An Exciting Tour of Wellington

Wellington was selected by Deutsche Bank in a competition of assessing the most suitable cities to live on earth. In the process, the city defeated Edinburgh, Vienna, Melbourne, and Zurich and won first prize. Wellington is among the top candidates on living cost, pollution, climate index, housing price and other indexes closely relating to life and living.

Surrounded by mountains on three of its sides and facing the sea on one side, Wellington is as spectacular as the ancient Colosseum. In addition, the city is also amazing in color, temperament, and inclusiveness. Wellington is, without a doubt, a city you cannot miss when travelling through New Zealand.

Museum of New Zealand

The Museum of New Zealand is also named Te Papa in Maori, which means a place where treasures are stored if translated into English. The museum is located in Wellington and mainly covers natural science and cultural education. There is an interesting exhibit that displays a king squid, which was captured from the South Pole in 2011. Throughout the years the squid has shrunk, due to it being kept in captivity, to a final length of 4.56 meters. Admission is free, but you need to pay for some exhibitions and the games inside. All kinds of high-quality souvenirs are sold at the shops inside.

Address: 55 Cable St, Wellington

Opening hours: 10:00 -18:00 all year round

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

Tel: +64-4-3817000

Wellington Cable Car

If you don’t ride the Wellington Cable Car during your visit, I would not consider that your trip to Wellington is complete. It covers wharves and business districts, and is regarded as the landmark view of Wellington. The cable car can also reach the mountains in Wellington, and each tourist can easily reach the top destinations by the cable car.

Open time: The interval between the first cable car and the next is only 10 minutes, and the cable car is open all year round (not including Christmas).

Opening hours: Monday - Friday: 7:00 am - 10:00 pm; Saturday: 8:30 am - 10 pm; Each Sunday and every public holiday: 8:30 - 9:00.

Address: 280 Lambton Boulevard

Ticket price: Round trip: 7.5NZD for each adult, 3.5NZD for each child (5 - 15). There are also family tickets, 10-day tickets, and monthly tickets.

To learn more, please visit http://www.wellingtoncablecar.co.nz/

Wellington Zoo

Located halfway to the top of the mountain in the city center, Wellington Zoo feeds more than 100 species of animals from around the world, including New Zealand’s unique bird Kiwi, high mountain carnivorous parrots, and animals from Asia, Australia, Americas, and Africa.

Opening hours: 9:00 - 17:00 all year round (not including Christmas)

Adult: 20NZD

3 - 14 years old: 9NZD

Child less than 3 years old: Free

Tel: +03-343 9532

Address: Wellington Zoo, 200 Daniell St, Newtow

Wellington Botanic Garden

Wellington Botanic Garden is located on a V-shaped mountain ridge and covers an area of 26 hectares. The botanical garden is like an international garden, where famous trees and flowers of the world can all be found. Specimens include China’s camellia, France’s rose, Brazil’s coral tree, Australia’s beech, Africa’s cedar, the Netherlands’s tulip, Japan’s cherry blossom and so on. The majority of plants in the garden are the local variety such as pine, cypress, elm, willow, fern, and so on.

Tel: +64 4-499 1400

Address: 101 Glenmore, Wellington 6012, New Zealand

Mount Victoria

As soon as you reach the top of Mount Victoria, you can awe at the panoramic view of Wellington. You will suddenly realize that beauty is not in the scenery but is in the eye of the beholder. In addition, you may luckily run into the filming location of the film series The Lord of the Rings.

Opening hours: 7:00 - 22:00

Address: Alexandra Road, southwest of Wellington

Ticket price: Free

Weta Workshop

The world-famous Weta Workshop’s headquarters is based in a hidden corner named Miramar on the outskirts of Wellington. Sir Richard Leslie Taylor KNZM and his wife founded this studio in 1987, joined by Peter Jackson later, who pushed the studio to the world stage. Today’s Weta Workshop is the leading film company specializing in special effects and in the film industry. The studio has been involved in the producing of King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, Avatar, District 9, Elysium, The Hobbit, and so on.

Tel: +64 4-909 4000

Website: https://www.wetafx.co.nz

Address: Corner Camperdown Rd & Weka St, Miramar, Wellington