January 8 – 10, 2024

Bright and early the next morning the Quigley’s shuttled us to the bus stop in town for our four-hour ride to Wellington.  The bus driver checked us in on an iPad and after storing our luggage we climbed aboard and settled in for the journey.  Arriving in Wellington, we pulled into the bus station, located next to the train depot and adjacent to the harbor, a few minutes past noon and after collecting our luggage, walked out in search of a place to grab some lunch.

We walked down Waterloo Quay and spotted Flamingo Joe’s, a likely option as our only other choice was a McDonalds, and so we entered the outdoor patio, grabbed a table and then went inside to order.  Along with a beer for me, Joanna and I split an order of Fish Tacos (Tempura battered catch of the day, white bean salsa, chimichurri & dill ranch dressing).  As had been our experience so far, the fish was fresh and nicely prepared, the only odd note being that white bean salsa.  It would be, thankfully, our first and only contact with this culinary rarity and all things considered, our very reasonable tab of 35NZ ($22.42) put us on firm footing to start our stay in town. 

Given the aforementioned lack of larger Uber’s in New Zealand, we again had to take to small ones to get to our Airbnb, Adstock House, high in the hills above Wellington.  Hosted by the Robyn and her husband Phillip, a charming older couple who have traveled extensively, they had great recommendations to share with us and made staying in their home feel like it was our home.  And price wise, it would be mid-range at $43 per person a night. 

As it was their turn this go-round, Kim and Marty got the bigger room with a view of the harbor, while we and Beverly had a room apiece on the ground floor, sharing a couple of bathrooms, a nice set up indeed.  We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in Phillips suggestions for restaurants and sights to see and encountering for the first time getting shut out from some due to the summer vacation season, including the New Zealand Parliament Buildings and Weta Workshop, best known for their work on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Avatar, District 9, and The Adventures of Tintin.

As evening approached, we decided to head down the hill to the Cuba precinct to the highly recommended Ombra, a wine and small plates establishment inspired by the informal bacaros of Venice.  This area has been labelled Wellington’s cultural center, and is known for its bohemian nature, with scores of cafés, op-shops, music venues, restaurants, record shops, bookshops, and a general “quirkiness” that has made it one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations.

Unfortunately, when we arrived there was a line out of the door with a wait time of nearly an hour.  So, we walked up the street until we checked out Loretta, which had an appealing looking menu and best of all, could seat us immediately.  We ordered a round of drinks and as most of us were still a little full from our lunch, we decided to split two Whipped Ricotta (with smoked vine tomatoes, spring onion, and basil oil) appetizers, then get the Free-range spatchcock chicken (garlic toum, chilli oil, pickled onion, and oregano) accompanied by two orders of the Crispy wood fired potatoes, with parmesan and smoked paprika. 

It turned out to be exactly the right amount of food for all of us and we departed with a total tab of 238NZ ($154) which also included a couple of rounds of drinks, again confirming that in New Zealand what appears to be expensive at first blush ends up being immanently affordable.  We were up and out early the next day for our scheduled guided e-bike tour of Wellington harbor with Switched on Bikes.  As with almost all of the tours we had been, and would be taking, this was booked through Trip Advisor or their subsidiary, Viator.  At the appointed hour we caught two Ubers for the Queens Wharf at Wellington Waterfront, where we met up with our guide and the other participants. 

This would be a very good tour and the first that was more along the lines of a traditional city tour than our two previous rides had been.  Essentially, we would ride along the waterfront hugging the shoreline of the Miramar Peninsula of Evans Bay, with many stops along the way for tour narrative, out to a lookout point on the Maupuia Walkway in the suburb of the same name where the Weta Workshop is located.  This area is sometimes referred to as Wellingwood, denoting its connection to film making. 

Our first stop was at a statue named Solace in the Wind by Max Patté, his first public sculpture, which was installed as a temporary loan in Wellington in 2008.  The sculpture is made of bronze and depicts a naked man with his eyes closed, leaning into the wind.  Patté, a British native, has stated that it represents his feelings about his time in New Zealand and thoughts about leaving Wellington.  The sculpture won the People’s Choice Award for favorite sculpture at the Wellington Civic Trust Awards in 2008, leading the City Council to buy it for $60,000. 

From there we continued onto a bike path that would take us around Evans Bay and we encountered a blustery wind that would make us very glad we were on electric bikes, as our return would be into a substantial headwind.  Wellington is one of the windiest places in New Zealand because of its location beside Cook Strait, the only major gap between the mountains running the length of the two main islands.  As winds are funneled through the passage, they become stronger, especially on the northern (Wellington) side of the strait. Wellingtonians learn to live with the wind, some claiming they like it. One positive consequence is that air pollution is rarely a problem.

Also, as we observed at our Airbnb, most of the city is hilly and mountainous with the main areas of flat land being the Hutt Valley basins and the Kāpiti coastal plain.  We pedaled a section where we could see funiculars lined up along the cliffside to haul people and stuff to and from houses perched atop the cliff side.  About halfway through the first leg of the ride we stopped for a break at the Zephyrometer, a art installation situated in a group of other like pieces.  A public sculpture by Phil Price in Evans Bay, Wellington that was installed in 2003, it is a kinetic sculpture consisting of a concrete cylinder holding a 85 foot tall needle which sways to show wind direction and speed.

Later we passed through the area where Weta is located and made a climb up Maupuia Rd to hop on a gravel path that would take us to an overlook of the same name, providing us with a spectacular view of Evans Bay and Wellington in the distance. 

After pausing there awhile to take pictures and gather ourselves, we descended the hill and made our way back to the start against that very strong headwind mentioned earlier, until not far from the finish, we stopped at Gelissimo @ Freyberg for a complimentary scoop of some very good Gelato.  We would drop off the bikes and head nearby for a snack with some folks from the states that we met on the tour.  We’ll catch you up on that and some more of Wellington in the next post. 

Links

Flamingo Joe’s: https://www.stargroup.nz/venues/flamingo-joes

Adstock House: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8034045?source_impression_id=p3_1711554186_vVQ98QLPneOYCJlY

Loretta: https://www.loretta.nz/

Guided Wellington Sightseeing Tour: https://www.viator.com/tours/Wellington/Guided-Wellington-Sightseeing-Tour-by-Electric-Bike/d399-32786P1?m=63070&nid=VR.f13d77c3-03c9-44ea-953c-f69298b1e8f0.VT_EMAIL_TRV

Solace in the Wind: https://whattodoinwellington.com/solace-in-the-wind/

Zephyrometer: https://www.sculpture.org.nz/thesculptureshtml/zephyrometer

Gelissimo @ Freyberg: http://www.gelissimo.co.nz/