For whatever reason, I always liked to visit capital cities across the globe, especially when the capital is not the biggest city of the country, region or state. Think Washington DC, Quebec city, or Den Haag (Which I consider to be the capital of the Netherlands, there is debate about this even with my Dutch colleagues). I never got a chance to visit Ottawa, Canberra, Bern or Ankara but this time, based on the recommendation of some Kiwi friends I made in Thailand, I included a couple days in Wellington.

Right after checking-in at the Doubletree hotel, I decided to go outside as the weather was just lovely.






An old France Telecom phone booth. How odd is it to find this in Wellington !





The hotel is located minutes away from the waterfront, and this is where I met the young NZ entrepreneur Jake Millar playing with his drone, a DJI Mavic Pro (I did not knew him before to be honest) and chasing with it a cargo ship leaving Wellington (and with a bunch of seagulls following the drone ). I am a drone owner (although I just have the small and now obsolete DJI spark) but I am very conservative in using it, especially after the Bali crash I experienced a couple months before. So we chatted a bit, exchanged instagram details, talked a bit about aviation and then separated ways.


Wellington's waterfront






Jake's DJI Mavic Pro coming back

After a restful night and a great breakfast at the Doubletree, I just had to cross the street to get to the cable car. Wellington is surrounded by hills and there used to be multiple cable cars in the city, but I think this is the last one still in operation. At the top, a small and free museum shows the history of the cable car. You certainly enjoy a very nice wiew over the bay from the top of the hill !


Cable car entrance, right across the street


Welington's cable car. Reminds me a bit the one I have in my hometown of Lyon...






View from the top of the hill


Cable car museum


Cable car museum

Right next to the cable car upper station are located the city's botanic gardens. With such a lovely weather, I had no other choice but to spend a couple hours there... (it was easier going donwhill )









Short hike in the gardens







I eventually exited the gardens to go back in the city and arrived right next to the New Zealand Parliament building also called the "beehive".



The "Beehive" (NZ Parliament building)


After enjoying a quick lunch in a japanese restaurant nearby, I discovered that it was possible to visit the parliament so I enrolled in one of the few free tours offered daily. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the building but the visit was very interesting. I also met during this tour Eran, an American guy from Boston, also on vacation and we spent the rest of the day together before we both continued our trip.


NZ parliament building






In case you forget that New Zealand is still sort of a British colony ;-)

The visit lasted an hour or so and after exploring on foot the city with Eran, and a couple beers later, we went to see the sunset over the city at the mount Victoria.


Outside the parliament


Monument to Rugby, the national sport of the country


Reminded me San Francisco so much...


Mount Victoria



You can distinguish WLG airport runway







Wide angle version




Add a cable car and you're in San Francisco !

We finished the day by enjoying a good pizza on Courtenay place at Pizza Napoli (sounds cliché but they use the same type of oven as the authentic Napolitan pizzerias).

The next day was my last day in Wellington and given that my flight was at the end of the afternoon, I spent most of the day visiting the Wellington museum, on the waterfront and the National museum of New Zealand, which I both highly recommend.






Wellington's waterfront by day


Wellington's museum








The Cook strait used to be a quite dangerous passage...



Walking along the bay

Using the bay as a swimming pool !

Some have to park downtown their car or bike, and some others, their canoe...

Museum of New Zealand - (Te Papa)

Te Papa, the national museum of the country offers very interesting exhibits about the country's history and art work, from the native Maoris who were travelling across all pacific islands, to the first settlers and the different immigration waves until today. There was also a temporary exhibition about the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who came in Europe during the second world war.


There was a nice exhibit about the different immigration waves in the country


Looks like I would have got to pay for my trip :-)




















Surprisingly real exhibit about ANZAC soldiers during the WWII

At the last floor of the museum is located a balcony everyone can access and enjoy views over the bay...






View from the museum rooftop

It was soon time to head back towards my hotel, about 20 min away and then Wellington airport. I could enjoy the last moments of Wellington's sun during that time...







Willis street, one of Wellington's downtown shopping streets

Having lived in the San Francisco area for several months back in 2008 and having worked of a company headquartered in the SF bay area for 8 years, Wellington made me think of a cleaner and smaller San Francisco. I just loved it and I am glad I spent a couple days there. Next time, I would like to visit the places around the city as I think the region has a lot to offer...