Wet, Windy, (but wonderful) Welly

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Wellington began very wet and windy for the first two days, and they get proper wind in Wellington leaving the hostel meant braving the elements. But after two days the sun appeared and things improved for the next three days.

Adverse weather conditions aside, the capital is an excellent cosmopoitan city with loads on offer set in beautiful bay surrounded by lush hills. We also had the pleasure of staying in one of the best hostels we have ever stayed in, Wellington City YHA.

In terms of activities there are loads, there is a huge town centre to wander round and a gazillion shops for Claire to drag us into. The NZ museum, Te Papa, is on the waterfront and its probably the best museum we have ever been to (not wanting to sound a bit anorak) , its well thought out interactive and really entertaining , which is something few museums can boast.

We rode the Wellington Cable car up the hill for smart views of the city and surrounding areas and then walked back into town via the botanic gardens and the bizarrely shaped Kiwi Parliament.

We hit the town one night checking out the bars on Courtney Place and sampled some of the local brews and live music which seems to be on most nights of the week. We got caught up in the Wellington Christmas parade , a bit early and purely for the kids but we got given a flag to wave telling santa that we had been good.

Finally, we bussed up to the top of Mount Victoria for some of the best views of the city and walked back down through some forrest and into oriental bay.

This was only the tip of the iceburg for Welly but we only had five days in which to check it out and are now trying to save our pennies. Certainly a different and better city than Auckland, well worth a visit.

Photos will follow!

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Photos

The Bay
Oriental Bay

Harbour
Welly Harbour, in windy weather

Lookout
The view from the top of the cable car

Gardens
Botanical Gardens

Beehive
The Kiwi Parliament

Comments

[Carol]

Yes just like Preston
Wellington sounds like Preston weatherwise, I guess you're half way through your honeymoon now?