Wild about Wellington!

“Absolutely Positively Wellington” so the slogan goes and so it shall be!  The Kiwi was offered a job in our New Zealand city of choice, we packed up the back-pacs and shipping boxes into our trusty steed and headed South for the Capital city.

Weather

Sunny Wellington

“Windy Wellington!” tends to be the first reaction from many.  Remember, I am from Edinburgh, Scotland…a windy city itself! “Oh, Wellington is a nice city, but ooooh the weather….(sharp intake of breath)”.  I tell you, Kiwi’s are more weather obsessed than the Brits! On checking the stats I feel confident in our city of choice as Wellington receives less rain than Auckland, although it is normally a few degrees cooler than the City of Sails, has more than 2060 sunshine hours per year and therefore warmer and sunnier than Edinburgh, so for me it will be an improvement.  “There’s no better place than Wellington on a good day” is a common refrain!

Coffee

Wellingtonians are well known as caffeine junkies.  It is fair to say the Kiwis do enjoy their coffee, but with the highest number of cafes per capita in the Southern Hemisphere Wellington seems to be well and truly spoilt for choice, with a double shot being the standard, compared to a single shot elsewhere in the country.  Apparently Brunch is also a meal to be enjoyed in Wellington along with a fabulous flat white coffee (shot of espresso with plenty milk, not to be confused with a latte or cappuccino!).

Location, Location, Location

Wellington City and Harbour

Wellington is situated at the south-west tip of the North Island on the Cook Strait, the Strait separating the North and South Islands – the view of  snow capped peaks of the Kaikoura Ranges from Wellington is stunning on a clear day. Wellington is divided by the Rimutaka Ranges on the east from the broad plains of the Wairarapa, a nationally acclaimed wine region.

Wellington is the southernmost national capital of the world, the most densely populated settlement of New Zealand. The space available for the settlement between the hills and the harbor is quite limited, leaving reduced space for the population to inhabit.

Cook Strait Coastline

Nearly all Wellington residents live within three kilometres of the coastline, and the city has 102 parks and playgrounds.  As a region Wellington has a diverse range of landscapes including 50,000 hectares of regional parks and forests, including the amazing Karori Sanctuary project,  Zealandia.

The Wellington Fault

It didn’t take long for us to experience earthquakes of a minor nature, the worst measuring 5.4. at 2am in the morning, so a rude awakening.  “New Zealand’s Capital city lies within the earthquake-generating collision zone between two of the Earth’s great tectonic plates, and sits on top of one of the zone’s most active geological faults – the Wellington Fault. The Wellington Fault forms distinctive landscape features running right through the central city. Intensive research has been done to understand the nature of the fault and the best ways to reduce possible earthquake damage and loss.” – Excerpt from GNS Science

All in all, we are excited to learn about and live in Wellington.  I will, of course, keep you posted!