Theme Week New Zealand – Wellington

Saturday, 10 October 2015 - 09:08 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  6 minutes

Wellington Harbour © flickr.com - margaritanitz

Wellington Harbour © flickr.com – margaritanitz

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. It is home to 389,700 residents.

The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the seat of the Wellington Region – which in addition to the urban area covers the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa. The urban area includes four cities: Wellington, on the peninsula between Cook Strait and Wellington Harbour, contains the central business district and about half of Wellington’s population; Porirua on Porirua Harbour to the north is notable for its large Māori and Pacific Island communities; Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt are largely suburban areas to the northeast, together known as the Hutt Valley.

In 2008, Wellington was classified as a Gamma World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University. The 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world. In 2011 Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 named Wellington as fourth in its Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2011, referring to the New Zealand capital as the “coolest little capital in the world”.

Oriental Bay © flickr.com - Brett Taylor Quartier Oriental Bay from Mount Victoria © flickr.com - Jacques Marier © Partyzane Parliament Building & Statue of Richard John Seddon © Donaldytong Wellington Harbour - Aerial view © Tristanb Wellington Harbour and Mount Victoria © Partyzane Wellington from Mount Victoria © Steffen Hillebrand City night panorama © Donovan Govan Wellington Harbour © flickr.com - margaritanitz
<
>
Quartier Oriental Bay from Mount Victoria © flickr.com - Jacques Marier
Besides Rugby and Soccer everything watersports is available. A private yacht harbour is located in Wellington. Wellington’s café culture is prominent. The city has more cafes per capita than New York City. Restaurants are either licensed to sell alcohol, BYO (bring your own), or unlicensed (no alcohol); many let you bring your own wine. Restaurants offer a variety of cuisines, including from Europe, Asia and Polynesia. “For dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style, there are lamb, pork and cervena (venison), salmon, crayfish (lobster), Bluff oysters, pāua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both New Zealand shellfish); kumara (sweet potato); kiwifruit and tamarillo; and pavlova, the national dessert,” recommends one tourism website.

Wellington showcases a variety of architectural styles from the past 150 years – 19th century wooden cottages, such as the Italianate Katherine Mansfield Birthplace in Thorndon, some streamlined Art Deco structures such as the old Wellington Free Ambulance headquarters, the Central Fire Station, Fountain Court Apartments, the City Gallery, and the former Post and Telegraph Building, as well as the curves and vibrant colours of post-modern architecture in the CBD. The oldest building in Wellington is the 1858 Colonial Cottage in Mount Cook. The tallest building in the city is the Majestic Centre on Willis Street at 116 metres high, the second tallest being the structural expressionist State Insurance Building at 103 metres. Futuna Chapel in Karori was the first bicultural building in New Zealand, and is thus considered one of the most significant New Zealand buildings of the twentieth century. Old St Paul’s is an example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture adapted to colonial conditions and materials, as is St Mary of the Angels. The Museum of Wellington City & Sea building, the Bond Store, is in the Second French Empire style, and the Wellington Harbour Board Wharf Office Building is in a late English Classical style. There are several restored theatre buildings: the St James Theatre, the Opera House and the Embassy Theatre. Civic Square is surrounded by the Town Hall and council offices, the Michael Fowler Centre, the Wellington Central Library, Capital E (home of the National Theatre for Children), the City-to-Sea Bridge, and the City Gallery. As it is the capital city, there are many notable government buildings in Wellington. The circular-conical Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Molesworth Street, was constructed between 1969 and 1981 and is commonly referred to as the Beehive. Across the road from the Beehive is the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere, part of the old Government Buildings which now houses part of Victoria University of Wellington’s Law Faculty.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on City of Wellington, Greater Wellington, Neuseeland – Wellington and Wikipedia Wellington. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organisations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

The porcelain and wine city of Meissen

The porcelain and wine city of Meissen

[caption id="attachment_161128" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Meissen seen from 'Juchhöh' in the nearby mountains 'Spaargebirge' © Olaf1541/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25...

[ read more ]

Copenhagen Opera House

Copenhagen Opera House

[caption id="attachment_209646" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Copenhagen Opera House is the national opera house of Denmark, and among the most modern opera houses in the wor...

[ read more ]

First anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel

First anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel

[caption id="attachment_239240" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Ecrusized/Rr016/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]On 7 October 2023, the paramilitary wings of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and the DFLP launc...

[ read more ]

Portrait: Angela Merkel, physicist and first female chancellor of Germany

Portrait: Angela Merkel, physicist and first female chancellor of Germany

[caption id="attachment_225085" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © א (Aleph)/cc-by-sa-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German politician and scientist who served as the chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 202...

[ read more ]

Oswestry in the West Midlands

Oswestry in the West Midlands

[caption id="attachment_246655" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Llwyd Mansion © flickr.com - Shropshire & Telford TSB/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt) is a market town, civil parish and historic rai...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Potsdam - Sanssouci Park

Theme Week Potsdam - Sanssouci Park

[caption id="attachment_164362" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Sanssouci © Mbzt/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. Following the terracing of the vineyard ...

[ read more ]

Alassio on the Italian Riviera

Alassio on the Italian Riviera

[caption id="attachment_235821" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Martin Stiburek/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Alassio (Ligurian: Arasce) is a town and comune in the province of Savona situated in the western coast of Ligu...

[ read more ]

Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World

Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World

[caption id="attachment_217882" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Old City Hall © Sanfranman59/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Gilroy is a city in Northern California's Santa Clara County, south of Morgan Hill and north of San ...

[ read more ]

Windhoek, the captial of Namibia

Windhoek, the captial of Namibia

[caption id="attachment_4703" align="aligncenter" width="590" caption="Aerial view © Brian McMorrow"][/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in ...

[ read more ]

The European Union: The Budget

The European Union: The Budget

[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"](Latest update: 21 August 2022) Now it's back to business: The European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Günther Oettinger has presented the draft of the new EU budget and as we already know: Money can end...

[ read more ]

Campo de Criptana in Castilla–La Mancha

Campo de Criptana in Castilla–La Mancha

[caption id="attachment_225602" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Lourdes Cardenal/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Campo de Criptana is a municipality and town in the province of Ciudad Real in the autonomous community of Cas...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Friuli Venezia Giulia - San Vito al Tagliamento

Theme Week Friuli Venezia Giulia - San Vito al Tagliamento

[caption id="attachment_223873" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Sirleonidas/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]San Vito al Tagliamento is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezi...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top