Wellington - The Windy City

Wow - we have been to Wellington a couple of times together and I on my own and it is still an exciting city to visit. Especially, the waterfront area and Cuba Street (the heart of the downtown).

We were in Wellington for 5 days and stayed right downtown at the Quest Apartment Hotel. I feel I need to mention where we stayed as it was a story in of itself when we arrived from Whanganui. There is Lambton Quay and Lambton Terrace, so one could be forgiven for gettting the name incorrect when attempting to checking in. However, after my 3rd attempt of jumping out of the car (while Ted searched frantically for a spot to wait - during lunch hour rush hour in the CBD) it started to get frustrating to be told we are at the wrong Quest.

Well, guess what? There are 5 - yes 5 Quest Hotels on these 2 parallel streets - ALL with a slightly different suffix after them and for the love of god I could not remember which one I booked 9 months earlier. Well, by #4 I found our Quest on Lambton Terrace and just wanted to get rid of the car and get a drink lol

That was a small hiccup and then our stay in Wellington started.

We did a lot of walking for sure, as we were always going down to the waterfront, as that is where the action was. AND we have exceptional weather. The locals even told us that everyone is out right now as these are the best few days they have had all season (school break) so the bars, shops, streets were jammed - which really was a lot of fun.

We went to Te Papa museum, saw the Banksy exhibit (which as I mentioned was awesome), climbed Mt Victoria, went to the Wellington Zoo, and did the City to Sea 14km hike (long story to follow on that on other blog post).

We even went to the Grand movie theatre (I included a few shots of the entrance and second floor - stunning art deco building) to see ‘A Complete Unknown’ - excellent movie!

We took the Wellington Street Car, walked the Botanical Gardens, which are exceptional and right in the centre of town.

Ted treated me to a surprise menu dinner and the surprise was on him - the restaurant was vegetarian and he did not realize. But the food was amazing ‘ Hillside’ was the restaurant and it was literally across the street from the PM’s house and apparently the fav spot for James Cameron. We chatted with the chef at the end of the night as we closed the restaurant and she was lovely and even suggested with all the visits we have made to NZ that we should be honorary citizens - I smiled! Ted did not :-(

After 5 days we headed to the ferry terminal and made the 3 hr crossing to the South Island and landed in Picton, with then a 2 hr drive to Nelson, NZ (the centre of NZ) where we are parked for 3 weeks. We love Nelson - it has everything and is the sunniest spot in NZ - averages 300 + days of sunshine - sweet!

Hope all is well with everyone,

Robert and Ted