Sure there are plenty of things around town that can have us view our city unkindly, but that’s no doubt the case for any city in the World.

“Where your focus goes your energy flows”…

…are the lyrics in a 2020 Disclosure song that resonates with me. Imagine what could happen if our wider Wellington community decided to redirect the collective focus to the positive… So, for my ten cents, here are seven of my favourite things about our beautiful city.

01 - Next To Nature

At Lowe&Co’s recent Springboard conference, Dr Paul Wood told us that one of the few things that can help us be more mindful is to be in nature. So how lucky are we that we are surrounded by nature here in the Capital?! From our impressive town belts, to our many parks, the incredible Zealandia and our picturesque coastline, nature is never far away. Living in Mount Victoria my morning walk with Jock can either be amongst the forest like setting of the town belt or a stroll around Oriental Bay. This start to the day is both invigorating and inspiring and such a treasure in an urban environment.

02 - Harbour City

On the topic of nature, our harbour is an outright beauty! The translation of Te Whanganui a Tara is “The great harbour of Tara”, showing that our beautiful harbour has always been an integral part of our place.

We are so lucky that our harbour can be appreciated from so many suburbs and even from our central city. We are in good company with harbours in Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and even our neighbouring Tamaki Makaurau being the scenes of millions of iconic photos. Wellington Harbour can be the scene of watching pods of dolphins or whales swim by, weekend boating and sun bathing, solstice swims and daily paddles. I believe the phrase “can’t beat Wellington on a good day” must have been inspired by our gorgeous harbour. If you haven’t stretched your legs exploring our coastline lately, I can highly recommend!

03 - Creative Community

Wellington has always been recognised as the culture capital of the country, and it’s easy to see why. We have an abundance of galleries, theatres, events and shows that attract thousands of visitors from near and far. Being a part of an arts friendly community helps to foster a population of open minded and creative people and provides endless opportunities to feed and stimulate the brain. With our strong arts community, Wellington is often described as eclectic, and I think that’s the perfect word for our melting pot of a creative city. Eclectic meaning: deriving ideas, style or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources. Now, that sounds like my kind of city.

04 - Hero Hospitality

Where do I start? This amazing industry personifies the Wellington spirit. They have certainly had the absolute worst of it since March 2020, when things went rather awry. Through pandemics, cost of living crisis, job cuts and the work from home movement, these amazing people keep grinding away, creating incredible edible art for us to enjoy. Places to celebrate, congregate, commiserate and degustate, what would we do without the incredible cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and establishments we have in our city? From the suburban diner to the city kiosk, our Hospitality community are so resilient, and they make up a huge part of Wellington’s heart.

Me and James are supporting our local eateries with our patronage but also regular voucher giveaways for others to enjoy. Supporting our local hospitality community is more important than ever right now, and you get the added bonus of an amazing feed – win win!

05 - Welly Walkability

I’ve been to a few big cities, and I always appreciate the sheer walkability of Wellington when I return. With traffic congestion and parking (they don’t make my favourites list) a consideration, to be able to stride out of the office and walk to all four corners of the CBD is incredible. In my home suburb of Mt Victoria I get the very best of Wellington’s compact city topography, with restaurants, businesses and shops all a walk away. But in fact, many areas in central Wellington can get in their steps by moving around town on foot. I think that’s pretty cool.

06 - Places To Escape

For all of Wellington’s impressive credentials, we all like to escape the city sometimes for a change of scene. How lucky are we in the Capital that within 90 minutes drive from the CBD you can be in the country or by the coast? With the various townships of the Kapiti Coast plus fantastic destinations over the hill in the South Wairarapa, we have an incredible selection of surf and turf all within a short drive. That’s some pretty word class recreation options at our finger tips.

07 - Beautiful Birdlife

I’m finishing off with this point as it truly is a big one for me. I know this fits in with my nature points, but the native birds in Wellington deserve a special mention. With the incredible work from Zealandia (they deserve a point of their own), and Predator Free Wellington, we are just spoilt with our birdlife!

I don’t know another NZ city that can boast the array of birdlife that we have. From out in the suburbs, to right in the middle of town, our Tui, Kaka , Keruru, Piwakawaka and even Kiwi thanks to The Capital Kiwi Project (not to mention the Sparrows, Black birds, Thrush’s, Pigeons, Silver eye and Seagulls) are a delight every day.

My kids hassle me that I’m becoming a twitcher as I age. It’s true that I always stop to enjoy the abundant and beautiful birdlife of our city (I’ve been known to pull my car over!). But, you have to admit, twitcher or not, out beautiful birdlife is hard to beat.

Why We Love Welly!