Who knows Wellington?
 

Say you were a frequent visitor to NZ who likes museums, nature, wine and food...

How many nights would you spend in Wellington? What would you do? Most importantly where would you eat? Any hotel suggestions, I am thinking of booking the James Cook.

I'm considering 3 nights, since I arrive in the evening, to allow a full day for Te Papa and also a visit to Zealandia. Has anyone been on the night time tour and did you see a kiwi?

Are there any other museums (art or otherwise) or nature sights that you would add?
Would it be difficult to visit Kapiti Island with short notice?

After that I am thinking of a night (or two?) in Martinborough, then perhaps drive via the National Park /Turangi.

I have approx 7 days from the time I arrive in Wellington to return to Auckland.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know Wellington well, but last time I was there these two galleries had terrific shows.

Adam Gallery at Victoria University:
http://www.adamartgallery.org.nz/

and the City Gallery:
http://www.citygallery.org.nz/mainsite/

That sounds great to me, mlgb; we had two nights in Wellington and I would have liked to have stayed longer.

We spent our first evening just walking around downtown, most of the next day at Te Papa. That evening we went to the Embassy Theatre - just to look around since it was the site of the Lord of the Rings premieres - and ended up getting to see the last part of Return of the King, which was fun. Then we did a bit more walking around. The next morning we went up Mt. Victoria looking for LotR filming sites, visited the farmer's market, then drove over to Miramar to find Weta Workshop before we left town.

We stayed at the Bay Plaza, but it's been six years so I don't know if it's still good. We had a lovely view of the bay.

Food...we ate one night at the Green Parrot, sort of dinerish but fairly tasty. Lunch was at the Wellington Market - if it's still there, it's like a big indoor flea market. We had some really fabulous noodle soup.

Lee Ann

Thank you both for the replies. I will of course report back when I return.

I am definitely going to Kapiti Island! Hopefully for the overnight stay.

Mlgb,

When are you going to Kapiti? I am booked for overnight stay 21 January. When I called there was no problem booking permit and lodging, but that was several weeks ago. I think week nights are easier to book than weekends.

When I posted asking about Zealandia under its old name, an employee responded to me on this board with enthusiasm. I have it on my list of "if time permits".

Talking to my niece's boyfriend who is originally from Wellington, he has suggested I go up Victoria for the view. My niece also suggested a large park they visited above the city that made her feel like she was miles away, but I haven't searched yet to find the name.

They also suggested I consider a ferry ride across the harbor to a suburb to get a view from the water.

The ferry ride from Wellington CBD to Eastbourne is lovely on a nice day. However you will get a view from the water when you come back from Kapiti Island I would think.

Hi Kay, I was able to make it Kapiti Island, did the overnight and we sucessfully saw a kiwi within the first 10 minutes of the overnight walk...had a great time you will love it!

If anyone is considering going to Martinborough I recommend Oak House which is found on bnb.co.nz, the owner is a winemaker so great wines with dinner (and great breakfast too).

Great news!

I am hoping the weather forecast is off and that we will not have rain every day/night, allowing the kiwis to hide.

Weather here on the Kapiti Coast is cool, wet and windy.My home ground!
I wouldn't expect it to get much better.So be prepared for your trip to Kapiti Island to be cancelled/postponed.
An alternative in that event will be to take in Southwards Car Museum-http://www.thecarmuseum.co.nz/
Or Nga Manu -http://www.ngamanu.co.nz/
Or check this out for other activities.http://www.naturecoast.co.nz/
Really hope we can turn the sun on for you.But summer this year just hasn't arrived.

it is only 10 degrees C in Wellington today, 50 F. My son and DIL had all their winter clothes on when they Skyped this afternoon. It was pouring with rain as well. The weather forecast wasn't looking too promising for next week.

It was 26 C here in Nelson, 82F.

The sun was out today in Queenstown. I went out to Skippers Canyon and had a nice tour with Nomads. Our guide knows where all the patches of berries are, so we had freshly picked raspberries with our ginger nuts! I am at Kinloch now, and yes, there are sandflies but nothing like the west coast. Hopefully the weather holds since I'm going to try to drive to Paradise and back tomorrow.

I hope you don't miss your kiwi spotting trip Kay2. I guess there is Zealandia as an alternative. They have a night time tour. I decided not to visit since I had the A+ experience at Kapiti Island.

Today in Skippers we saw a long tailed cuckoo..another bird for the tick list. I heard them on Kapiti but never saw one.

Great experience on Kapiti!
I took the train from Wellington to Paraparaumu (actually we had to get off one stop early and take a bus due to construction) and a bus from there to the beach town. I bought a picnic lunch (love all the bakery pies), checked my email, then headed out on the 2:30pm ferry.

I was the only overnight guest on Kapiti, so I went for a short hike, had dinner with the family and then went kiwi spotting with Minnie and her son. It took awhile; we saw a morepork, heard several other birds, then started chasing kiwis when they called. We got to watch one for several minutes eating in a bank. Then we saw the back of another while it froze in the bush. Around 12:30am we went back, I visited the central toilet/bath, then returned to the cabin where we had been told a kiwi had been spotted under the nearby tree the previous night. I listened and heard the rustling and snorting, so I spent another hour playing cat and mouse, then finding the kiwi and watching it each time it froze and hoped I would go away--which I did when it started raining.

Next morning I was told that the afternoon ferry was canceled due to expected southerly winds, so I had to leave on the morning ferry. No hike to the top of the hill for views. Just breakfast, shower and pack, then my sack lunch and I returned on the ferry. Family members gave me a ride to train station and I headed back to Wellington earlier than planned.

I visited Te Papa and was underwhelmed. I think it is a nice interactive museum for children, but I did not find it as comprehensive or informative as I expected. A friend of mine went separately and had the same experience--great if kids were with us and they wanted to do all the hands on activities.

Cable car was nice with good views at top. Walk down through botanic garden 30 minutes as advertised. Parklands were nice walk, but not a place I would go out of my way for. I did enjoy the old cemetery and seeing the old houses along the park. Old St Paul's Church worth a look. The same friend told me the Wellington and the Sea museum was worth a short visit. Sunny day along the waterfront was enjoyable with the locals.

We went to Zeelandia for the evening walk. We saw tuatara, glowworms, shags, etc. We heard three kiwi calls, but did not see them. The guide said he saw a kiwi just as we entered the bush, but it was running away. So, it was a nice walk with a full moon, but no kiwis for my friends.

CBD was deserted in the evening. Most stores, restaurants and bars close early and hardly anything was open on Wellington Day.

I have to note somewhere about how helpful the taxi drivers were in Wellington and everywhere else--apologetic if we had to wait, no problem with waiting when member of party stuck in checkout line, lots of suggestions and commentary on the area, questions to ensure we were headed just where we planned, etc.

Hi Kay, I'm glad you made it to Kapiti Island and had successful kiwi spotting.

We also were blessed with a clear night and fantastic views of the Milky Way and Southern Cross..finally after all those trips to NZ I remembered to look for it when the sky was clear.

The exhibit presentations at Te Papa had changed quite a bit since my last visit and I preferred it the old way. But at least it is free, except for the special exhibit, Day in Pompei. Since I'm from earthquake country I found the 3-D film interesting but probably wouldn't otherwise recommend the extra expense.