Wellington - Need Help to plan my route

I have narrowed our day to include the following.

Te Papa Museum

Old St Paul's

Parliament building

Cuba area

Cable car

We are in port from 10a to 11p.

Need help with two items.

(1) Based on what we want to see is there a preferred route we should take?

(2) Since we are going to be in port late, is there a restaurant with a view that we should be considering for dinner?

Okay, one more question

(3) I would also love to hear if you have any thoughts like "oh, they can't miss X when they are in Wellington"

Thank you for thoughts on our plan.

Oh gosh, one more question. Based on what we want to see do you recommend a DIY tour, or to hire a guide? If a guide, do you have any recommendations?

I have narrowed our day to include the following.

Te Papa Museum

Old St Paul's

Parliament building

Cuba area

Cable car

We are in port from 10a to 11p.

Need help with two items.

(1) Based on what we want to see is there a preferred route we should take?

(2) Since we are going to be in port late, is there a restaurant with a view that we should be considering for dinner?

Okay, one more question

(3) I would also love to hear if you have any thoughts like "oh, they can't miss X when they are in Wellington" Thank you for thoughts on our plan.

From our experiences in Wellington, you can do lots on your own. We started out our day in Wellington by hooking up with an excellent cab driver for a mini-tour and introduction to this city. This included first going up to Mount Victoria for a great overview of the city and seeing many sights around town. This gave us an overview for this city from this great location on a wonderful weather day. We also enjoyed a sampling for the residential structures that climb up the hills all around this great, scenic harbor. Plus, a view of the Wellington airport where the top movie/computer operations for Peter Jackson and James Cameron are working their magic for future film releases. Our cab driver explained many details, insights and background on Wellington, its people, housing areas, culture, etc. He had lived here since 1972 and has family heritage going back to Ireland. Very charming and honest!! Worked well as a "plan". Better than being on a big bus with a guide just playing back a long script of boring facts. Lots of chances to ask questions, learn more. Great way to start sampling this charming city at a reasonable cost, see many of the key highlights in a short period of time. This allowed plenty of time for shopping and lunch in the Cuba Street area, doing the famed museum in the afternoon.

For the foodies who like such dining delights, we had lunch on Cuba Street at Logan-Brown, 192 Cuba St. This classy place wins top honors and marks from TripAdvisor and in other ratings. We enjoyed lunch in this historic corner bank building with interesting architecture and art. Their website is: http://www.loganbrown.co.nz.

Depending on the number of ships and passengers in town, the Cable Car can have long lines in the mornings. We did not do this attraction as we had lots of other options to see and enjoy. Great, charming town!!

Lots more details and visuals on my full live/blog. Just post on that live/blog and I will be happy to answer any added questions, info needs.

KEY NOTES HERE: The NZ national capital. It is the second largest urban area of New Zealand at the SW tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The urban area has nearly 400,000 residents. The 2012 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 13th in the world and in 2011, Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 named Wellington as fourth in its "Top 10 Cities to Visit" in the world. They call New Zealand's capital as the "coolest little capital in the world". Wellington takes its name the first Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), the famed victor of the Battle of Waterloo (1815).

European settlement began in 1839. Wellington became the capital city of New Zealand in 1865, replacing Auckland. That shift was driven by concerns that the more populated South Island (where the goldfields were located and creating huge wealth) would choose to form a separate colony in the British Empire. Wellington was picked because of its central location in New Zealand and good harbor. Wellington is the location of the highest court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court, plus the Parliament (with its beehive, round shape), the head offices of all Government Ministries and Departments and most foreign diplomatic missions. It is an important, growing center of New Zealand's film and theater industry, including with the technical operations for Peter Jackson and James Cameron.

Wellington displays a wide variety of architectural styles from the past 150 years. This includes 19th-century wooden cottages, Art Deco structures and curving/vibrant post-modern designs in the main business district. Old St Paul's (as shown in a below picture) is an example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture adapted to colonial conditions and wooden materials.

Lots of shopping options in Wellington!! One area is focused around Cuba Street. It is named after an early (1840) settler ship to New Zealand. This street was closed to traffic in 1969 and is one of the busiest areas with many buildings of historic significance. This is one of the more "bohemian" areas of Wellington and home to an eclectic collection of cafes, boutique, fashion stores, art galleries and music shops.

The Museum of New Zealand or Te Papa is the NZ national museum and art gallery. The main Te Papa building is on the waterfront with six floors of exhibitions, cafés and gift shops. Yes, they have gift shops. So shocking!! The 387,000 square feet building cost NZ$300 million when opened in 1998. There has been controversy for having such a significant collections at the water's edge on reclaimed land next to one of the world's most active earthquake fault lines.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 115,321 views for this posting.

We started out our day in Wellington by hooking up with an excellent cab driver for a mini-tour and introduction to this city. This included first going up to Mount Victoria for a great overview of the city and seeing many sights around town.:

Cuba Street was an interesting area of Wellington to see and enjoy. It's on the "funky" side, but that made it fun and different. Below is one of the friendly staff members in a shop there. The second picture shows one of the historic, older building, the trees, etc.:

This is the main government center for New Zealand, including on the left with its round, Beehive building. The Beehive was built in stages between 1969 and 1979. It is extensively decorated with New Zealand art. The top floor is occupied by the Cabinet room, with the Prime Minister's offices on the ninth floor. The Parliament is located next door in the middle building shown. Our cab driver stopped here for an exterior picture, but we did not view it as needed for an interior visit. A government building is kind of a government building, right? :

This is Old St. Paul's church in Wellington. See, we did go to church on our trip! It is the former cathedral in the Diocese of Wellington for the Anglican Church. As an example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture, they adapted to colonial conditions and materials. It is at 34 Mulgrave Street, close to the New Zealand Parliament. Its construction was completed in June 1866. In 1964, the Diocese of Wellington moved to the new St Paul's Cathedral nearby. After a significant battle to prevent its demolition, Old St. Paul's was purchased by the New Zealand Government in 1967 and restored. Although not a parish church, it remains consecrated and is a popular for weddings, funerals and other services. It is constructed from native NZ timbers. The interior has been likened to the upturned hull of an Elizabethan galleon. As this picture shows, it has exposed curving trusses and roof sacking. The flags displayed in the nave include the Royal Navy, NZ Merchant Navy and US Marine Corps. Many of our Marines were stationed in Wellington during World War II. My wife is in yellow walking down the center aisle as she absorb the building details. This was a very important and "moving" site to experience. :

Starting with its contemporary design, this Te Papa Museum is not a boring and/or average facility. And, the admission is FREE!! Such a deal! Well worth it, too. Inside, they also have some of native Maori collections and an important emphasis here.:

That's a great tour and you can do it all on your own as a walking tour.

Check out the times for the tours Parliament , its all on their web site and then work your day around that.

My suggestion would be to walk from the ship down to the boardwalk on the waterfront ,then wander along to Te Papa. It opens at 10am. If you arrive before , there is an outdoor bush walk you can do. From there walk over to Cuba Street , then on to the Cable car , arriving at Parliament for an afternoon tour. Its then a modest walk back to the ship, or catch the ships shuttle.From Te Papa there is also a local circle bus if you do not want to walk.

That's a great tour and you can do it all on your own as a walking tour.

Check out the times for the tours Parliament , its all on their web site and then work your day around that.

My suggestion would be to walk from the ship down to the boardwalk on the waterfront ,then wander along to Te Papa. It opens at 10am. If you arrive before , there is an outdoor bush walk you can do. From there walk over to Cuba Street , then on to the Cable car , arriving at Parliament for an afternoon tour. Its then a modest walk back to the ship, or catch the ships shuttle.From Te Papa there is also a local circle bus if you do not want to walk.

You forgot to mention that Old St Pauls is quite close to Parliament so go there before heading back to the ship.

Thank you all so much.

There are a few people in our group that can't do a lot of walking. Does anyone know where the shuttle drops people off at in the city? (And what does it cost?). Does it run everytime there are ships in port? There appears to be a HAL ship and a Celebrity ship in that day (Feb 16).

Is it near the i-Site Centre? There's a 2.5 hour Hammonds tour from there we're thinking of catching.

As another alternative...we contacted the local tourist office (site below) and had a great walking tour of Wellington that still left us plenty of time to do things on our own.

http://www.walkwellington.org.nz/

The cost is $20 NZD, so very cheap especially with the exchange rate. If you look at the site you'll see they run a special walking tour when cruise ships are in just for the passengers. They meet at the train station, instead of downtown at the I-Site. The train station was very close to the pier, just check it out on google earth. It was maybe 2-3 blocks.

My husband and I sent an email and signed up for the walk and it turned out we were the only ones who did so we had a private tour all to ourselves.

Our guide, John, was a retired foreign service worker and he was great to talk to. We saw all the sites and then he pointed us in the direction of the Te Papa museum where we spent a lot of time before returning to the ship.

As another alternative...we contacted the local tourist office (site below) and had a great walking tour of Wellington that still left us plenty of time to do things on our own.

 

http://www.walkwellington.org.nz/

 

The cost is $20 NZD, so very cheap especially with the exchange rate. If you look at the site you'll see they run a special walking tour when cruise ships are in just for the passengers. They meet at the train station, instead of downtown at the I-Site. The train station was very close to the pier, just check it out on google earth. It was maybe 2-3 blocks.

 

My husband and I sent an email and signed up for the walk and it turned out we were the only ones who did so we had a private tour all to ourselves.

 

Our guide, John, was a retired foreign service worker and he was great to talk to. We saw all the sites and then he pointed us in the direction of the Te Papa museum where we spent a lot of time before returning to the ship.

Good info. But in our case we need something that doesn't do much walking. Basically a Non-walking tour. ;)

The most limited person in our group can walk some, and doesn't quite need a wheelchair for modest walks, we do need to keep it down to just a few blocks.

If the port shuttle stops within a few blocks of the i-Site, the Hammond tour would probably work well. But if it drops very far from there we'll need to look at something with a shorter walk. I know we can always taxi but there will be 7 in our group and it's trickier trying to keep everyone together across multiple taxis (since I'm the one that one that will know where all we're going).

The Option 2 in the website you provided does say "Make your way to the I-SITE Visitor Centre at the Civic Square, Wakefield St. The journey will take about 8min by taxi, 35min for a 2.3km walk, or by shuttle bus from the Aotea Quay terminal.", which seems to suggest the shuttle stops there. But I'd prefer something a little more definitive than that.

To the OP, if you are taking the Cable Car up to the top, don't come back down on it, instead walk down through the Botanic Gardens. It is a lovely walk, not too strenuous and all down hill :D

Going from the Botanic Gardens back to the city, over a major highway you end up walking through a very old cemetery (Bolton Street Memorial Park) literally in the middle of the city - it was a wonderful surprise and very unexpected.

Then it was an easy (but not short) walk back to the ship passing by Parliament House and St Pauls.

We were on HAL and I think it was the city that had a shuttle running from the ship's terminal to the Information Centre, if memory serves me right it was $12 NZD.

We found Te Papa Museum to be a highlight of a previous land trip to New Zealand and would thoroughly recommend it, we spent hours there but if you are 'time poor' I recommend you concentrate on the Maori section.

Sorry missed the not walking part...

The cunard shuttle dropped people off at Kirkcaldie & Stains department store on the corner of Lambton Quay and Brandon Street in Wellington.

I'm sure it's the same for all ships, it's a designated spot.

Sorry missed the not walking part...

 

The cunard shuttle dropped people off at Kirkcaldie & Stains department store on the corner of Lambton Quay and Brandon Street in Wellington.

 

I'm sure it's the same for all ships, it's a designated spot.

Cool. Thank you!

Sorry missed the not walking part...

 

The cunard shuttle dropped people off at Kirkcaldie & Stains department store on the corner of Lambton Quay and Brandon Street in Wellington.

 

I'm sure it's the same for all ships, it's a designated spot.

Just a note ....K&S is closing after Christmas and will be changed into a David Jones store and will undergo a 6 month renovation.

There are a few people in our group that can't do a lot of walking. Does anyone know where the shuttle drops people off at in the city? (And what does it cost?). Does it run everytime there are ships in port? There appears to be a HAL ship and a Celebrity ship in that day (Feb 16).

 

Is it near the i-Site Centre? There's a 2.5 hour Hammonds tour from there we're thinking of catching.

This cruise season, only Royal Caribbean ships - Radiance, Solstice, Explorer and Voyager - and the small Albatross - will stop at both the I-SITE Information Centre in Wakefield Street and in Brandon Street near the Cable Car. Cost is $10NZ, payable in cash at the port and the ticket is valid all day.

HAL, P&O and Princess ships all make one stop only at Brandon Street near the Cable Car. It's around a 10 minute walk through the main shopping area to the I-SITE.

If you have pre-booked a private tour, those companies maybe permitted to pick up port-side as long as they have pre-booked passengers. Check with the company you're travelling with on the pick-up point.

No tour sales are permitted at port though - if you want to do something on the day, head up to the I-SITE Information Centre. It's well worth booking in advance though - tours do sell out, especially city sightseeing and film tours and Weta Workshop.

And Wellington is New Zealand's culinary capital - Whitebait, Shed 5, St John's Bar, Mac's Brewery and Foxglove are all on the waterfront, while there's some great options around Cuba Street and Courtenay Place as well. WellingtonNZ.com has great info on Wellington's food scene.