Wellington NZ Info, Highlights, Tips, Ideas! Your Reactions?

From the Telegraph newspaper travel section in London last week, they had this headline: "Wellington, New Zealand: readers' tips, recommendations and travel advice".

Here is my summary for their key highlights and suggestions offered: "Steep green slopes sprinkled with Victorian wooden houses lead down to the modern high-rise city centre and harbour of Wellington: this is a city of ever-changing mood, high in energy and with a diverse cultural mix. Occupying the only gap in a 870-mile-long chain of mountains, and overlooking the magnificent Cook Strait that separates the North and South Islands, Wellington hasn’t tamed nature but lives alongside it. Te Papa (tepapa.govt.nz) is one of the finest museums in the world. Take the cable car from Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay, to enjoy the most superb views of the bay and to see the Botanical Gardens. Take the downhill walk back to the city to view the old wooden houses. Windy Wellington has some lovely surprises. I recommend the Musem Art Museum Hotel. It’s filled with original, award-winning art, sculptures, paintings and wearable art, and the décor is avant garde. Old St Paul’s cathedral, in Mulgrave Street, a wonderful wooden building."

Among the dining suggestions and ideas: Mac’s Brewbar & Restaurant (Shed 22, 4 Taranaki Street) on the renovated harbourside. Wellesley Boutique Hotel on the corner of Maginnity Street, within easy reach of parliament and the shopping “golden mile” has the excellent Maginnity’s Restaurant. The whole area along the harbour has a great selection of different restaurants. Logan Brown (192 Cuba Street; loganbrown.co.nz) and the Ortega Fish Shack & Bar (16 Majoribanks Street; ortega.co.nz).

Also: Wellingtonnz.com is the most comprehensive website, covering every tour, activity, sport and event going on in the city, from seals to hobbits.

Do folks who live in NZ and/or have been there agree or disagree with these ideas and suggestions? Any other special secrets and tips to share??

Will be copying and saving these tips and ideas to my computer file that I have assembled for each of the key ports and area for our cruise. On the Celebrity Solstice we are now only a year away for doing our first “down under” visit, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, sailing, departing Sydney. We will be doing 14 days on this ship we loved in the Med in June 2011. We will be finishing in Auckland. Plus, doing some pre-cruise options for Cairns/Port Douglas, the Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef, then Kangaroo Island near Adelaide before departing from Sidney’s scenic harbor. And, probably post-cruise in Queenstown and stopping in Hawaii on the way home to break up that long, long flight back.

Full story at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/your-travels/9781320/Wellington-New-Zealand-readers-tips-recommendations-and-travel-advice.html

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 92,054 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 114,700 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Here are three previews from Wellington that I pulled up from the Bing website. It is the capital of New Zealand and their second largest city. As shown in the first picture, with the red cable car, you can see Wellington is nestled between a great harbor and a natural amphitheater of forest-clad hills. Wellington's cultural crowning jewel, the Te Papa, is shown at the left in the second picture. This dramatically-designed museum celebrates Australasian natural history, science and culture. Exhibits include Maori artifacts, an extensive Pacific Cultures collection and interactive science exhibits. Finally, the beehive-looking Parliament building is a part of their central government complex.:

Windy Wellington can also have some interesting and variable weather. If you book a tour ahead, you are stuck with it - the weather. The one time we did this, we lucked out and had sun, with mist, which affected the scenic vistasas ion your photos but brought out the seals to sun themselves on the rocks at sea level and pose for photos. Try Googling Seal Safari for this tour. On other visits we have worked with the weather. Te Papa and shopping at the large department store where the shuttle bus drops you on a cold and mizzly day or the cable car and drifting back through the gardens on a fine day without mist. Or both if it is fine and you are feeling active. We have not done the HO HO bus or Hobbit Film Buff tours but they are also worth looking into.

I have family there so Wellington has been a regular holiday spot for some time (including once calling on a cruise)

It is a great city that you can DIY sightseeing very easily

Undoubtedly if you want to get a hint about life there Te Papa is the pace to go

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/pages/default.aspx

If you are interested in the wonderful wildlife and want a peaceful day in town but away from it all a taxi to Karori Sanctuary is well worth a visit

http://www.visitzealandia.com/

The cable car is good - if you want, you can walk up and take the car back down and you certainly do not need the ships tour for that one

If you are at the Beehive, parliament building, the tours are wonderful and free, though you might have to go in the morning and agree a time and come back round later if they are busy

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/Visiting/

If you have to do that, a gem worth a quick visit is Old St Pauls Church

http://www.historicplaces.org.nz/placestovisit/lowernorthisland/oldstpauls.aspx

Within these links you will find other great Wellington places. The other delight are all the wind sculptures you will see, it may be windy welly but they make good use of this feature. And finally nothing beats sitting having a coffee by the yacht harbour by Te Papa

All in all Wellington is a fabulous easily accessible city - enjoy

Two quick further ideas off the top of my head:

• The top of Mount Victoria, for some good views. Walking up there's a great way of doing it, although it will take more time than going by road.
• Walking round Oriental Bay, for similar (though sea level) reasons.

You'll be pleased to know that the Dawn Princess is basking in glorious sunshine in Wellington today - picture postcard from my window!

Good suggestions all above. If there are any foodies here, Wellington really is NZ's culinary capital. I know you're well fed on board, but Zest Food Tours offer a great half day excursion for those who want to taste NZ's best. Another goodie that complements Wellington's reputation as the craft beer capital is Wild About Wellington's beer tour - think wine tasting with beer, hosted by a beer writer. (Rumour has it that Wellington drinks half of NZ's craft beer production - we're all about quality, not quantity!) If you are wanting to do a film tour, they're best booked in advance - there's huge demand at the moment and with two more movies to come, it's likely to stay that way.

If you do hit a bad weather day, Te Papa, Carter Observatory, Museum of Wellington, City Gallery and some shopping time will keep you dry.

We recently relocated to NZ and LOVE it! On recent school holidays, we went to Wellington, which is our favorite "big city" in NZ thus far. We had lucked out on weather - sunny - which meant kids jumping into the water from the wharf, beanbag chairs on public lawns and in front of restaurants, and spontaneous games of ping-pong.

I love Te Papa - it is beautiful, thoughtfully laid out and free for the regular exhibits, which are very good. They are currently having a special exhibit called "Game Masters - the Gods of Gaming", which is a history of video games and their creators. This is a special exhibit that did require a paid ticket - I believe it was $45 NZ for a family pass - two adults, two children (ours our 8 and 12). We had to drag our 8 year old out after 3 hours as the exhibit is interactive with more than 100 playable games. It goes until April, 2013.

Our other favorite was the Weta Workshop - the design and creative studio that has been part of a number of films, most famously The Hobbit and LOTR. They have a small shop in front - the Weta Cave - that is free, but you can also do a workshop tour which my husband and I loved. $50 NZ for a family pass (2 adults, 2 children). No pics allowed. It is in Miramar, a suburb of Wellington. Website is here:

http://www.wetanz.com/window-into-workshop/

Also - I love shopping on Cuba Street - lots of vintage stores and cute boutiques - pricy by NZ standards, though. On the weekends, there is an outdoor street market with lots of yummy foods - we had polish cakes, chinese potstickers and something spicy that was like ceviche.

Wellington is fickle regarding weather - on a good day, it is amazing! Hope you enjoy.

Wellington has the unfortunate reputation of having "fickle" weather - along with Melbourne, Aust. However, we enjoyed the best weather in Wellington out of all the ports on our cruise on Radiance of the S in Dec 2011.

Although many people walked into town from the ship, it is quite a hike, so we took one of the 2 shuttle buses offered to a department store in the main area of the city - very close to the cable car terminal. The cable car ride was great and the walk down through the gardens was lovely, with glimpses of the city through the trees. The rose garden at the bottom was absolutely spectacular. (Terry - the photographer in you will love it.)

We then walked past the government buildings, through the shopping area and along the waterfront to the Te Papa Museum. This museum is fantastic and requires at least 2 - 3 hours - a whole day would not be out of the question.

We then walked to the I Site which was reasonably close and caught the other shuttle back to the ship.

It was a very pleasant and inexpensive - but interesting day.

Wellington has the unfortunate reputation of having "fickle" weather - along with Melbourne, Aust. However, we enjoyed the best weather in Wellington out of all the ports on our cruise on Radiance of the S in Dec 2011. Although many people walked into town from the ship, it is quite a hike, so we took one of the 2 shuttle buses offered to a department store in the main area of the city - very close to the cable car terminal. The cable car ride was great and the walk down through the gardens was lovely, with glimpses of the city through the trees. The rose garden at the bottom was absolutely spectacular. (Terry - the photographer in you will love it.) We then walked past the government buildings, through the shopping area and along the waterfront to the Te Papa Museum. This museum is fantastic and requires at least 2 - 3 hours - a whole day would not be out of the question. We then walked to the I Site which was reasonably close and caught the other shuttle back to the ship. It was a very pleasant and inexpensive - but interesting day.

Appreciate so much the info and insights from our Australia friend. Good and helpful. YES! I will try to get lots of good photographs from this and many other scenic and interesting areas in NZ and your country.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 115,886 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Please, Terry does NOT need any more inspiration for his pictures.:)

Just kidding, always enjoy his pics & have saved a number of them, far out shine ours.