Not content with being the nation’s political capital, Wellington is Aotearoa’s craft beer capital and our movie mecca to boot.
Indeed, when the sun’s a beating down on that majestic green hilly harbour, dotted with colourful villas, it’s film-script beautiful, while the city spaces host some of our coolest bars, eateries, hotels, and attractions as well.
Cuba Quarter
Brimming with colourful street art, characters, bars, and cafes, Wellington’s Cuba Quarter exudes the vibrant energy of the Caribbean enclave from which it borrows its name. But you may be surprised to learn that this downtown neighbourhood’s association with the country of Cuba came later – the area was actually named after a settler ship that arrived in 1840. The street soon became a Wellington focal point, home to the likes of grocers, butchers, inns, and even a violin maker. Those Victorian enterprises have long since been replaced by vintage clothing stores, craft beer bars, and Havanan-inspired hangouts that infuse the district with its beautiful, bohemian energy, and it now wears its Cuba title with pride.
Festival Life!
The Cuba Quarter also host some major events, with an obvious highlight being CubaDupa, a weekend-long festival that takes place in March to celebrate the city’s – and New Zealand’s – art, music, theatre, dance, food, and more! The district is also a destination of Aotearoa’s longest-running Pride Festival which runs for a couple of weeks, usually beginning late February. The Wellington Food & Wine Festival is another awesome summer event, one that brings together eateries, wineries, and microbreweries at Waitangi Park on the Waterfront which is also the setting of the Wellington Pasifika Festival, a free, whānau-friendly festival that celebrates our Pacific communities through art, performances and food.
Crafty Capital
Dubbed waipiro (stinking water) by Māori, alcohol arrived in Aotearoa thanks to early European settlers. Captain Cook is thought to be the country’s first beer brewer when he concocted a batch in 1773, to help combat scurvy, using rimu branches, leaves, and molasses. Though the brew got decent reviews from Cook’s crew at the time, Lion Brewery’s recreation 200 years later wasn’t so well received! In 1835, London-born Jewish trader Joel Polack opened New Zealand’s first brewery in Kororāreka, though it would be about a century more until a beer industry proper was established, and most of the 20th century dominated by the duopoly of Lion and DB. Now there are around 200 craft breweries in New Zealand, and a good chunk of those are in Wellington – for a complete list of brewpubs, replete with a handy bar map, check out craftbeercapital.com.
Don’t Miss
A world-leading interactive educational institution, the majestic Te Papa Tongarewa, is the nation’s largest museum whose name translates as “box of treasures”. The treasures number in excess of 800,000, including the national art collection, and the world’s largest colossal squid specimen, caught near Antarctica. Fun fact: the museum is built upon rubber and lead shock absorbers that allow it to safely move up to 50cm in any direction during an earthquake and boasts enough reinforced steel to stretch all the way to Sydney. Named by Time magazine as one of the word’s top places, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne is sprawling 225-hectare estate that aims to return to its pre-human state within the next 500 years. More than 30km of trails wind through an incredible city wilderness that harbours the likes of the kākā, giant wētā, and tuatara. The magical guided twilight and night tours-by-torchlight mean the opportunity to witness glowworms, kiwi, and the morepork, too.
Movie Magic
See how much of the Middle-earth magic was made for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, as well as models, costumes and props for a slew of other productions like Avatar, King Kong, and the Thunderbirds film, at the Wētā Workshop. The Oscar-laden team even offers visitors the chance to learn how to sculpt, create props, fake blood and wounds, and more, by way of their various tour options. There are also offsite trips to various filming locations around the area as well as the iconic Wellington Blown Away sign which pays homage to Hollywood’s famous hillside symbol. Incredible to think that this multi-, multi-winning workshop started out as a passion project in the Wellington flat of founders Richard and Taylor and Tania Rodger more than 30 years ago. Richard, a Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for his services to film, and former New Zealander of the Year, can still be often seen with his team on the workshop floor.
