A COOL CAPITAL
Wellington, New Zealand may be out of the way, but it is a cultural oasis and an outdoor wonder,
WELLINGTON, N.Z.— Located on the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, windswept Wellington is a vibrant capital lurking under the unassuming guise of a far-flung urban outpost.
While Auckland, 640 kilometres to the north, might be the country’s largest city with a population nearly eight times Wellington’s modest 203,800 souls, when it comes to culture, Welly punches well above its weight.
That’s evident everywhere: in the art installations peppering the small city; the colourful graffiti enlivening buildings’ facades; the buskers on the bustling Cuba St. pedestrian mall; the bands playing until the early hours in raucous downtown bars; the bubbling craft beer scene; the crowded cafés; the studios that create movie magic; the exquisite works by local artists at City Gallery Wellington.
Looming over the city’s harbour, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is Wellington’s most imposing landmark. The country’s national museum, whose Maori name roughly translates to “the place of treasures of this land,” covers everything from natural history to indigenous culture to contemporary art over six sprawling floors.
Pene KiwiKiwi guides me through the museum’s Maori exhibits. When Polynesian people began settling New Zealand just 700 years ago, they arrived on swift double-hulled canoes that could hold as many as 200.
Maori culture developed in this new land, and although the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century heralded generations of persecution, the 20th century brought about a Maori cultural renaissance of art, architecture and spirituality.
“If we want to survive,” KiwiKiwi says, “we have to be able to retain and reshape.”
To catch a glimpse of the world that confronted these first seafaring settlers, I visit Zealandia.
Surrounded by a 2.2-metre-tall, 8.6-kilometre long fence, Zealandia is something of a prehistoric paradise: a lush 2.2-square-kilometre valley where rare indigenous birds such as the iconic kiwi, the playful kaka parrot and the flightless, iridescently plumed takahe have proliferated since the park was established two decades ago.
The fence keeps out invasive and unwanted predators such as cats and weasels. No land mammals lived on these islands until humans arrived.
“This is New Zealand trying to get it as it used to be,” guide Katie Underwood says as we follow one of the park’s meandering trails, eyes and ears taking in all the avian wildlife.
“When the Europeans arrived, we burnt all of this and we farmed it . . . The vision is to restore this valley as close as possible to pre-human times.”
It’s worth strolling the city’s waterfront promenade, where joggers zip past food trucks, patios and paddle boarders. To see it all spread below you, Mount Victoria, whose summit rises 196 metres above the city, is a 30-minute hike from downtown.
All of this sightseeing can make a travel writer thirsty.
While New Zealand might be fa- mous for its wine, Wellington is all about beer. There are 11 craft breweries in the city and leading the pack are ParrotDog, Garage Project and Fork & Brewer.
“I love all my children,” Kelly Ryan, Fork’s head brewer, says. “I have no favourites.”
Ryan, who has won international awards for his concoctions, is something of a mad scientist of suds. The brew pub he presides over serves everything from classic American-style pale ales to wild fruity experiments like Tainted Love: a sour ale infused with passion fruit and juniper berries.
“Having 20 beers on tap — hopefully there’s something for everyone.”
The city is also awash with hip holes in which to imbibe. There’s Golding’s Free Dive, an eclectic Star Warsthemed bar tucked down a graffiti-plastered alley; chic Slim Davey’s, where a taxidermy bison keeps an eye on dimly lit tables; and Hashigo Zake, a subterranean izakaya-style hangout.
Two main drags — Courtenay Place and pedestrian-only Cuba St. — are also chock-full of eateries, shops and bars. Everything is a 15-minute walk (or stumble) from everything else, making Wellington a pub crawler’s paradise.
Nowhere, perhaps, is the influence New Zealand has on the world as evident as it is at the Weta Workshop: a suburban special effects and prop studio that has brought alive Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series, as well as dazzling flicks such as Avatar, District 9 and The Chronicles of Narnia.
From the digital design stage to manufacturing, you can watch the workshop’s artists create armour, weapons, masks and even vehicles for future blockbusters. The Weta Workshop — named after a bulbous, spiky cricket-like insect that can only be found in New Zealand — is all about using paint and plastics to transform surreal visions into illusions of reality.
Leaving the workshop, the taxi driver opts to take a winding road that hugs the sea. Quaint and colourful clapboard houses cling to steep green hills. Gentle waves lap the seawall.
“It’s such a lovely little town,” I say, taking it all in.
“Town,” the driver, a lifelong Wellingtonian shouts. “It’s a city.” Daniel Otis was hosted by Tourism New Zealand, which did not review or approve this story.