Wellington

Wellington City Centre from Mt Victoria

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. It is a lively and compact city with many activities for both visitors and residents. Wellington is know for its large number of cafes, bars, and restaurants. It is a great place to watch live theater or film in one of the many theaters around town.

There is a small but active Couchsurfing community here, and it is not too difficult to find someone to host you or show you around. New Zealand will be the location of the next big CouchSurfing Collective.

Places

Cities

Wellington City 164,000 people
Masterton 20,000 people

Regions

Wellington Region, 424,000 people
Wairarapa

Couch Surfing

There are 156 members in and around Wellington, with a third active and regular
There are 4 members in Lower Hutt
Dec06

Attractions

The Beehive is New Zealand's Parliament. They do regular free tours during the day.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa - On the Wellington waterfront

Botanical Gardens - Beautiful city gardens, see also their Event Calendar as they run regular events.

Wellington Zoo is the country's oldest zoo, founded in 1906.

Wellington has a number of local music acts see the Gig Guide for upcoming gigs in and around the city.

Meetings

There are no regular meetings in Wellington, but there have been several gatherings including a Collective Planning meeting.

A few small gatherings have been held at Jewel of Nepal, one of the more colorful restaurants in town. It can be found at 14 Ridderford Street, Newtown, where Romi cooks up some very tasty dishes. His mountain food is guaranteed to get you higher.

The central/bond street/14/-syn bar hell pizza/ Syn Bar has free bubbly drinks on Thursdays from 17:00 till 18:00, a one hour break and then from 19:00 till 20:00. Perfect for CS meetings!

Tips

• Take the Cable Car from Lambton Quay up to the Botanic Gardens (Fare: $1.80 each way) Awesome views of the harbour and relaxing wandering around the beautiful gardens.

• Cuba Street has an excellent variety of cafes, pubs, clubs and restaurants.
  Good coffee,vegan food (try the vegan chocolate cake!) and nibbles at Midnight Espresso in Cuba Street - open very late.

• Check out the volunteer-run webcafe / activist hotspot Oblong on the Left Bank just off of Cuba Mall - features affordable internet (NZD3/hour as compared to the usual 4 elsewhere in town), meetings on local activist happenings and Linux Play meetups for skill sharing at any level. Couchsurfer TIARA23 is one of the regular volunteers so ask around for Seb, he might well be there :)

Guides

Ferry to Picton

There are two ferry companies:

• Bluebridge is usually the cheapest one, is inside the city centre, but the departure times are less frequent. Service on board is more basic.
• Interislander is located a bit further away and the price varies depending on how early you book your ticket. Prices can be $1 cheaper than Bluebridge if you book way ahead, but is usually $5 to $10 more. There is a free shuttle from the railway station to the terminal.

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