Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington highlights

Te Papa Museum
Botanic Gardens

Why visit Wellington?

For a young vibrant capital city with green hills and big open spaces.

Getting there and around

We hired a small SUV car from Apex for 28 days at a cost of £55 per day which included car seats, unlimited mileage, zero excess, roadside assistance, and ferry tickets for us and the car from North to South Island.

As soon as a road out of Napier reopened after Cyclone Gabrielle we left town, because we didn’t want to take up any more resources or be an additional burden to the community for longer than necessary. When we got to North Havelock we managed to get fuel (£40) and drove through the night to Wellington, which took 4.5 hours.

We prefer to explore cities by foot but our hostel was about 20 minutes walk from the city centre so we mainly drove around the city rather than walk or use public transport. It was fairly easy to get around by car with lots of parking.

Accommodation

The Dwellington (which we chose for its name more than anything) was a hostel with shared bathrooms. We had a private family room with a double bed and bunk beds (£90 a night). The room was homely and clean. The wi-fi was patchy, but there was free parking, a big shared lounge and kitchen, TV room, and good laundry facilities. This was a welcoming, clean and family friendly hostel and a great base for Wellington.

The Dwellington was 5 minutes drive from the centre of Wellington and located right next to the ferry port which was handy for our onward journey.

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 5

Sadly, the Dwellington closed unexpectedly in September 2023, which is such a shame because it was a fab place to stay.

Te Papa Museum

This fantastic national museum is housed in a building with 152 base isolators that are engineered to withstand earthquakes; it was beautiful inside and out. Entry was free.

The exhibition Manu Rere Mona | Pacific Voyagers was our favourite. It was a stunning celebration of the celestial navigation by waka hourua (Māori canoes).

We also loved the photos of the waka community and fleet and opportunity to touch and smell the wood of beautifully carved boats, all accompanied by Tiki Taane’s soundscape.

The exhibits about Aotearoa’s natural environment were very well presented. We spent time sketching wild flowers, learning about how the country came into being, and understanding why it has unique wildlife.

The museum was packed full of fascinating exhibitions about the people and environment of Aotearoa New Zealand. We spent a good chunk of the day at the museum and still didn’t manage to see it all.

Botanic Gardens

We spent a couple of hours visiting these gorgeous gardens (free entry). We walked from the founders entrance to the children’s playground, taking in the rose garden, fragrant garden and treehouse on the way. This was such a peaceful place and we loved how the winding paths up and down the hills took you to new places to explore.

The playground was built into the side of the hill, and made the most of the terrain with long slides and a really good zip line. It wasn’t a huge playground but like all the others we have been to in Aotearoa New Zealand it was clean, well maintained and full of play equipment.

After the Botanic Gardens we visited the main commercial shopping area of Lambton Quay and Willis Street.

We had planned on taking the cable car but didn’t want to stand in the long queue for tickets. Lambton Quay was full of high street / chain shops and was very busy and touristy.

We actually preferred the smaller independent shops and cafes along Cuba Street.

Final Thoughts

We were delayed leaving Napier because of the cyclone so we only had 2 full days in Wellington. We spent some of that time recovering and refreshing after our challenging time in Napier!

If we had more time we would have liked to visit the Zealandia wildlife reserve. Wellington seemed like a fun city with a vibrant food scene and lots of green spaces to play in.