Shopping

Most shops are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5:30pm, with many staying open late on Thursday and Friday. Saturday hours are normally 10am to 4pm, although some shops stay open all day. Many are also open on Sunday. Several free shopping guides are available at visitor centers.

Tip: If you have the store mail your purchases back home, you won't have to pay the 12.5% GST -- and you won't have to lug them all around the country.

Duty-Free Delights -- DFS Galleria Customhouse, Customs and Albert streets (tel. 0800/388-937 in NZ, or 09/308-0700), is New Zealand's most luxurious duty- and tax-free department store. It offers complimentary shuttle service, free delivery of purchases to the airport, and currency exchange. It's open daily from 10am to 10pm. For a list of all New Zealand duty-free stores, pick up the free Duty Free & GST Free Shopping Guide at the airport or visitor centers. If you shop at an off-airport duty-free store, be sure you have your airline ticket with you.

Antiques Hunting

The most popular concentrations of antiques stores are around the Epsom area and in Parnell, Remuera, Ponsonby, and the Inner City. Lord Ponsonby Antiques, 86 Ponsonby Rd. (tel. 09/376-6463), is as good a place as any to start. Also in Ponsonby is Piper Antiques, 159 Ponsonby Rd. (tel. 09/376-9000).

In Parnell, look for John Stevens Antiques, 377 Parnell Rd. (tel. 09/377-4500); in Epsom, you'll find Auckland Antique Shop, 465 Manukau Rd. (tel. 09/630-4048), and Country Antiques, 489 Manukau Rd. (tel. 09/630-5252). In Remuera, look for Antiquities, 89 Great South Rd. (tel. 09/520-0353), Barry Thomas Antiques, 93 Great South Rd. (tel. 09/520-4090), Abbey Antiques, 87 Great South Rd. (tel. 09/520-2045), and several others on the same stretch of Great South Road.

Great Tastes

To satisfy your gourmet tastes or pick out tasty morsels for a picnic, head for Kapiti Shop, 136-142 Fanshawe St. (tel. 09/377-2473), which has a huge selection of premium New Zealand cheeses -- and make sure you try Kapiti's ice cream. It's divine! Zarbo, 24 Morrow St., Newmarket (tel. 09/520-2721; www.zarbo.co.nz), carries an excellent range of delicious items. Pandoro, 427 Parnell Rd., Parnell (tel. 09/358-1962), and 290 Dominion Rd., Mount Eden (tel. 09/631-7416), is an authentic Italian bakery offering organic, non-genetically modified, and additive-free products. Vinotica, 47-49 The Strand, Parnell (tel. 09/358-3339; www.vinotica.co.nz), stocks a selection of the finest fresh produce, cheeses, meats, deli items, and baked goods. And enjoy the sights and sounds of an authentic working fish market at Auckland Fish Market, Sanfords, Jellicoe Street, near Viaduct Harbour (tel. 09/379-1490; www.aucklandfishmarket.co.nz). It has a daily early-morning auction and a seafood school.

South Seas Souvenirs

To get a feel for Auckland's Polynesian nature, visit the Tongan women who sell tapa cloth on Saturday mornings outside the Tongan Church on Richmond Road, between Chamberlain and Dickens streets. You'll get superb bark cloth at good prices.