Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Wellington

Seeing New Zealand in a bit less than a week?

fermion — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:28:00 -0800

Five days in New Zealand, starting from Christchurch and visiting Wellington somewhere in the middle. How can I narrow down my options for fabulous things to see and do? Very shortly, I will be leaving for New Zealand. I'm flying into and out of Christchurch, and I'll have five days to travel around in between. I've read the previous AskMe threads on things to see in New Zealand, and each one just leaves me more overwhelmed than before with all the possibilities. How can I choose? Is there one place, or a few, that exemplify New Zealand's best qualities? How should I calculate the tradeoffs between travel time and amazingness?

The one definite point on my itinerary is that I'll be visiting friends in Wellington. Currently I'm planning to get there from Christchurch by taking the train up the coast, but I'm open to other suggestions (should I fly instead?) I'd like to see and hike around on some of New Zealand's famously spectacular scenery. I wouldn't mind spotting some interesting wildlife. I'm not sure of the best ways to get from place to place, so advice on that point is particularly helpful. Please help me develop a do-able itinerary!

(Bonus question: where can I get some really good coffee on my travels?)

Unusual and/or eccentric guides to New Zealand?

colinmarshall — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:59:55 -0800

What are the most eccentric, unusual travelogues of or guides to New Zealand — especially the North Island, and especially Auckland/Wellington — around? I'm heading to NZ in November and would rather not rely too heavily on the usual sorts of travel literature. You know what I mean: all that stuff packed with "If You Go" boxes and stories like "How I Climbed [mountain x]". So what's some of the odder preparatory material out there? I'd simply like to hear everything I wouldn't from, say, a Lonely Planet. Books, articles, blog posts, radio, films: any medium is acceptable.

How much time should I spend in Wellington on a two-week trip to New Zealand?

Dasein — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:09:20 -0800

I'll be in New Zealand for two weeks (Apr 5-19), flying into and out of Wellington but spending my time traveling around the South Island. How much time should I spend in Wellington at the beginning or end of the trip? Should I head straight for the ferry, or is it worth spending a few days exploring Wellington and its surroundings?

Don't let me miss the boomerang exhibition!

antifuse — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:02:00 -0800

Help me not miss anything on my "once in a lifetime" trip through southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand! Ok... in just under a month, my new fiancee and I are leaving for a 6 week trip - we're moving back to Canada from Ireland and decided to take the long way home. Here's my itinerary:

Shanghai: 04/24-04/28
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat: 04/29-05/01 (Taking the bus there from Phnom Penh, and flying back)
Phnom Penh: 05/01 noon-05/03 noon
Phuket area: 05/03-05/11 (with roughly 4-5 days on Ko Phi Phi, and the rest travelling around the area)
Singapore: 05/11 noon-05/12 evening
Melbourne: 05/13 v.early-05/18 mid-morning
Sydney: 05/18-05/22 mid-morning
Townsville up to Cairns: 05/22-05/27(midnight) (Cairns because we are flying Cairns->Auckland->Queenstown)
Queenstown: 05/28-06/02 afternoon
Wellington: 06/02-06/05 evening
Los Angeles: 06/05 2pm-10pm

Now, here's my question. Given my itinerary, is there anything in my given destinations that is ABSOLUTELY not to be missed? We've already got some set things planned... obviously Angkor Wat, visiting the beach from The Beach when we're on Ko Phi Phi, Phillip Island when we're in Melbourne, some sort of boat tour on the barrier reef, the Franz Josef Glacier when we're in Queenstown, but I want to make sure I don't get home from this amazing trip, only to have somebody say "OMG, you didn't visit the flying trapeze museum in Shanghai? It is AMAZING!"

Some background for the types of things we're looking for: amazing museums, architecture, interaction with locals (moreso in Asia than Aus/NZ), beautiful natural areas with interesting wildlife (more like zoos than jungle hikes, though)

Things we're not interested in: jungle hikes (fiancee is afraid of snakes... deathly afraid... so much so that we're not allowed to go to Fraser Island)

I know that this is going to be a jam packed trip (we tried to arrange travel to give as much time in the places we're most interested in), but I'd hate to miss something absolutely amazing just because we were rushing, ya know?

Also, any tips for the trip in general would be well received, but I'm more interested in sights. And yes, we're already well sorted with our vaccinations/disease prevention plan. I feel like a pincushion!

New Zealand Filter

dbiedny — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:44:42 -0800

New Zealand Filter: Please help me identify this cool compound... So I'm traveling around the world via Google Earth, and I find myself looking at New Zealand - specifically, the North Island and the city of Wellington. Looking down at the airport, my eyes notice that the tip of the land mass northeast of the airport appears to be a huge compound of some sort. It's greener that the surrounding areas, and includes a very large building, as well as some sort of cool structure at S 41 17' 6.36". Anyone have any idea what this is? Peter Jackson's private mansion?