We took the ferry from Picton to Wellington, crossing the Cook Strait in about three hours before landing on the South Island. Wasting no time, we headed straight for an I-site (information center) as we had a big list of items to tackle. It was weird being in an actual city, let alone the capital of New Zealand. We had been on empty roads for so long in the South that we weren’t used to all the traffic and people!
The first thing on our list we did was the Mount Victoria Lookout of the city. We were a little lazy and drove all the way up to the lookout and had our lunch of peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches while staring into the Wellington bay. In the hour we’d been in Wellington, I’d already seen the Big Four accounting firms (KPMG, PWC, Deloitte and E&Y). Wouldn’t be a bad place to transfer next..!
After the lookout, we headed to the Weta Cave, a free local attraction. We could have paid to go on the Weta Studio Production Tour (famous for producing props and costumes for the Lord of the Rings films among others), but we walked through the free cave (not an actual cave) and saw a bunch of cool collectibles and props. It was pretty small so we were in and out; if we ever come back to Wellington, we’d like to do the actual tour and see how exactly the props, theatrics and production are made.
After looking at hobbit feet props and LOTR costumes, we checked into our AirBnB before heading back into the city. At this point, we went downtown to Cuba Street, a famous street in the city known for food, bars and lively entertainment. Wellington is also the self-proclaimed beer capital of NZ (yes, in addition to Nelson), so we had to check out some breweries. We went to The Third Eye, HeyDay Brewing and Black Dog Brewery, all within walking distance of each other. We shared a delicious s’mores stout at one! The beertender at one of the breweries gave us a copy of the beer trail map. If we went to 8 places on the list and bought either a drink or food, we got a stamp. Eight stamps meant a free T-shirt, a certificate and eternal glory of doing an international beer trail. We had found a quest. After the beers, we went to a really cool food truck called Ekim that sold delicious, and rather cheap, burgers and burritos. We split one of each in the eclectic chairs and setting of the food truck. 
After eating, we headed to WestPac Stadium for a football game! We had seen a billboard on our way into the city and first thought it was a rugby match, which we really wanted to see. Unfortunately, rugby is a winter sport. After we asked someone, we were told the Wellington Phoenix was a football team. But wait, we aren’t in America! This isn’t actually football but rather a soccer match! The Phoenix were playing the Australian Brisbane team and for a mere $40USD, we got pretty good seats. Granted, the stadium was a bit empty but the atmosphere was still super fun! It helped that the Wellington team was better so every time they scored, we joined the crowd in cheering. Since the team was called the Phoenix, after every goal, flames were ignited for a few seconds to represent the infamous bird emerging from ashes. The Phoenix ended up winning the game – what a fun international sporting event. At this point, it was around 10pm and we headed back to our AirBnB.
Fast forward to the next morning. We drove into the city to do all the cultural stuff (all Wellington museums are free!). The first thing that caught our eye after we parked was a weekend underground market. A bunch of vendors were set up in an underground parking garage selling crafts, food and Christmas gifts. We ended up splitting a tasty plate of paella before heading back down Cuba Street for more places on the Beer Trail. Three down, five to go! (Hey, we are not beerholics. We split either a pint or a half pint at each place so we didn’t drink that much.) Number four was Goldings Free Dive, a funky craft beer bar in a really cool side street. Wellington was so cool because there were so many cafes, restaurants and bars on this obscure side streets. We split a porter then walked 300 feet to another place on the trail, Fortune Favours. This was some of the best beer we’d had so far. We split a pint of this rose beer and had a great rooftop view before heading back to our car. We’d set a timer for our 2:30 Parliament tour.
The tour of the Parliament Building was free and very informative. The building itself is known as the beehive because the hardest working animal is inside.. the politician! Ha ha. We decided to take an abbreviated 30 minute tour and we got to see different parts of the building including the House of Commons. The New Zealand Parliament is unique in that it only has one house, making it unicameral. A bill is initially introduced to the house and if it gains enough votes, it’ll go to a special committee for revision before being presented to the floor again. This process happens twice and if voted yes by the third time, the bill is passed and becomes law. (Don’t quote me because I may have botched some of that).
Fun facts we learned include the following:
– There are three languages spoken in Parliament: English, sign language and Maori
– There are five major political parties (no donkeys or elephants)
– New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote! They currently have a female prime minister, the second lady ever to have a child while in office
– The youngest female to serve in Parliament was recently elected at age 23
Sadly, we weren’t allowed to bring our phones on the tour but it was super informative and very impressive since they let us walk in the room where Parliament normally sits.
On a cultural high after the tour, we set out to the Te Papa Museum on the waterfront. Before the museum though, we stopped at number six on the beer trail at Garage Project. I had previously written this down to visit from all the good reviews I had read. The place was packed for early afternoon on a Sunday. The bar itself was super cool — above each beer, there was a vial with some beer poured in to see the color of said beer. It was the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen. The IPA we split was decent, and we got some rounds of cards in before heading back downtown to Te Papa.
It’s super impressive to me that this six (?) floor museum was completely free to the public. We didn’t have too much time to explore so we asked where to start and the staff recommended the cultural floor of the Maori. Here, we learned a bit of Maori culture. There was a separate passport exhibit on the floor where we read accounts of migrants coming to work in New Zealand and the terrible life aboard a ship that was endured. There was a telling graph on the migration to NZ over the past century, showing the ups and downs due to economic shifts. We wished we had time to explore a bit more about the Maori culture but had to leave to make our 5:30 dinner reservations. 
A couple we met earlier in the trip told us about this website called First Table, available in certain countries. You pay $10NZD to book a table then during dinner, all food items are 50% off! We went to a restaurant called Shed 5, which was right on the water and highly reviewed on Yelp (can’t go into a restaurant without first checking it out on Yelp!). We got seated near the window and set to work on the menu. We started with a set of three homemade breads and truffle mascarpone spread, then moved on to a caprese salad. Slurping up every bite, we patiently waited for our mains of salmon wrapped salmon (Jared) and a Savannah eye fillet steak (me). They came out delicious. It was hands down one of the best meals we’ve had here (up there with Fergburger), and we ended up paying around $55USD for what would have been a $130NZD meal.
Tummies full, we still had work to do. We had two places left on the beer trail. We walked literally right next door to Bin 44 and split an IPA. The bartender was super helpful and recommended where we should go for our last place – Rogue and Vagabond. He said the place encapsulated the very best of Wellington – funky, good vibes and good drink/food. He was right. The place was super cool. We were greeted by bean bag chairs on the lawn before walking in to an eclectic space. We ended up going with a 4% ginger beer and it was light and delicious. We got some cards in and absorbed the last of the city life before heading out to our AirBnB. The next day, we were to head to Taranaki.
Waking up on Christmas Eve, we hit the road with a three hour drive. The weather wasn’t great (ended up sleeping in the car on Xmas Eve) so we spent a decent amount of time at camp. Besides briefly exploring the downtown of Stratford, where our campsite was located, we spend time in the campground kitchen making a delicious meal of fettuccine bolognese. 
Unfortunately, the weather for Christmas itself wasn’t looking great so we wouldn’t be able to hike the summit to Taranaki. We made sure to do grocery shopping the day before so we could have a good Christmas meal.
The next morning, Christmas(!!), we woke up in the car. We didn’t have too many plans because of the bad weather. When all the stores and community centers are closed on holiday and you had planned to be outside all day, it’s hard to have plans. The sky did a good job of clearing up now and then so after a slow morning, we drove 30 minutes to Dawson Falls and did a 1.5 hour loop hike to Wilkies Pools. We hiked through the Goblin Forest, a dense and moss-covered hodgepodge of trees and ferns. The falls weren’t that impressive but at least we were out exercising. Once we got to the car park, we hung out in the car for a while waiting to get a good view of Taranaki. I have previously mentioned in posts that Taranaki is the mountain used to represent Mount Doom in the popular LOTR movie series. I apologize but I was wrong! I’ll get to the correct one in another blog. Taranaki is still impressive because it’s a mountain all by itself, not part of a range.
Legend goes that Mount Taranaki was very in love with Mount Tongariro but had to fight Mount Ngauruhoe for her love (the real Mount Doom). Defeated, Taranaki was banished to the West to live in solitude. You might want to Google check that but the story goes something like that. After a few Netflix episodes (hey the weather was misty and cloudy), the clouds parted and we saw the majestic Taranaki. Satisfied with our pictures, we headed back to camp for dinner. On the menu was pork chops with apples, raisins and onions, along with roasted sweet potatoes and a bottle of wine we’d been saving from Marlborough. The kitchen was full and alive with other campers cooking their holiday dinners. We met a really nice woman from Russia and had good conversation with her over dinner. After cleaning our dishes, we headed back to our site and slept in the car again. Definitely a Christmas for the books.
Waking up hopeful on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas here is equatable to Black Friday), we went to the Visitor Center hoping to hike some of Taranaki. We ended up choosing a separate hike not on the mountain but rather on the side so we could see the grand mountain. The ascent took about two hours before we got to a series of tarns, or small alpine lakes. There were clouds everywhere and we were pretty pessimistic that we would be able to see Taranaki. We had some snacks and waited probably thirty minutes, almost giving up, before the clouds finally started to part. Eventually, all of the clouds cleared and we were left with breathtaking views of Taranaki. We even got some good pictures of the mountain reflected in the tarn. Satisfied, we headed down the mountain since we had to be near Tongariro that night, a three hour drive. 
The route that Google maps took us was through the Forgotten World Highway, New Zealand’s oldest heritage trail between Stratford and Taumarunui (our destination). The entire trail was 155km of windy road with incredible views of farms, historic settlements, untamed native bush and absolutely stunning natural scenery. 
Tiff & Jared's adventures 
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