If you stayed the night in the Bay of Island, then you’d have another four hours or so to return to Auckland. It's best to start really early on this day.
There’s no other way to go farther south by road except to backtrack and pass through Auckland again which is on a narrow isthmus between the Northland and the southern districts.
If you did return to Auckland the previous night, then it’s another 234 kilometres (three hours 35 minutes) to Rotorua.
Quintessential imagery
Rotorua, inland of the Bay of Plenty, lies on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua. It provides the quintessential imagery of New Zealand as a tourist destination: bubbling volcanic mud, thermal geysers, Maori girls twirling their poi in traditional Polynesian dance.
Note that the area's thermal activity does produce a smell that may initially put off some people. (I got used to the smell pretty quickly on my visit to Rotorua and hardly noticed it the rest of my stay.)
Then there’s the hangi and all manner of fruit that’s evocative of the South Pacific. With a high concentration of Maori people, this is an ideal place to partake of Maori culture.
Oh, and don't forget to experience bathing in the thermal waters.
