It’s no secret that I love New Zealand and within New Zealand my favorite city has always been Wellington. We visited for a second time with the entire family in December and it did not disappoint. Here’s what we did while we were visiting New Zealand’s Capital.
Wellington: A Harbor City
Wellington is nestled into the harbor at the Southern tip of the North Island. Houses dot the hillside and the huge buildings of downtown have to fit just right into the tiny flat space between the harbor and the hills.
Wellington is a lovely, walkable city with beaches, paths, and plenty to do. The city is known for its wind, which I experienced in full force one morning while I was out running. As I ran out away from the city and turned a corner, I suddenly felt like one of those seagulls flying into the wind, but making no progress. That being said, the weather in Wellington is quite mild compared to where I live in Madison, WI. The temperatures in Fahrenheit tend to range from 45 to 75 degrees year-round. Of course, December is summer in New Zealand, so we had a lot of nice days to enjoy in Wellington.
Another reason I love Wellington is that I’ve got some good friends, Mike and Tracy, who live there. Mike and I were on the same IBM Corporate Service Corps team in Tanzania way back in 2008. We’ve remained friends and each time I get to New Zealand we get to see each other in person and it’s like we don’t live halfway across the world from each other. This time, Mike and Tracy invited us to their bach by the beach, which is the Kiwi version of a summer cabin. It was so, so fun to see them again and spend the afternoon at their home away from home.
WETA Workshop
If you know anything about the making of The Lord of the Rings movies, you know that Wellington is basically Middle-earth. The WETA Workshop created costumes, props, and all kinds of goodies for The Lord of the Rings and many other projects and they’re located in Wellington. You can take a tour and see, among other things, their Oscar, Sauron’s armor, and pretty much all of the main characters’ weapons from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It is nerd heaven and we’ve done the tour twice now. Each time it was very different and of course delightful.
Cable Car & Wellington Botanic Gardens
My absolute favorite place in Wellington is the Wellington Botanic Gardens. The best way to get to the gardens is to take the cable car up to the top of Mt Victoria for this gorgeous view of the entire harbor.
The entrance to the Botanic Gardens will be right behind you when you exit the train and they are massive (think Central Park in New York City). There are so many nooks and paths to go down, leading you to themed mini-gardens. For instance, a succulent garden around one corner, a duck pond around another, a fern nursery, and a beautiful rose garden just to name a few.
After walking downhill through all of these gorgeous spaces, you’ll eventually get to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden which holds over 300 types of roses.
Right next to it is a little outdoor cafe called Picnic Café with amazing food. It takes a while to get your food if the gardens are busy, but the wait is worth it and the view is second-to-none.
We spent a gorgeous Christmas Eve day in the gardens and in my opinion, it was the best thing we did in New Zealand this trip.
Te Papa Museum
Right in the heart of downtown is the Te Papa Museum, a museum dedicated to all things New Zealand. They have the original Te Tiriti agreement between England and the Maori peoples of New Zealand. They have extensive information about Maori culture and the natural phenomenon that exist in New Zealand (i.e. earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes). There is even an earthquake simulator so that people who come from climates that are a little more tame (like us!) can experience what it’s like to be hit by a 6.0 earthquake. We enjoyed the giant displays showing scenes from their participation in WWI (made by the team at WETA Workshop), and Te Papa is the only museum in the world where you can see an actual giant squid.
The museum used to be free for all but in between our first visit and this one, they started charging $35 NZD for foreigners to visit. It is still very much worth the price of admission and the kids were free.
Side Note: A lot of the experiences in New Zealand had cheaper prices for kids 15 and younger, so with all four of our kids being between 11 and 14, we came at just the right time.
Beautiful, Rugged Coastlines
As you travel in either direction away from downtown, you immediately hit some beautiful, rocky coastline. Sometimes you’ll see New Zealand Fur Seals there. Always you’ll see a gorgeous, rock-filled wonderland. This is one of the reasons I love New Zealand in general. In this country, nature always shines, even if there’s a city built right on top of it.
