Cocktails at The Hawthorn - one of Welly's highlights. Photo / Facebook
This wee bar on Tory Street is the epitome of a hidden gem. Off Wellington's main drag Courtenay Place, this slightly-speakeasy-style, classic cocktail bar, is worth searching out. Some of the city's best bartenders lurk behind the bar, and you should perch yourself right in front of them and ask them to recommend something. You get excellent liquor, with a fireplace and live jazz. One of Wellington's finest.
It's no secret Wellingtonians can be insufferable coffee snobs, I should know, I used to be one. And they're right to do so: the quality across the city is excellent as a result. Coffee is a major thing to love about our capital. With more cafes and restaurants per capita than NYC, most gambles in the coffee department will pay off. Just when you think no more roasters can join the business, a new coffee geek will open a joint. Red Rabbit, Flight, People's Coffee, and Supreme, are just a sprinkling of the best in the business.
There is a lot of great sculpture in Wellington, and from the minute you arrive in town and leave the airport you're faced with some world-class stuff. There are five key sculptures along Cobham Drive in Evans Bay, the main waterfront road from the airport to the city. The Wellington Sculpture Trust offers a walking tour to see them all close up too. My favourite? Leon van den Eijkel and Allan Brown's Wellington Urban Forest. It comprises twenty-five aluminium cubes on three concrete stacks, which stand 9m high and rotate individually in the wind.
It started with a pizza place and a soda shop, and it's now one of the coolest spots in the city. The Hannah's laneway, between Eva St and Leeds St, in the CBD, now boasts some of the city's best artisan products and places to eat and drink. There's a peanut butter factory (run by a former lawyer) called Fix and Fogg, where you can buy their amazing peanut butter (try the dark chocolate flavour) straight out of the factory window. There's also Wellington Chocolate Factory, Leeds St Bakery (try the salted caramel cookie hot out of the oven), Six Barrel Soda Co (try their celery tonic), Pizza Pomodoro, and one of Wellington's real gems: Golding's Free Dive, craft beer and dive bar.
Weta Workshop shot to stardom with its incredible work on Lord of the Rings, and for a long time in Wellington it wasn't unusual to run into acting superstars all over town. Martin Freeman running along the waterfront, Ian McKellan at the cricket, James Nesbit having lunch at Café Polo. Weta Digital and its group of companies hires over 1000 staff, and for any LOTR fan, their workshop is worth a look. It's a unique part of Wellington's history, and even if you're not a fan, the scope is impressive. Also, Miramar has some great eateries: the aforementioned Café Polo, The Larder, Coco at the Roxy, and La Boca Loca to name but a few.
The central city waterfront in Wellington could teach Auckland a thing or two. It's teaming with walking and cycling commuters in the morning and at night, and it's a site to behold. From Oriental Bay right around to Kumutoto Wharf, near the stadium, this is an impressive, pedestrian-friendly, beautiful walk. The Wellington Writers Walk adds to its charm: there are 23 sculptural quotations from some of New Zealand's most well-known writers dotted along the way.
Wellington's natural terrain is definitely unique: remember we're dealing with a city built on a tip of land between a rugged coastline and rolling hills here. The South Coast is wild, spectacular, and a great (if not windy) way to spend half a day. Nowhere shows of Wellington's signature wind better. Head from Owhiro Bay out to the Red Rocks reserve, and check out the seal colony on your way.
Like coffee before it, Wellington lead the way with quality beer across the city. Craft beer bars are everywhere, and we love the city for it. The craft beer industry is booming, it's a welcome, and delicious, tourist attraction. New breweries seem to be popping up all the time, and older breweries are only getting bigger and better with age. Aro Valley's Garage Project has an excellent cellar door, and Vivian Street's ParrotDog, run by three guys called Matt, is also worth a visit. The best bit is you could go to pretty much any bar and find something decent on tap. A total dream.
Wellington is a treasure trove if you like markets. From fresh produce, to artisan products, to ethnic street food, this city has you covered. The Harbourside market, along with Newtown Market, and the one on Vivian St, offer excellent fruit and vegetable options - do your seasonal fruit and veg shop and do away with the supermarket. Hill St Market, in Thorndon, has a few boutique growers, including Martinborough peonies when they're in season. The undercover City Market in the atrium of the Chaffers Dock building, has baked goods, live music, bacon butties, fresh oysters, and all sorts of other goodies. Take cash and feast!
Brooklyn is a bit of an underrated suburb - it's up a hill, sure, but it's worth it for the view over the city, and the cute little village. There's a movie theatre, cafes, takeaway joints, and an excellent bar and bistro called the Salty Pidgin. The lone wind turbine, up above Brooklyn, is the oldest operating wind turbine in New Zealand. It's a decent walk if you're feeling fit, and is a spectacular navigation point and wind gauge for the rest of the city.
There were a few days back in 2011 when it snowed in Wellington, and it was magical. The iconic and wonderful Cuba St, home to great bars, cheap delicious Malaysian food, interesting characters, and plenty of pigeons, came into its own in this beautiful video. The weird but strangely loveable bucket fountain is the real star.
If there's one thing Wellingtonians really know how to do, it's get behind a sports team. The Hurricanes had the entire region behind them when they played the Super Rugby grand final this year, but the truth is fans in yellow and black will always be behind them. The Wellington Phoenix football team quickly gained an eclectic group of topless, t-shirt spinning fans at home games. The Pulse netball team have steadily grown in popularity, but have always had support too. The Sevens is a weekend of absolute madness, and the British/Irish Rugby Lions Tour of 2005 transformed the town into a rugby-mad haven.
Down the north end of Lambton Quay, it's an entertaining quirk of the city that you may very well run into an MP or Supreme Court judge whilst out buying a sandwich. With the beehive, Parliament buildings, the nation's top Court, and the city's law school (housed in the impressive Old Government Building - the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere) there's plenty of legal and political atmosphere to soak up. Up the hill slightly is the Back Bencher pub, full of political puppets of the past too.
It was a former mayor that claimed the term that saw the transformation of Wellington from a drab bureaucratic town into a vibrant cultural city. They secured the world class World of Wearable Arts, they invested money in the Arts, and it's now firmly cemented itself as a cultural hub. There's Te Papa, sure, it's definitely worth a look, but there are other galleries and museums too, all unique in their own way. As far as festivals go, Wellington on a Plate features two weeks of events, special menus, and burgers across town, and it has cemented itself as a must-do event of any food calendar.
This city is a veritable feast for food lovers. From $6 Roti Chennai at Left Bank, to
High Tea at internationally award-winning Hippopotamus Restaurant, in the Museum Art Hotel, this city has you covered. The famous kedgeree at Nikau, the beef pho at nondescript Fisherman's Plate, a slice of margherita pizza from public-toilet turned pizza-joint Tommy Million's, the Fillet Bearnaise at white-tableclothed Boulcott St Bistro, a fruit oatie slice at Deluxe, the scrambled eggs at Floridita's. I could go on.
- nzherald.co.nz