UnspecifiedCredit: Paul Kennedy/Lonely Planet
Hey, Melbourne, there's another funky town looking to lure culture vultures, writes Julietta Jameson.
Friday night at Wellington's Holiday Inn and the scene defies expectations of what a Holiday Inn should be. Both the lobby bar and restaurant of Wellington's newest hotel (the first to open in the city for more than 15 years) are jammed with locals, not business travellers as one might anticipate.
Since its recent opening, this chic little place has aligned more to a London boutique-hotel vibe (think the Zetter, the Met) than the chain mien of its heritage in both its generous and beautifully appointed accommodation and its funky public spaces. It has become part of the Wellington social fabric and it's not like the city is lacking in choice for great bars and restaurants.
Locals are making it their own because the Holiday Inn backs up its fashionable decor with great food, excellent wines and cocktails, welcoming, efficient service and a winning position. It is really central to all the attractions of town, as well as the waterfront and is just down the road from the sports stadium, the latter being the draw for most members of this particular Friday night crowd who have just seen their hometown rugby team notch up a win.
Not that the hotel wants to exclude non-locals; the delightful harbour city of Wellington is New Zealand's capital and the Holiday Inn is very close to Parliament House, meaning it is a great base for business people. It's also terrific for tourists.
"Australians can come here for the weekend, see the A-League, see big-name concert acts like Bob Dylan at the stadium because they've probably got a better chance of getting good seats in Wellington than in Sydney, do some shopping, some great dining and be back home in time for Sunday night dinner," says the Holiday Inn's manager, Heather Idoine-Riley.
It's a compelling argument. Wellington has many draws and the Holiday Inn proves a fitting base from which to explore them. Like the hotel, Wellington is funky, fun, young and forward-thinking despite its political heart. It has a lovely sense of whimsy and its people a laid-back hardiness that you'll often find in dwellers of colder coastal cities - it is not dissimilar in all those aspects to one of my favourite towns - hip, happening Seattle.
This is less than three hours' flight across the ditch, which makes it hard to figure why Australians who like great food, art, history, fashion, nightlife, and/or outdoorsy pursuits wouldn't be flocking in droves.
Bars like the fabulously idiosyncratic Motel will appeal to those who long for that hipster vibe. It's full of cardigan- and beret-wearing boys, girls dressed like its 1945 and sartorially less statement-dressed folk who nonetheless give off an air of being all about spirited conversation. (Certain members of the Australian Hotels Association might call them Melbourne types).
At Motel, there are red curtains and a red vinyl-upholstered bar, red booths and a portrait of the Queen as a young monarch on the wall, chintzy lamps and flattering lighting. Billie Holiday was playing as I ordered a martini from an earnest, handsome young Maori in a white shirt and black tie who took his cocktail making very seriously. I loved this place, but not enough to order the $NZ440 ($382) bottle of Cristal off the wide-ranging cocktail, beer and wine list. I did, however, grow even fonder of the place when someone told me the doormen didn't recognise Liv Tyler and refused her entry during her stay in Wellington while shooting The Lord Of The Rings. The story made me feel special for getting in. Or maybe it was just my second martini kicking in.
No matter if cardies and conversation aren't your thing. You can eat and drink in Wellington in any fashion you choose. There's the authentically Italian feeling enoteca, Vivo, the Hawthorn Lounge where you can melt into leather sofas in front of a fire and toast marshmallows, the Matterhorn, a long corridor of a place that gets packed with frocked up, high-heeled beautiful people rubbing shoulders with regular-looking folk (it's got a fun, glam Sydney vibe to it) and the Good Luck Bar, a bar-restaurant-nightclub hybrid in which the boogie and table talk make it easy to forget about sleep.
The latter two bars are off Cuba Street, Wellington's answer to what King Street Newtown used to be. This strip in the Te Aro area of the CBD is all about unique shops selling cool stuff and individual, one-off establishments (you won't find your typical chain shops or restaurants in any great numbers here). You'll find true vintage clothing, that is, older than the '80s, in great condition and often top-notch designer at Ziggurat, one of several second-hand fashion stores, bespoke skincare products, small designers, quirky accessories and old vinyl.
Slow Boat Records, New Zealand's longest-trading independent record store stocks literally thousands of albums as well as more recent technology-generated recordings. If you are in town for a concert, as Idoine-Riley suggests, don't be surprised if you bump into your entertainer of choice at Slow Boat. It's an essential port of call for star musos passing through Wellington. Ernestos cafe on Cuba, run by the people who brought Wellington another of its favourite haunts, Fidel's (yes, it's all rather revolutionary on Cuba Street), serves a great lunch in funky surrounds, fuelling you up for another round of shopping.
Downtown Wello is a fashionista's heaven. Gifts, jewellery and art are also on offer by the treasure chest-load. But Wellington is all about New Zealand designers, a juicy concentration of which can be found under one glorious roof at the Old Bank. A gorgeous arcade in the tradition of the QVB or Melbourne's Block, you can pick up a quirky locally printed T-shirt from Duncan & Prudence, or a seriously ritzy import from Keith Matheson.
The great thing about Wellington is it's pretty small, so there's more shopping bang for your footwork, too.
You simply cannot visit funky town without spending at the very least half a day at the extraordinary Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand) down on the harbour.
This innovative, emotive museum is one of the world's biggest and attracts more than 11 million visitors a year with excellent reason. A moving feast of exhibitions exploring New Zealand's natural and anthropological history, Te Papa manages to do the impossible: keep kids entertained for hours upon hours. (Big kids, too.) If they (or you) are starting to get twitchy, it's time to get outdoors and fortunately, Wellington does outdoors extremely well, despite the reputation for wind and rain.
If it's something sedate you're after, take a trip on the Cable Car up to the top of the Botanical Gardens. You can take it back down again but that would be a shame. The gardens, which wind their way down a not-insubstantial slope, are a beautiful mix of wild and manicured. And towards the base, there is the Bolton Street Memorial Park, a fascinating old cemetery where many of New Zealand's historic politicians are at rest. There are free maps available at the gate.
Mountains are something else Wellington does well. If you're feeling super-energetic, you can hire a bike and test your stamina on Mount Victoria, the magnificent summit that overlooks the city and harbour.
Consider a coastal drive or tour, too, and while you're at it make sure you pop into the Maranui Cafe, a super-cute 1950s slice of kitsch in the Maranui SLSC at Lyall Bay. Incredible views, intense cake and indelibly Wello, this place does a mean brekky and some seriously good herbal tea concoctions for afternoon sustenance, too.
The club building is a classic Wellington weatherboard - which brings us to another of the city's star attractions: its architecture. From its grand railway station to the abundance of gorgeous weatherboard houses, to the famed Kirkcaldie & Stains department store building with its chocolate-box quaintness, not to mention the classically '60s Parliament House, you could spend days on Wellington's architectural wonders alone.
Action-packed and pretty, tasty and cultural, Wellington just begs a trip across the ditch. Grab yourself a bargain air fare and prepare to be impressed.
The writer was a guest of IC Hotel Group and Positively Wellington Tourism.
TRIP NOTES
Getting there: Air New Zealand flies twice daily from Sydney to Wellington. For flight information see http://www.airnewzealand.com.au.
Staying there: The Wellington Holiday Inn is at 75 Featherston Street, Wellington. It has 280 rooms, all with kitchenettes, and 19 suites with full kitchens. For reservations, phone 1800 007 697, email res@holidayinnwellington.co.nz or see http://www.ichotelsgroup.com for the best deals on offer.
Reading: A super little guidebook, The Best Of Wellington, is available. Published independently by Wellingtonian Sarah Bennett, it features great knowledge and tips on, well, the best of Wellington. You can pick it up about town for $24.95 (I found it in a soap shop on Cuba Street) or order before you go from http://www.bestofwellington.co.nz.
Further information: See www.wellingtonnz.com.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.