Aotearoa / Logbook / 2026-06-24 • Wellington and Kapiti Coast
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2026-06-24
Wellington and Kapiti Coast

- kms drive.
31 days here.
116 photos taken.
6 walks walked.

We have been around Wellington for a while now, and a lot has happened - so I will split this log into smaller minilogs:

Getting into Wellington’s vibe

We started with a big walking day around Wellington: up Mount Victoria, down to CBD, then up the cable car to see the botanical garden, down to the Beehive and finishing walking the waterfront. We loved the city, it has really nice vibes and seems like a very active city: a lot of live music, art, markets and events.

It was Weta Workshop’s 18 birthday for the Weta Cave Shop and we decided to pass by and see what they had prepared. The shop was really cool, full of miniatures and collectibles, and we had the chance to talk to one of the artists that was doing some cool lore jewellery, and she worked at weta as well. When the time came they cut the cake, did a speech and give away some gifts. We were going out when the event finished but we met Kat at the entrance - we met in Auckland at the Weta Experience, our tour guide! Cat convinced us to go back in and talk to Richard Taylor, and it was the best decision. We talked about France and Spain with him, and then Alix showed him her sketchbook which he loved! He’s one of the Weta’s founders and the nicest and warmest person we have met.

The good weather is over… a storm is coming.

Our first woofing

We drove to Ohariu to stay with Sarah and Harris just before the big southerlies. It was nice to be indoors during the storm and spend some time with them, learning how they live in a more off-grid way. They also had nice dogs Millie and Bailey and some horses and sheep. We spent a week cleaning, doing farm tasks and doing some fencing.

We also had a couple of days to go back to Wellington and see Te Papa museum - Weta worked in the Gallipoli exhibition - it was about the battlefield in Gallipoli and it really transported you there. The sculptures were amazing to see, full of details. We keep fantasizing about the possibility to work at the workshop, it would be so cool.

A few days in Kapiti coast

We first met Marie in Northlands, but she gave us her number to reach out when we’re in Wellington - and we did! She lived in Kapiti coast so we took the van and spent a few days exploring there. We had lunch with her in Raumati Social Club - which was really good! and loved to spent some time with her, she is fabulous - and then spent a few nights in Waikanae and Otaki.

The car museum in Kapiti is impressive, so many cars collected by one person, from all times, all designs and all states. Took a few pictures, love the old classic designs.

On the way back to Wellington we stopped the last night in Porirua’s library, we are working on Alix’ website and portfolio to be able to apply to some of the creative industry in Wellington, we see ourselves staying here for a bit after we go visit the South Island, if we have any opportunities… and nobody expected Quentin and Léa there, in the library! Unexpected but so cool because they were planning to spend a few days in Wellington and so were we, so we can visit together.

Back to Wellington

We have a few quests in Wellington before our second woofing:

  1. Matariki
  2. Seal Colony and Red Rocks
  3. Collect some stamps at brewpubs

Also, we had a meeting at Weta Workshop! We continued talking with Richard Taylor and he organised a meeting with one of the concept artist at the workshop, it was really interesting to meet with her and discuss about the industry, how she reached Weta and also she studied in Viborg like me back in Denmark!

It was kind of bad weather so we went back to libraries and finally finished Alix’ website - we designed the website as if it was a Dungeons and Dragons sheet so it was a nice challenge. When it was finally good weather we went visit the seal colony, there were so many it was really cool to see!

We also went to see the Matariki at the waterfront, there was some street food and concerts - and we saw someone that look too much like Ian McKellen there! maybe because they are shooting Gollum’s movie 👀. But it was rainy so we went to the pub and collect some stamps for the wellington craft beer circuit. Fork and Brewer was the best brewery, with so many different kind of beers, but the Little Beer Quarter has the best mood of them all.

Our second woofing

Another week in Wellington was over and we were heading back to Kapiti for our second woofing - we can’t find a job so woofing is a nice option to save some money, meet a few people and work with our hands a bit! Sarah and Paul are lovely, and their dogs Pip and Ben are the best dogs. We went with the dogs walking at Otaki and have really good times at dinner with the humans, good conversation and playing cards. We might be back at some point!

Last week in Wellington

We want to go back to Wairarapa to visit White Rock and Cape Pallister, but first we will spend a last week in Wellington city, we have a few things that we want to do.

The Beehive is one of the iconic parliament buildings, we did a small guided tour and was really nice to see how the parliament works and the buildings themselves. We also visit Zealandia, the bird sanctuary in the middle of the city, we saw a few native birds like Saddleback and Kākā, dinosaurs like Tuatara and walked a few kms of native bush. In Somes island we saw a few Kākāriki, and the walk around was short but really beautiful, worth it! We also went to the Roxy cinema to see Nolan’s Odyssey - the cinema is really cool, art deco and full of iconic sculptures and things from Weta, but the movie was a bit flat.

We also keep collecting our beer stamps, we visited Te Aro taproom from Garage Project with very interesting beers - and a cool neighbourhood! And finally collected our t-shirt prize at Mean Doses in CBD, where we could share our last beer with Quentin and Léa before continuing to new adventures!

A month in Wellington!

Photos


Walks