"It started quite subtle, then got really intense. My mum jumped up and I quickly followed her outside."
One woman was up a ladder painting when the tremor hit, causing paint to spill on her clothes, shoes and pants.
No other reports of injuries or damage have been made to the Wellington Free Ambulance or St John central communications this afternoon.
However, St John spokesman Ian Henderson urged the public to check on their loved ones.
"This entire part of the country is still an active earthquake zone so we encourage people to stay in touch with friends and relatives especially those who you know are alone, frail or ill."
Train services in the capital were momentarily delayed, but were reported by Metlink Wellington to be "resuming as normal" with a maximum of five minutes delay.
Wellington City Council media specialist Victoria Barton-Chapple said there had been no reports of structural damage and no further buildings assessments would be carried out.
Despite the limited damage a number of residents have expressed their weariness at the ongoing shakes.
Newstalk ZB reported Seddon residents just wanted the shaking to stop.
Murray Jones said residents were sick of the quake scares.
The town was still repairing from damage from the 6.5 tremor in 2013 when the 7.8 quake hit last month.
However, not all were so fazed; when the magnitude-5.5 hit, Trena Jacomb thought it was just a big gust of wind.
"But then it started to shake and rumble around and we were contemplating going outside when after about 30-40 seconds it rumbled off into the sea somewhere."
She also felt the "bump" of the magnitude 4.8 aftershock at 4pm.
Owner of Seddon's Awatere Accommodation, Darryn McKenzie, said the area was well used to quakes since a major one in 2013.
"Anything that was gonna fall down, fell down in 2013. So we are on the back-end of repairing the damage that was done in 2013.
"When we repair things down here now, we repair them knowing there could be an earthquake next week.
"For example my microwaves are screwed to the bench so they can't come off."
On August 16, 2013, an 8km deep magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck just offshore from Seddon.
It caused significant damage to houses and infrastructure in the region and sent workers in Wellington running into the streets as the ground shook and buildings swayed from side to side.
Another quake on July 21, 2013, which was 13km deep magnitude 6.5 and centred in the Cook Strait, caused damage to several homes in Seddon and several buildings in the Wellington CBD, with glass from broken windows falling onto Lambton Quay.
Today, McKenzie described feeling one really big shake, followed by three smaller tremors.
"Everything started shaking and it grew in intensity."
McKenzie said there are about 20 guests staying at the campground. However most of them were out when the earthquake hit.
NZTA said there had been no further damage to State Highway 1 and the repair crews working on the road reported no issues. The road remains open until its planned 8pm closure.
