Choc till you drop in Welly

What kind of chocolate you prefer can say a lot about your personality. Photo / Wairarapa Times Age

Of all the crazy things in this world, here's another: chocolate therapy. According to Murray Langham, author of Hot Chocolate - Chocolate Therapy, the chocolate you go for first says a lot about you.

I'm either a lime or a strawberry. But I'm not really sure how to assess myself - do I look for the best description of me or do I turn to my favourite flavour and see if it's correct?

Today I'm in Wellington about to embark on a chocolate tour of the city and will endeavour to find myself.

It is one of those stunning rare winter days in the capital when the sun actually warms the back. I'm being picked up from the lobby of the Museum Hotel.

From my room in the newer apartment wing, I can walk like an actress looking for the stage, past thousands of metres of chiffon curtains and unique art works. Even the loos on the ground floor are a stage set - and word is brides have had their wedding photos taken in here.

A rare Britten bike is on display and enormous paintings of unmentionable cost adorn the walls. The hotel staff don't wear just any old uniform either, but fashion designer garments by Alexandra Owen (whose store is right next door), causing me to check them out from head to toe.

Waiting under a chandelier while the stylish receptionist whirs me up a flat white, I gaze at the priceless art that is hanging (and standing) all around. Right beside me is a crazy World of Wearable Art outfit on a mannequin. I'm mesmerised by it, trying to figure out how I'd put it on when the vivacious Jennifer Looman of Wild About Wellington breezes in.

She looks like a laugh, sounds like a laugh, is full of energy - and we haven't even started on the chocolate yet.

This is going to be one hoot of a day.

Out the back door we go where I discover that this tour is not simply about gorging my face, but learning a little history while we're at it.

I have been to Wellington several times, but this incidental history tour while walking between chocolateries is fascinating. Jennifer has a way of bringing the past to life - like pointing out the plaque I trod on without noticing on Tory St, which denotes Wellington's shoreline before the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake.

Te Papa and every other building within about 200m of the waterfront would be in the sea had it not been for the huge 8.2 magnitude earthquake - the largest ever recorded in New Zealand.

We chat away like old friends, catch a bus and hop off at Kirkcaldie & Stains to start the serious business of chocolate tasting.

Kirkcaldie's confectionery shop has moved since Jennifer was last here, but it doesn't take long to pick up the scent and immediately I am transported back to my first job aged 15. I worked in a chocolate shop in Hastings and have forgotten completely about that until now, as I push my face into the cabinet and breathe deeply. Ah yes, it's all coming back to me...

I developed a penchant for fruity fillings back then - which has stood me in good stead over the years as they tend to be the last remaining in the box.

Antoinette talks me through the range - Devonport, La Maison, Silky Oaks, Going Dutch, Van H and French imported Michel Cluizel. She bags me up a little strawberry milkshake chocolate and a prune and port in dark chocolate - one of which I scoff immediately and the other I save for later.

At the Cable Car Jennifer flashes her badge and we queue-jump to the front. It's a stunning day and the views are magnificent across the harbour that was rudely created in 1855.

And here's another piece of trivia: did you know there are 400 private cable cars in Wellington that residents use just to get to and from their own front door?

Neither did I.

Back on the ground level, it's a visit to de Spa Chocolatier in the basement of the Old Bank Arcade for their chocolates made in the Belgian style. The lovely Ayesha is expecting us, and feeling like the kid in the candy shop that I am, I choose a tiny pineapple cup and a tangy citrus.

Finally over a coffee at Mojo (upstairs in the Old Bank) I eat my treats before our third stop - the winner of the best hot chocolate in New Zealand, Schoc Chocolaterie and Espresso Bar on Tory St.

This is where I discover Chocolate Therapy and put my tastebuds to a blind test. Who knew you could put apricot and rosemary in a chocolate, or that lemongrass would taste good? What about Earl Grey tea or the lemon and cracked pepper combo?

Schoc has some radical tastes and decadent drinks.

Trying to figure out who I am by nibbling on these little unnamed tablets could take the rest of the day.

Lime is direction, wildish, provocative, while Strawberry is gentle, placid, compassion. Clearly I need therapy.

Megan Singleton is a travel blogger at bloggeratlarge.com. She stayed in Wellington as a guest of the Museum Hotel.