Wellington Travel Forum

Is Wellington a tourist hotspot?
Is Wellington a place with masses of things to do?
Is Wellington impacted by the time of the year, Winter approacheth?

I know of one VT'er who will be ecstatic to see your posting.

Hmmm Perhaps I should have asked each question seperately ;-)

Waiting waiting waiting

I would not call Wellington a tourist hotspot, however it has changed over the years and is certainly improving.

There is a fair amount to do in Wellington, and certainly there are many day/weekend trips you can take from there to many varied, scenic, and interesting places.

OK Wellington is known as windy Wellington, but having said that, there is always somewhere you can get out of the wind, that is NOT THE CASE in other places in New Zealand, Palmerston North being 1 case in point. But Wellington on a good day, nothing can beat it!!!

hi steve

(steve and I played badminton in our much younger days)

wellington is not so much six degrees of separation - more like 2 degrees

btw steve mum is asleep next door in the spare bedroom and she was delighted we had found each other

and i do assure you wellington has been of late balmy to the point of ridiculous and charming to the point absurdity

look in the misc forum steve - mgmarcus is having a lend

and all the wellingtonians have been out on the waterfront doing the passegiata - me and mum amongst them

Wellington also has a very strong literary history as well.

In the 67's and 70's, at Wellington university (such a wonderful institution) there was a student organisation called the POOH CLUB.

They held poetry readings in the Bolton St Cemetary (now sadly gone) at midnight.

More famously however, was the incident in which, a certain ediface in Courtney Place (a public loo) where all the members of the POOH CLUB mounted the roof as they were trying to demolish the building from memory) and were chanting very loudly "PIGGY FOR KING, PIGGY FOR KING"

Piggy (Sir Robert) Muldoon was the current Prime Minister at the time.

So as you can see there is a very strong cultural heritage as well

I always wondered how you spelled passegiatte......

Any Italian culture in NZ besides that?

oh steve

shall i post the picture of me that was on the front page of the local paper as i was hurled from the roof of the taj mahal (only locals know what the taj mahal is) into the waiting arms of the police people all because the Pooh Club decided to declare sovreignty - or something

but you knew that didn't you!

Yes I did and it was a hoot.

Incidently for all you others following this, The Taj Mahal is now a restaurant

I had forgoton it was you that made the front page of the newspaper over that

no it is a welsh wine bar

wild surmise

i don't remember shouting piggy for king

but i do remember the great billboard near the basin resrve that said

Robert Muldoon Has An Incredible Cheek

darls i was only 17 so they put that bar over my face so i rang my poor mother to see if she recognised me - and I knew she had because she was crying

i have the photo - got it from the archive of the alexander turnball and hope to use it on the cover of my next book of poetry Barefoot

because I was barefoot

were you in NZ when he appeared as the narator in the Rocky Horror Show?

no i think i had fled

It was totally unanounced and he was a hit. He did it in full costume

did he - gasp? - have a sense of humour?

apparently - the purple satin boxers were fabulous.

anyhows I need to get to bed, I have to work in the morning.

God this has unleashed some memories

me too

see you later

Ok..........

To answer the original question ;-)

Wellington is undeservedly not a tourist hotspot as it is an absolutely wonderful place. It is built on many attractive hills (not the mention the five faultlines it is sitting on...), has a great Waterfront, so much art, and great nature, with a fantastic wildlife reserve (Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) just five minutes from the city centre. It is NZ's most elegant city, has great restaurants and cafés. Ok, it also is NZ's windiest and shakiest city BUT...

I would consider Wellington the best city in the case of bad weather, as it has so many interesting museums, starting with Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum, and arts galleries, and outdoor art everywhere. We have been there last month, have just posted a page on VT where you can see how delighted I was ;-)

If you have more than two or three days to spare you could make a tour of the Wairarapa (Cape Palliser) and the Martinborough wine region, and to another Wildlife Sanctuary (Mt. Bruce), and even Kapiti Island (booking required).

this is a great answer kakapo but the poster was having a joke with me abut a posting i made in the misc forum

Oh, I understood that you were joking with one of the posters :-)

OMG so craic and Steve are old acquaintances?? How amazing. I will be meeting both of you in the next few months :-))
Bring back Muldoon!! :-)) He was an endless source of entertainment haha.

oh that's cool kakapo - you gave such a good answer but we are not serious posters

kiwi - steve and i just found out we knew each other as children - played badminton in the same club

Yes, it was a good answer sissi and of interest to me. I have toured the top half of the north island and the bottom half of the south island and intend to go back and do the parts I missed.

Just out of interest given the day and the new zealanders reading this post, is anzac day as big a day over there as it is here?

It always used to be.

I remember when I was in Scouts (back in the dim dark ages) that the ANZAC day services used to be sellout performances and the the RSA made a killing in its bars

but it could have changed :)

i wish i could tell you but not having a tv and not having bought a paper today and not having been up at dawn and being out of the loop - i don't really know

i don't know if they have the two up games here on anzac day

i am just about to go down to the centre of town and i will look about me and see how many slightly shickered ex soldiers are about