the flat for his soon to be student at uni daughter but was paying the bills with some bnb in the hols. As he had just aquired it he had made an extra effort hoping for good reviews with generous quantities of asparagus in the fridge and loads of biscuits, beer and breakfast stuff to boot. He seemed too young to have a uni age dughter but they do seem to reproduce young here.
  We had booked for 2 nights so had a full day exploring Aukland-  bus in, walk up to the museum, round the harbour, fish market, searching for a wool shop, and back to Ponsenby for an asparagus omelette.