Wellington New Zealand
"Tall towers of a gleaming glass capital, a city that buzzes by night"
Time was when Wellington was barely a whistle stop on the way from North to South. Wasn't worth even driving past the ferry terminal into the city.
But not any longer.
The main attraction is the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa - which the mind-benders and spin doctors have decreed shall be known simply as "Te Papa". Old farts, conservatives like me, might quibble about that, but there's no gainsaying the fact that this is a stunning production. It not so much what they show, it's the way it has been presented using all the latest in audio-visual arts. On the waterfront in the CBD - and it's free!!
There are, of course, other conservative old farts - like our current Prime Minister, Helen Clark - who think it's all far too modern (she says "confusing"). They want to change it back to the conventional presentation of earlier years . . . which nobody ever visited.
In said earlier days, if you wanted something weird, an experience you probably couldn't get anywhere else in the world, you used to be able to head for Wellington Airport, especially on the days that aircraft were approaching from the south. At the southern end is a seawall that protects the runway from assault by the wrath of Cook Strait. If you clambered up the bank from the roadway you were standing about 100m from the touchdown point. At that distance even a 737 is awesome. But if you timed your visit for the arrival of a 747 you could have the living hell scared out of you. As you watched these vast machines boring in towards you, you were convinced that this time the jet-jock had it all wrong and he was going to go in short, squishing you like an ant.
Sadly, meddlesome officialdom has decreed that "jet-blast" is a danger and they have erected signs saying you are prohibited from climbing the said seawall. Gotta say I never heard of anyone actually being damaged by said jet-blast. But you must understand that I am not for one moment suggesting that you go by night (or any other time) and take such an unconscionable risk.
Something a little less scary, but
not a lot, is the Kelburn Cable Car. It hauls its way
up the steep hillside that hems in the narrow crescent of
land on which the Wellington CBD is built. It's one of
only two tramcars still operating in NZ and certainly the
only up-hill cable car of its type in Australasia. It
leaves from the southern end of Lambton Quay. There are
some good little restaurants to be found at Kelburn, the
top of the ride . . . do it at lunch or dinner time,
mayhap?
While you're up there, you might take in the Carter Observatory, officially the official New Zealand astronomical observatory. The observatory is in the grounds of the Wellington Botanical Gardens, themselves well worth a stroll - perhaps to work off the calories acquired during that lunch at one of the local nosheries.
And speaking of restaurants, that's finally what I like Wellington for most - and Aucklanders are not supposed to like Wellington for anything. At night, Courtenay Place and the streets and alleys off it come alive . . . clubs, pubs and restaurants are jumpin' every night. My favourite is an Irish Pub, Molly Malones. Great music, great beer, good fun. I have one more than several occasions downed far too much Guinness to the sound of a wailin' good Irish band. T' be sure and all, and all.
The other street worth exploring is Cuba St - this is definitely alt.Wellington. An eclectic collection of the chic, the tatty, the eccentric. A number of good ethnic restaurants along the way, too.
Wellington
has recently acquired another major tourist attraction . . .a Weta
Cave, and it’s absolutely
free. If you’ve seen movies such as Lord of the Rings, 
King Kong, or
Chronicles of Narnia, then you have been held spellbound by the magic of
Weta Workshop’s special effects. Now
you can visit their studios and
tour their Weta Cave. Weta Workshop is a five time Academy
Award winning company that does stuff like special make-up effects and
prosthetics, creatures, armour, weapons, miniatures, prop building,
large scale sculpture, display work and costuming. In their
mini-museum, you come face to face with some of the characters,
props and displays from your favourite movies. Read the stories of how
they were brought to life and learn about the artists who created them.
Corner of Camperdown Rd and Weka St, Miramar, Wellington. Tues-
Fri 11 – 6, Sat10–4, Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays. Find
out more about Weta at http://www.wetanz.com/
For a great view of the city go up to Mt Victoria, above Oriental Bay, especially at night where the lights of the city dance reflected on the harbour. It's a popular spot for a spot of snogging too, if you're travelling double. Not that I would know this from my own personal experience, of course.
Wellington is the country's capital, and if you want to have a look around our Parliament there are tours that leave from the main doors every few minutes. If you are killing time between ferries it's not a bad look.
The other way of killing time is shopping and in this respect I think Wellington clips Auckland and Christchurch. Along Lambton Quay there's an interconnected maze of malls. Together with some of the heavyweight designers shops and department stores like venerable Kirkcaldie and Stains, it makes it real easy to do serious harm to the Gold Card.
Wellington Harbour when the weather gods smile on it is stunning - especially at sunset. If you are taking one of the inter-island ferries then you'll get a view from the water on that trip but otherwise a good easy way to get to see it is to take the Dominion Post ferry to Days Bay.
There biggest island in Wellington harbor is Soames Island. Originally used the the Maori as a seasonal encampment and important defensive location, it was put to many uses by the European settlers.
A lighthouse was built at the island's south-west end in 1866. This lighthouse was the first harbor light in New Zealand. The lighthouse that stands in place of the original today was constructed in 1900 and later automated. During WWI and WWII it was used an an internment camp for German, Italian, and Finn aliens. It was also fortified with heavy anti-aircraft gun emplacements. It was also used as a quarantine station for humans and animals. Today, the island has been eradicated of non native predators such as rats and possums, with native plants being planted and many rare native birds introduced. Take the ferry over to the island. It's a pleasant 10-15 minute ride from Queens wharf. You can also rent a small house or camp to spend the night apparently.
So there it is - set aside a day and a night to catch what I think is NZ's most interesting "city" scene.
Get more information from Totally Tourism Wellington.
Out Of Town
North of Wellington, along what is called the Kapiti Coast, are several excellent visitor attractions.
At Paraparaumu - they do go in for difficult name's round here, right? Say it as parra-parra-oomoo. Just north of the township you'll come to Lindale Farm and Tourist Complex. Basically it's a cheese making plant with a lot of whizz-bang shopping add-ons. Worth a stop - if only to pick up some award-winning Kapiti Cheese.
Further north again is the Southward Motor Museum. Len Southward was a motor racing and speedboat enthusiast - at one time he held the NZ land and water speed records from memory, admittedly my failing memory. Over many years he assembled a superb collection of motor machinery and if you have any love for motor cars, then you need to see this. To be honest, even if you are not a petrolhead, even if you regard the damn things as no more than a noisy, smelly way of getting from A to B - but you have been making said A 2 B trip for a decade or two or three - you won't be able to resist saying "Aaaahhhh, a (Morris Minor/Austin Seven/Ford Cortina/etc/etc)" and going all misty eyed at memories of sweaty adolescent thrashing around in the back seat.
But you must understand that I was never involved any of that sort of thing either.
To matters more conservationary, less carnal - the Kapiti Island Nature Reserve. Prominent offshore from the Kapiti Coast is - funnily enough - Kapiti Island. (That's where the name came from, dopey). Man really has wreaked hell on the natural species of this country - dogs, cats, stoats, weasels, ferrets, rabbits, deer - the list of pests is long and sorry. As a result, many of the indigenous species have been all but wiped out. Indeed, a goodly number have, in fact, been exterminated. But on sanctuaries like Kapiti Island we are trying to gently reverse the damage. Before reintroducing the natives, we started by eliminating all of the pests. Despite which we still allow a limited number of Pest One, humans, to visit under controlled conditions. Contact Kapiti Tours Ltd 0800-527-484.
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All you need to know about a visit to the place where God set the contrast and colour and man hasn'nt fiddled with the dials.
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
Background bumpf on the country.
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or by sea.
"nuff said.
What to see, what to do, and why to go there.
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing, skiing - and more.