Wellington Off The Beaten Path

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It is just a short hop along the motorway from Wellington CBD. Go by train or by bus.
You can use a Discovery Pass or a Starpass for all day travel on the bus in Wellington and out to here. ($12 and $10 - you can also use these tickets on the Airport Flyer.)
If you are staying within Wellington then you only need a daytripper ticket. ($5 and there is an equivalent day tripper for the Hutt Valley.)
Petone (pronounced Pe- Tony) is the gateway to the Hutt Valley.
Catch an Eastbourne bus, or the Valley Flyer or the Airport Flyer. Other buses go through here too.
It is a great little area, nice shopping, lovely foreshore one block from the main drag which is Jackson Street. Cafes, pubs, and restaurants.
May I suggest a good day trip.
Morning tea in the Screaming Turtle Cafe. Check out the shopping and the foreshore and the Settlers Museum. Perhaps wander some back streets to see the cute old cottages.
Lunch in La Bella Italia (you will think you are in the beautiful country) then catch a 3-15 matinee at the Lighthouse Cinema.
Round it all off with a coffee at their cafe.

Then hit the pubs!!!!!

I have a Petone page so check out the fine details.

Petone - It rocks!

Just after the hustle and bustle of the shops of Lambton Quay lie the Old Government Buildings. We found it really impressive to see this massive building, knowing it was built of kauri wood. First we didn't recognise the difference between a brick building and this one. They made a great job with imitating bricks.

This should be the biggest wooden structure on the southern part of the world. We suppose there will be never again built such a nice building, while the kauri trees are now protected in New Zealand.

On the ground floor, with a DOC-office, are a couple of restored rooms, with some displays, open for the public. The rest of the building is used by the Victoria University.

Government Buildings are at the north end of Lambton Quay, opposite the Cenotaph (close to the Parliament Buildings).

If you have a spare day you should hire a car and make this trip into laid-back villages far away from the busy world, test the wines of Martinborough, and visit the end of the world – well, not the world, just the end of the road, at the isolated North Island’s southern-most point.

Do absolutely NOT take a car with limited kilometres. The trip looks much shorter on the map than it is. We had a good laugh when our odometre showed about 187 km at Cape Palliser – and hubby had thought 200 free kilometres for the whole trip would be a good idea LOL

Places we went to:

Rimutaka Hill
Featherston
Lake Wairarapa
Pirinoa
Lake Onoke
Lake Ferry (place, no lake)
Putangirua Pinnacles
Ngawi
Cape Palliser
Martinborough
Greytown

You could extend this trip to Masterton and Mt. Bruce (Wildlife Sanctuary) if you do not have to get on a certain airplane in the evening… If you want to include Castle Point you should plan two days.

Details and tips about the locations mentioned above on separate pages, to be published in the not too far future.

This is another fantastic place, second in my list after the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. It has no fence but pest mammals like possums and rats are controlled, so you will spot a lot of birds. When I was there the bush seemed full of tuis, filling the air with their beautiful song.

But as there are no controls in this area, you will also see some idiots – mostly women, with and without children – who let their dogs run free, take a swim in the stream, and scare away the birds, and make their kids learn for the future :-( They do not mind the signs that dogs should be kept on a leash at all times. A nuisance that I observe all over NZ.

About 11 km of walking tracks weave through the forest and open grass areas of Otari-Wilton’s Bush which primarily is a native botanic garden and forest reserve of 100 hectares. There is a so-called Troup Picnic Area along the Kaiwharawhara Stream. It has coin-operated gas BBQ’s – apart from the free running dogs… (But please do not think there would be dogs everywhere! The problem is that already one can be terribly annoying if the owners do not look after them. On the day I was there - during the week - I met only a handful of people.)

There are several access points to the reserve. The main entrance and car park are between the Wilton Bowling Club and Otari School.

From the Banks Entrance at the corner of Wilton Road and Gloucester Street you get on to a 75 m long Canopy Walkway which leads to the Visitor Centre (open 8am – 4pm). From this 75 m long and bridge-like boardwalk 18 m above the ground you can have a good look at what happens in the tree canopies. (But do not expect an exciting treetop walk like in South-West Australia, it really feels more like a normal bridge.)

About 150 species of flowering plants, conifers and ferns can be found in the forest. A 800 year old rimu is their pride. It is part of forest remnants of rimu and matai. In total the plant collections of the reserve include about 1200 species from the whole of New Zealand. It is the only botanic garden in NZ dedicated solely to native plants.

Such a lot of native plants attract native birds. I already mentioned the incredible lot of tui. Other species are kereru (NZ woodpigeon), fantail, silvereye, kingfisher, grey warbler, and morepork.

To keep the bush growing, aggressive weeds like old man’s beard, ivy, and jasmine are controlled – meaning: eradicated. Plants are grown from seed collected in the forest and planted in selected areas.

Directions:
Bus # 14 from Lambton Quay, get off at Gloucester Street, outside the main entrance.
By car: Main car park on Wilton Road, another one on Churchill Drive.

This forest reserve was originally coverd in dense podocarp broadleaf forest. Maori used the forest for hunting which gave it the name Otari, meaning “Place of Snares”.

When the Europeans arrived, some of the large trees were felled for the timber, and others were burnt off for creating farmland. One of the early landowners preserved 7 hectares of the original forest and fenced it off. His name was Job Wilton – and his forest became Wilton’s Bush.

In 1906 the forest became a Scenic Reserve. In 1926 the Otari Open Air Native Plant Museum was established. Dr. Leonard Coayne and J.G. McKenzie had the vision to conserve the native forest, cultivate plants from all over the country, and teach people about native plants. Their vision has become reality, and in many areas people try to copy their achievements.

If you want to learn more about NZ’s plants: Guided tours are available for groups (booking phone 04 499 1400), and they hold seminars and workshops from time to time.

At the Visitor Centre you can get a great brochure about the Nature Trail within the reserve. You walk from post to post (twelve in total), and can study the most common plants. You find the detailed description in the brochure. Allow 30 to 60 minutes to complete the trail. No wheelchair access to this trail – only to the Visitor Centre.

Directions:
Bus # 14 from Lambton Quay, get off at Gloucester Street, outside the main entrance.
By car: Main car park on Wilton Road, another one on Churchill Drive.

This impressive Catholic church, towering at an elevated position over the city, stands on reclaimed land in Boulcott Street and is the place of worship of a small parish (Te Aro) in the CBD. It is already the third church on this site. The first one was built in 1843, three years after the arrival of the first ships of the New Zealand Company. The second and already more impressive one was erected in 1873 but destroyed by a fire in 1918.

In the hard times after the First World War construction of the church you see today started in 1920 and took until 1922. It was blessed on 26 March 1922. The architect was Frederick de Jersey Clere. It was the first neo-gothic style building that was constructed from reinforced concrete, and is a double steepled church, the spires looking a bit like those of Notre Dame in Paris, just to get an idea of the style.

Thanks to a major exterior refurbishment, completed in November 2004, the church is a striking beauty of the city centre. One of its major features are the beautiful stained glass windows, many of them coming from Germany. They were constructed in the famous foundry of F.X. Zettler in Munich. On some of them you can read this name at eye level. BTW Also The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch has stained glass windows of this maker.

The parishioners of St. Mary of the Angels are Marists, followers of the Society of Mary that was founded in Lyon (France) by Jean-Claude Colin. The first Marists to leave France came to the South Pacific and were based in New Zealand. They arrived in 1838, and were present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Mass hours:
Mon – Fri 7.30am, 12.05pm, 5.15pm
Sat 11am
Sunday 7am, 9am, 11am, 5pm

Address: 17 Boulcott Street, Wellington

Email: office@stmaryoftheangels.wellington.net.nz

Wellington’s most important Anglican cathedral is the (new) Cathedral of St. Paul, with modern stained glass windows, and the Lady Chapel, built from rimu wood. It is not far away from Old St. Paul’s and Parliament, at the corner of Molesworth and Hill Streets.

It is open Mon – Fri 8.30am – 5pm, Sat 10am – 4pm, Sunday services 8am, 10am, 5pm.

This is a modern church which could not be more different to Old St. Paul’s. With very few exceptions, I am no big fan of modern churches, and the exterior of this pink monster does not do anything for me. It looks a bit like Manhattan for the poor. If there was no holy cross on each of the two differently shaped and high towers you would not think those blocks are home of a church, and even an important cathedral. More like two attempts of building the sister towers of Christchurch’s hotel Grand Chancellor.

Queen Elizabeth II lay the foundation stone in 1954 but the construction was only fully completed in 1998. However, already in 1964 it took over the ecclesiastical function from the now Old St. Paul’s Cathedral. They call the slightly kitschy style of the new cathedral a mixture of Byzantine and Santa Fé. It was designed by Cecil Wood from Christchurch.

When the Anglican Church gave up the now Old St. Paul’s Cathedral as its parish church and inaugurated the new – now St. Paul’s – cathedral, they did not treat the beautiful building that had served them for nearly 100 years in a very honourable way.

The diocese tried to demolish the church, but strong protests by a small group captured big support. So in 1967, three years after the ecclesiatical function had been transferred to the new cathedral, the Government purchased Old St. Paul’s and vested it in the NZ Historic Places Trust. It is supported by the Friends of Old St. Paul’s Society – a great bunch of people, as we could see.

Directions:
2 minutes walk from Parliament Buildings. From Molesworth St turn into Aitken Street, then left into Mulgrave Street, church on the right after about 100 metres.

By bus: City Circular stops in front of the church, or: 3 min walk from the Railway Station, 5 min from Lambton Quay.

Address: 34 Mulgrave Street

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This beautiful white timber church is the former Cathedral Church of St. Paul, located in Mulgrave Street, and named Old St. Paul’s to distinguish it from the new Anglican cathedral in Molesworth Street.

Although it is no longer a parish church, it is still a consecrated building. It is non-denominational and used extensively for weddings and other services, as well as concerts and cultural events.

Already if you only look at it from the outside you know why so many people want to marry there. It is synonym of romantic. Small, old, framed by huge old trees, a cosy courtyard. Well, and inside… The romantic feeling goes on. Stained glass windows, dark wooden seats, a beautiful pulpit carved of English oak, a brass lectern (that holds the bible) in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings, wooden pillars, colourful flags, etc.

If you really want to have a look inside best is to visit during the week. It took me two days until I could finally have a look around, as every time I went there a wedding was just going to happen, or was just going on. When I was successful a wedding was just over – and I could watch the bellringers in action. Wonderful!

The original bells – as well as the original organ – were relocated to the new cathedral.

Old St. Paul’s is a brilliant example of 19th century Gothic Revival architecture. It was designed by the Reverend Frederick Thatcher, then vicar of this first Anglican cathedral of Wellington.
It was constructed in 1865/66 entirely from native timbers (kauri, matai, rimu, totara), and consecrated on 6 June 1866. For 98 years it was the parish church of the suburb of Thorndon and the cathedral church of Wellington.

Read the end of the history here

You can hire the church for your wedding!

Open daily 10am – 5pm (except Good Friday and Christmas Day), and also closed during private functions.

Guided tours possible, admission free, donations welcome.

Directions:
2 minutes walk from Parliament Buildings. From Molesworth St turn into Aitken Street, then left into Mulgrave Street, church on the right after about 100 metres.

By bus: City Circular stops in front of the church, or: 3 min walk from the Railway Station, 5 min from Lambton Quay.

Address: 34 Mulgrave Street

Photo 2 is a detail of the pulpit.

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Palliser Beach is definitely not one of the more well visited places on North Island- inhabited by more sea lions than people with a lighthouse up on a bluff. The whole area makes for some great photographs and a quiet relaxing afternoon.

If you look on a map east of Wellington, you'll see there's only one road that goes out there, and it dead-ends at Palliser so it's easy to find.