NZ Road Trip - Day 7: Wellington – Kapiti Coast – Eltham: 320kms

The song goes, ”You can’t beat Wellington on a good day”, and today is definitely a good day! The weather is perfect for a day in the capital – sunny and warm with excellent visibility.

After staying the night in Johnsonville, I drove into town and headed straight for Kelburn to see some of my old flats. Driving around the Wellington suburbs is amazing. The first time I was here in 2001 I had a map – but paper maps are only in 2 dimensions, and this is definitely a 3 dimensional city!  So, due to the hills, there are roads and walkways in all directions, including up and down, and 2-D maps can only give you a rough idea of where things are. The many tunnels and overbridges combined with narrow streets here make driving a challenge, but also a lot of fun. Somehow, a mental map of Wellington came back into my mind here as soon as I arrived and I could navigate the labyrinth without any problems – a little different to my first few weeks here in 2001!

After seeing the flats, it was off up the Brooklyn hill, where Nathan and I had biked up one morning, before collapsing at the top haha  From there, a steep climb (2^nd gear almost all the way) up into Brooklyn itself, then up again to the wind turbine, where Nathan and I used to practise long notes early in the morning (there was no hail storm today though! )

Then back down the hill again and around the Wellington coastline. This is an amazing drive with few places to stop, but again, I wasn’t going to try to film it whilst driving hehe  Lunch today was good ol’ Lyall Bay takeaways – fish ‘n’ chips – first time for nearly 7 years!

My plan to travel around the South Island is going to have to wait until next time. It’s been a pretty hectic road trip so far, and it would be better being able to spend a bit more time in each place. From what I’ve already seen of the South Island, and from what I hear, it is a lot more scenic than the north, which means I’d probably want to spend a minimum of 2 weeks there to take it all in.  As I need to be in Kerikeri again in the last week of February with rehearsals in Auckland before that, as well as lectures to prepare for early March, a full South Island road trip isn’t possible this time around.

Enjoy the pics and videos

Wellington cable car / botanical gardens lookout

The view from the top of the Wellington cablecar

Karori Bakery (with massive $2 (10SEK) pizza breads )

The view from my first flat in Highbury, Wellington

Parking in Kelburn (great for practising parallel parking )

Kelburn – Wellington (5 mins walk down to the city centre, 15 minutes walk back up again )

Top of the Brooklyn Hill – Wellington

The wind turbine – Wellington

The wind turbine at the top of the Brooklyn Hill

Island Bay – Wellington

Lyall Bay – Wellington

Pukerua Bay – Kapiti Coast

Kapiti Island – from Pukerua Bay

Pukerua Bay – Kapiti Coast

Pukerua Bay – Kapiti Coast

Patea – Taranaki