In Auckland it's really not flash. Same as any city where roads are poorly designed and drivers are impatient.
Once you get outside the blue lines it's good


If inside the lines there are ok routes around the airport or taking the cyclepaths to the west

Plenty of cycle groups meet in the city and head out. MEC (Mount Eden Cycles) is one of the groups I know of and they would welcome you to join them I'm sure. Check out their facebook page and PM me if your'e struggling. I don't live in Akl but have several work colleagues that are based there who are fairly handy cyclists.

Using strava with a search for MEC in the title for activities would get some routes, equally find a segment that's slightly out of a main 'commuter' link and then see what routes people did as they went through there to give you some ideas of loops. This latter part is how I tend to find places to ride in new areas.