So, our last stop on our visit to New Zealand was Wellington! After almost a week of exploring rural New Zealand, it was a bit of a culture shock coming back to a big city, but we loved it.
Dinner on our first night was at Boulcott Street Bistro (99 Boulcott St, Wellington, 6011), a cozy bistro serving European cuisine with a New Zealand touch. They don't take dinner bookings, but even on a Saturday night we didn't have to wait very long for our table. Cocktails, delicious food, rich desserts - I was definitely back in my natural habitat.
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| Chargrilled pork cutlet, mustard seed belly bonbon, confit leek, perla potatoes, charcutière sauce - $37NZD |
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| Front: Whittaker's Dark Ghana Tart, tea poached prunes, Frangelico cream, crispy hazelnut wafer - $18NZD |
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| Coffee and Chocolates |
Boulcott Street Bistro was a great find, and I think it would be the perfect choice for a special occasion - I'd definitely recommend it!
Our accommodation throughout our trip was all great, (with big thanks to Sandra for doing all the research and booking the accommodation!), but I especially loved our Wellington AirB&B! It was a three-story house in the suburb of Karaka Bays, which I believe is quite a posh area. (According to the owner: "Peter Jackson lives just down the road"). The house itself was fantastic - super comfortable, loads of space, beautiful balconies, table tennis table, but the views were just incredible! With apologies for the obscure reference, it really reminded me of the house where Sutton Foster wakes up in the pilot episode of Bunheads.
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| View from the AirB&B |
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| View from the AirB&B |
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| View from the AirB&B |
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| Near the AirB&B |
We spent our first morning on Cuba Street. I hadn't done much Wellington research apart from a quick poll on Facebook for restaurant and cafe ideas, but I vaguely recall Cuba Street being mentioned on the lovely Laura's blog, so I figured it must be worth a visit.
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| Fidel's on Cuba Street |
We had breakfast at Fidel's, a cafe that kept coming up when I asked my friends for Wellington recommendations. To me, it felt like those grungy cafes in Fitzroy and Collingwood I used to frequent as a uni student. Service was a little slow but the food and coffee were all very good.
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| Fidel's |
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| Flat White |
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| Fidel's Feast - free-range bacon, poached eggs, Island Bay sausage, garlic mushrooms, slow roasted tomatoes, hash brown, ciabatta and hollandaise - $22NZD |
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| Fidel's Waffles - Two crisp waffles served with maple syrup, fried chicken and toasted almonds - $18NZD |
Following breakfast, we spent a few hours exploring Cuba street, which was full of quirky shops, cafes, and lots of cool street art. I think my favourite was this guy:
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| Cuba Street |
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| The Great Egg Heist Fail of 1924 |
From Cuba street, we wandered down to Wellington Harbour, as we'd bought my father-in-law a helicopter ride as a birthday present, which took off from the harbour. I couldn't believe how gorgeous and clean the water was here - we legit saw a stingray in the water! Squeeee.
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| Wellington Harbour |
Later that afternoon we stopped in at the WETA Cave (1 Weka Street, Miramar, Wellington 6022). The Weta Cave is the hub for the Weta Studio Tours, and is essentially a gift-shop-slash-museum. They have lots of cool displays for their different films (Weta did more than just Lord of the Rings!), and you're allowed to take photos.
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| Gollum! |
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| District 9 |
We decided to skip doing a proper tour of the Weta studios - the tours were quite long and only provided in English, so the German in-laws wouldn't have gotten much out of this at all. According to reviews I read online, the tours are good but can be quite detailed, so perhaps more suited to a very enthusiastic film buff. For us casual film fans, the Weta Cave had heaps to keep us entertained.
That night we had a quiet night in, ordering pizza on UberEats and playing ping pong at the AirB&B. I would just like to add, however, that New Zealand has some damn fine chip flavours.
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| Ripple Cut Chips |
For breakfast on our second (and final) morning in Wellington, we took a short drive down the road to Scorch-o-Rama (497 Karaka Bay Rd, Karaka Bays, Wellington 6022). This cafe came highly recommended by our AirB&B owner and it didn't disappoint.
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| Scorch-O-Rama |
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| Scorch-O-Rama |
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| Scorch-o-Rama |
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| SCORCH-O-RAMA LAMA DING DONG - Bacon, kransky, hash browns, portobello mushrooms in herb oil, and eggs poached, scrambled or fried. - $22.50NZD |
After breakfast we drove up to Victoria Lookout for some fab views over the city. (You'll also notice that the weather had vastly improved after our cold and rainy days in Rotorua and Taupo!)
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| Mount Victoria Lookout |
And finally, we spent some time walking through the lovely Wellington Botanic Gardens, before finally driving to the airport and heading home.
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| Wellington Botanic Gardens |
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| Succulents at the Wellington Botanic Gardens |
And that was Wellington! We had such a great time there (and in New Zealand in general). It was such a wonderful holiday, and I can't believe it took me so long to come visit for the first time. I definitely want to come back again, and I'll want to explore South Island next time as well. Do you have any favourite spots in Wellington or New Zealand in general? Leave a comment below!
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