Wellington – New Zealand’s fantastic capital city

[OhioGuy]

Wellington was a fantastic city to visit! It felt quite urban despite the fact it isn’t a super large city. I arrived on a Friday afternoon, 3rd of January, and departed on a Sunday afternoon, 5th of January, but I made good use of those 48 hours to explore as much as possible. I rode the cable car up from the central business district to Kelburn high above the city where I walked back down through the Wellington Botanic Garden to the New Zealand Parliament. I also hiked up to the peak of Mount Victoria, walked along the waterfront, and strolled among the busy city streets. Wellington is a little more gritty than Auckland, but also has many beautiful buildings, great neighborhoods, and gorgeous scenery. I think it has a little more "character" as well (it seemed to have more of an edgy vibe, though I very much enjoyed both cities).

Arriving in the city via a 5.5-hour bus ride from Napier. Along the way you can see one of the commuter lines extending through these northern suburbs. What a beautiful commute it would be!






Downtown off in the distance


I was dropped off at the main train terminal downtown (a few more photos are further down)


First order of business after checking into my hotel is a flat white


Then off to the funicular to check out the views of downtown from above and visit the Wellington Botanical Gardens












Heading into the Wellington Botanic Garden




























Heading through the Seddon Memorial and Bolton Street Cemetery towards the Parliament grounds








Arriving at the Parliament grounds
















After visiting the Parliament grounds I stopped by the Wellington Railway Station again to check it out








Now back in downtown




















This coffee shop is in the front of the beautiful building shown above






Downtown waterfront




Saturday morning walk from downtown to the Newtown neighborhood








Basin Reserve/Cricket Wellington


Dominion Museum Building and National War Memorial grounds








Back into downtown Wellington






Time for a delicious flat white and tasty scone


Heading towards Mount Victoria


Heading up Mount Victoria






























Descending down Mount Victoria into Roseneath










Into the Oriental Bay area
















Heading back into the downtown neighborhood of Te Aro






Scenes from in and around Cuba Street in Te Aro


























Elsewhere in the Te Aro neighborhood












Wandering around the Mount Victoria neighborhood








And that’s it from Wellington. I did go on a tour of the Parliament but photography wasn’t allowed inside the buildings. I had a great time in Welly as they call it and would definitely recommend others spend a few days in this city as well!

[Shawn]

Fantastic set of an amazing-looking place. I need to get down there!

[craigs]

Beautiful city.

[Murphy de la Sucre]

...Oh Wellington, I thought it was Auckland, no wonder looks so weird (I mean, so not Auckland looking). I should read more carefully.

[SLO]

I need to get back there, take the kids...

Its a great mix of British colonial and pacific rim / Polynesian culture.

[tdawg]

What a perfect looking city. Reminds me of a mini San Francisco.

[LAsam]

Yay! Wellington is such a great city to visit. You had much nicer weather than I did! Seems like less foot traffic relative to when I was there... not sure why that would be.

[hauntedheadnc]

Rule 34 of the Internet may state that if it exists, there is porn of it, but few are aware that Rule 35 states that if a city is a cool place, there exists a cheesy disaster movie in which said city is doomed:

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

wow very cool to see. plenty of pleasant views and a beachy vibe. a real livable type place from the looks of it. i dig that deco fire station.

speaking of, i heard you mention famously deco napier. really looking forward to that set too.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Rule 34 of the Internet may state that if it exists, there is porn of it, but few are aware that Rule 35 states that if a city is a cool place, there exists a cheesy disaster movie in which said city is doomed

Does Rule 35 apply to Asheville?

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by LAsam

Does Rule 35 apply to Asheville?

Sort of. Rule 35, Subsection A states that if a cheesy disaster movie in which the cool city is destroyed is not available, a cheesy novel in which the cool city is destroyed may be substituted. As such, Asheville still adheres to the rule because it was destroyed in an alien invasion in the novel Apocalypse Troll by David Weber. See also: the One Second After series by William Forstchen.

Fun fact: Just to turn this back around to New Zealand, there exists here in Asheville a castle called Zealandia. Why? Because it was built as the home of John Evans Brown, who served as a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1871 to 1884. Born in Pennsylvania in 1827, he moved to Australia in 1859, then New Zealand in 1871 where he settled near Christchurch in an area he named Swannanoa, after one of the rivers that runs through Asheville. He returned to America in 1884, built Zealandia Castle on Beauchatcher Mountain overlooking downtown Asheville, and he died there in 1895.

Please note: Mr. Brown had a magnificent beard.

Please also note: Asheville's most famous urban legend, that of Helen's Bridge, is tied into Zealandia, as it once connected one area of the estate's grounds to another area across a gorge. Everyone here knows the legends of the ghosts of Helen's Bridge.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Sort of. Rule 35, Subsection A states that if a cheesy disaster movie in which the cool city is destroyed is not available, a cheesy novel in which the cool city is destroyed may be substituted. As such, Asheville still adheres to the rule because it was destroyed in an alien invasion in the novel Apocalypse Troll by David Weber. See also: the One Second After series by William Forstchen.

[AviationGuy]

For years, I've been watching videos of Wellington's famous winds that blow people off their feet and cause extremely turbulent approaches and go-arounds when aircraft land. But on a nice day, it can be paradise.

[DetroitSky]

Great tour! I'm really impressed with the older architecture in New Zealand's cities.

Everything about this is incredible:

[ChrisLA]

Very nice, although I didn’t see much grit in your photos. It certainly looks very west coast, like a combination of San Francisco, Seattle, and even a bit of Los Angeles/San Diego as well.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

Very nice, although I didn’t see much grit in your photos. It certainly looks very west coast, like a combination of San Francisco, Seattle, and even a bit of Los Angeles/San Diego as well.

No not much grit, Wellington is tiny in comparison to those cities.

[craigs]

I've never been to Wellington, but from these photos it seems more polished and fancy than Auckland.

[LouisianaRush]

Looks fantastic. I need to make a visit one day.

[kcexpress69]

An amazing set of pictures from a city that is rarely seen on here!! Thanks!!

[destroycreate]

I cannot get over how similar the topography is, hell, even the color of the ocean, looks to the Bay Area. Specifically Marin County....and then there's the Oceania take on Victorian architecture that looks so quirky, though not too dissimilar to SF.