What’s on Wellington: Things to do in Wellington
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Recommendations for Your South Island New Zealand Itinerary
What’s on Wellington: Things to do in Wellington. Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city and a hip, growing urban area. You could easily spend weeks exploring Wellington and the Southern half of the North Island using Welly as home base; we covered the essentials in a day and a half and still made time to catch up with old friends. Wellington has something for everyone. The city boasts numerous green spaces like the sprawling botanical gardens at the top of the famous cable car route and the hiking paths near Matairangi and the Mount Victoria Lookout. Miles of shoreline around Lambton Harbour and other bays and inlets include sandy beaches, piers, and self-guided tours near downtown past the national museum and other attractions facing out to the water. Trendy restaurants like Pickle and Pie on 2 Lombard Street serve up fresh takes on classic dishes (the quintessential Kiwi meat pie has never tasted so good). Public art fills the streets and the broad, walled canvases of downtown buildings.
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Our Wellington explorations included time on the foreshore, walks through downtown, a ride up the cable car, and play time in the Botanic Gardens, including the playground, green spaces, and various museums scattered around the hillsides. We visited the beehive and the Parliament grounds, met friends for drinks at Beach Babylon, a waterfront cafe and bar, and finished the afternoon with a drive and hike up Matairangi and the Mount Victoria Lookout. Renn and I took a short nap while Michelle and Nyah visited the Museum of New Zealand: Te Papa Tongarewa. We enjoyed a late dinner at Pickle and Pie before calling it a day.
It’s always fun to wake up in a new place; a new city, an unfamiliar landscape, a fresh wilderness perspective or urban space to explore. Our plan was to enjoy our time between Motueka and Picton, with plenty of time to stop and explore along the way, despite the long drive. Adding the three-hour ferry ride across Cook Strait to Wellington made for a long travel day, and we arrived at our hotel around 10 pm. We woke up refreshed and ready for our Wellington adventures. I got out as the sun rose for a short run around Lambton Harbour, from the city centre toward Matairangi and the Mount Victoria Lookout.
What’s on Wellington: Things to do in Wellington
The hardest thing about planning things to do in Wellington is figuring out what not to do and see. There is no end to the variety of activities throughout the city and surrounding area, so we focused on the city centre and surrounding area, with a combination of popular tourist attractions and some more out-of-the-way local haunts and activities. Ben went on morning runs along the harbour, and we rode the iconic cable car up and back.
The Wellington Cable Car route may be one of Wellington’s best known landmarks and tourist attractions. Lesser known, perhaps, are the observatory and cable car museum at the top of the route. The cable car museum houses interesting artifacts, including our favorite, a sun-tracking device that refracted sunlight through a glass sphere to burn lines across paper held against a curved piece of metal. Observers could calculate the hours of sun in a given day based on the length and number of lines burned through the paper.
Wellington Gardens: A Playground for Everyone
The Wellington Botanic Gardens (now 150 years old!) cover more than 25 hectares of hillside overlooking Wellington. Broad, paved walking paths connect various sections of the gardens, with native forest, conifers, and tons of floral sections to enjoy. The city council has maintained and developed the grounds with plenty of facilities and nearby shops and restaurants when it’s time to rest the feet from all the walking up and down the steep paths. The girls enjoyed the towering blue slides at the playground, and we even had fun swinging across the cable tire swing (a thick bed of wood chips would cushion a fall from the wildly-swinging tire as it slides back and forth along the cable).
What to do in Wellington: Lambton Harbour and the Waterfront
What’s on Wellington: Things to do in Wellington. The very first time we lived in New Zealand, we met friends from all over the world who were also living and studying in Dunedin at the University of Otago. Ben was studying for his Master’s of International Studies at Otago, and many of his classmates have gone on to work in international politics and human rights agencies, in New Zealand and abroad. Two of our friends, Stewart and Andrea, have settled in Wellington, and they work for government and non-profit agencies in the nation’s capital. We caught up with them at Beach Babylon, a hip, trendy neighborhood bar and café across the street from the sandy foreshore looking back across to the city centre. Despite the wind (after all, Wellington is New Zealand’s Chicago, the local “windy city”), the sun shone brightly all afternoon. Always wanting to make a big impression, Renn dumped her runny chocolate milkshake on the table, right into the crack between the two bistro tables we had pushed together. Aside from the brief chaos that ensued, we enjoyed an hour inside Babylon, looking out toward the water.
Beach Babylon is a short walk along the waterfront from the city centre, the Museum of New Zealand, and a variety of outdoor recreation supported and maintained by the city council.
What’s On Wellington: Matairangi and the Mount Victoria Lookout
The Mount Victoria Lookout at Matairangi is best known for its epic, panoramic views of the city in every direction. Less known – and less traveled – are the scenic walking paths and green spaces that weave in and around homes built into every possible canyon and crag surrounding the town belt. A totem-like Maori sculpture and descriptive signs line the path to the scenic overlook. Be prepared for the strong winds that push up and over the ridge into the harbour; it’s no wonder that the descent into the airport is frequently a bit bumpy on account of the high winds coming off the Tasman.
“Follow the path of the spirit of Whátaitai as it travelled along the ridge and over the summit of Matairangi. Its grieving bird-like call
– Descriptive Sign at Matairangi/Mount Victoria Lookout
. . . keo . . . keo . . . keo . . .
gives the summit its name: Tangi Te Keo.
Whátaitai was one of two taniwha (spiritual guardians) who, according to legend, inhabited the lake which is now Wellington Harbour. Whátaitai died while attempting to escape to the open waters of Raukawakawa-moana (Cook Strait).
You can see Whátaitai still – lying stranded by high tides, its back forming the land linking Miramar Peninsula (once an island) with the mainland.”
Things to do in Wellington: Visit the Beehive, New Zealand’s Parliamentary Buildings
What’s on Wellington: Things to do in Wellington. The wind was still blowing below the Lookout when we arrived at Parliament, the kiwi flag prominently displayed atop the the Beehive, New Zealand’s most recognizable government building and part of the parliamentary grounds. As fun as it is to see the Beehive up close, we found plenty of other things to explore, as well. Massive stone sculptures and other public art on the parliamentary grounds make the space more interesting and welcoming. The girls played on the grassy knoll and hid behind the giant sculptures.
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