This view is from the Mount Victoria lookout and is looking toward the city centre. The pokey-out bit is the overseas terminal and a kahawai catcher's heaven. Note the hills in the background which are there to prove the volcanic nature of New Zealand.
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Location, Location, Location
Situated on the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island, Wellington is the capital of my second homeland and is a sea-lover's paradise. It has a wonderful natural harbour (only a tiddly-bit shown in the picture) and comes complete with Soames and Ward Islands. Unlike a lot of NZ towns, Wellington is fairly compact so everything is available within walking distance (or staggering distance if you're on the pop). |
This is the Sports Bar on the corner of Tory St. and Courtenay Place. When working nights across the road from this place I used to be driven mad because of the noise and the fact that everyone seemed to be having a party and I wasn't invited.
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Boozers
Unlike Auckland, which has no heart, Wellington doesn't just pulse at night - it throbs. At weekends Courtenay Place buzzes till 6:00am when the drunks head off to McDonalds to fall asleep in their hotcakes. It is very reminisent of Newcastle's Bigg Market area. And it was here that, after 20 years of UK lager, I finally managed to enjoy beer once again since all flavours NZ beers are just as fizzy. |
Just 'cos I know someone called Willis, here's a piccy looking along Willis Street in Wellington....and no, I don't know who the geezer is but the photographer is about to be knocked down by a bus.
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Population
The total Wellington region has a population of around 300,000 which means it is roughly the same as Newcastle upon Tyne. However the Wellington region is spread out over a much greater area so there's a lot more greenery (more sheep!) and half the time you end up driving on what the British would deem to be country roads.
The bulk of the populous are spread out around the Hutt Valley and Lower Hutt has now had the cheek to name itself Hutt City. Still that shows more imagination than the current names of Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.... |
I noshed here quite frequently, scromfing either a Thai curry or a Chinese mixup from the Chinese Wok shown to the left of the piccy. You can't really complain at around $7 (about 20p in English money) for a bellyful of good food.
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Lunchtime Nosh
There's loads of nosh places in the centre of Wellington and I don't mean just boozers - mind you I liked the Winebox (cheap at lunchtimes) and the Malthouse on Willis St. which serves Newcastle Brown Ale on tap. With New Zealand being "multi-cultural", you can scromph on anything from Greek to Veitnamese and very nice they are too. This here's the BNZ food hall underneath (yes you guessed it) the BNZ. There's a stage area just off picture where occasionally local buskers play and very noisey they are too. |