Location: Wellington
Hostel: YHA Wellington City
To do: Lord of the Rings locations tour (if you’re a LOTR fan); Mount Victoria trek, Te Papa museum
I absolutely loved Wellington and would happily move there tomorrow.
It still feels like a good sized city but without the ‘business vibe’ that I felt whilst in Auckland (which I didn’t particularly like). The fact that Mount Victoria is just next door as well as the beach, is amazing. They’ve also got the Te Papa museum which is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to…. and I live in London so that’s saying something.
I got to Wellington and explored for a bit, but mainly did some food shopping for the next few days. I stayed at the YHA which was right next to the supermarket and which was really handy, however the hostel was not one of my favourites. The facilities were amazing but the vibe was just not amazing and in a way it felt more like a hotel than a hostel.
On my second day I did a tour of the different LOTR filming locations which also included the Weta workshop and was pretty amazing. However, if you’re expecting the sets to still be there please lower your expectations. There’s no sets still up, but if you’re a massive geek like me you’ll be able to say exactly which scene happened where. The best thing about this tour was that our guide had actually been an extra in the films and told us some pretty cool stories.
My third day was spent exploring Wellington by foot and at the Te Papa museum before I had to get on my ferry to the south Island. Honestly….that museum is everything.
Advice:
- Take time to just walk around and enjoy the city. It’s a really nice place to spend a few days.
- If you like the LOTR do a guided tour to the film locations, if you don’t maybe go to Zealandia Ecosanctuary. I wanted to go and just didn’t have the time.
- Te Papa museum. Just go. That’s all =D
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