Wellington in 3 days

Mount Victoria (Matairangi — 196 m; the highest point within the Wellington inner-city area; the reserve at the summit is the most popular lookout in Wellington): the panorama (the 360° view from the Mount Victoria lookout: Wellington Harbour (the horseshoe bay on the east face of the city; the Cook Strait ferries visible making the crossing to Picton on the South Island 92 km across the strait; the container port on the north shore; the eastern Wellington suburbs (Hataitai, Kilbirnie) below the summit; Somes Island (Matiu/Somes Island — the island nature reserve in the middle of Wellington Harbour; the former quarantine island (1872-1920) and World War I/II internment camp, now a wildlife sanctuary with little penguins (Eudyptula minor — the smallest penguin species in the world, 33 cm, 1 kg) and tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)); the Cook Strait (the Marlborough Sounds and the North Island hills of the Kāpiti Coast visible across the water on clear days); the Interislander ferry crossing (visible from Mount Victoria: the 3-hour ferry journey from Wellington to Picton, rated one of the 10 most scenic ferry crossings in the world for the final 90 minutes through the Marlborough Sounds); the Lord of the Rings connection (the Mount Victoria reserve is one of the most used locations in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: the forest scenes of "The Shire" in "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) were filmed in the pine forest on the eastern slope of Mount Victoria below the lookout; the location is identifiable by the distinctive Wellington pine (Pinus radiata) canopy)).

Wellington Cable Car (the Kelburn Cable Car — the funicular railway connecting the central Wellington CBD (the Lambton Quay terminus, below the Wellington Railway Station) to the Kelburn suburb (the Kelburn Park terminus, adjacent to the Wellington Botanical Garden); the most visited tourist attraction in Wellington): the history (the Wellington Cable Car was built by the American engineer Norman Wade and opened October 22, 1902 (the first cable car line in New Zealand); the original line used open-sided wooden cable cars running on a single track (the two cars counterbalancing each other on the cable); the current cable cars (the red Swiss-built Doppelmayr cable cars, 1979) replaced the original wooden cars; the line has operated continuously since 1902 with the exception of World War I and World War II periods; the technical system (the cable car is a funicular (the two cars linked by the same cable, each descending as the other ascends; no engine power in the cars themselves — the cable drum at the Kelburn terminus provides all motive power); the gradient (the steepest section of the cable car is 1 in 5 (20%) — one of the steepest urban funicular gradients in the Southern Hemisphere); the journey time (4 min; 612 m track length; 119 m vertical rise)); the Kelburn terminus (the viewpoint at the top of the Wellington Cable Car (the Kelburn terminus and the adjacent Kelburn Park) — the panorama of Wellington CBD and the harbour; the Cable Car Museum (the original 1902 Wellington Cable Car cable drum mechanism, in working order, displayed in the museum at the top of the line).

Wellington Botanical Garden (the oldest botanical garden in New Zealand — established 1868 on the hilltop adjacent to the Kelburn Cable Car terminus; 25 hectares of formal gardens, native bush and specialist collections): the rose garden (Lady Norwood Rose Garden — the formal sunken rose garden with 3,000 rose plants in 110 beds representing 100 rose varieties; the most visited section of the Botanical Garden and one of the finest rose gardens in the Southern Hemisphere; the rose flowering season (November-April, peaking December-January)); the native bush (the New Zealand native forest reserve within the Botanical Garden — the kauri (Agathis australis — the giant conifer of the northern North Island; the Wellington specimens are near the southern limit of the kauri range), the tōtara (Podocarpus totara — the tall native conifer used for Māori carving), the kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides — the tallest native tree in New Zealand, to 60 m), the nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida — the southernmost palm species in the world; grows naturally to 44°S latitude)); the Carter Observatory (the original Carter Observatory (1941) within the Wellington Botanical Garden — the public planetarium and observatory of Wellington: the southern hemisphere night sky shows (the Milky Way visible from Wellington on clear nights due to the low light pollution of the Cook Strait direction); the Bolton Street Memorial Park (the historic cemetery adjacent to the Botanical Garden — the oldest surviving graves from the Wellington colonial period (from 1840 — the year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and formal European settlement of Wellington began)).

Zealandia Ecosanctuary (the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary — the 225-hectare native forest ecosanctuary 2 km west of the Wellington CBD in the Karori valley; established 1999; the world's first fully fenced urban ecosanctuary): the 8.6 km predator-proof fence (the 8.6-kilometre fence surrounding the Zealandia reserve is the defining technology of the sanctuary: the fence (designed to exclude all introduced mammalian predators (the ship rat, the Norway rat, the stoat, the ferret, the weasel, the cat and the possum)) has a distinctive "bounce" overhang at the top (the curved upper lip that redirects climbing animals back away from the fence) and extends 300 mm below ground (preventing burrowing); since the fence was completed in 1999, the Zealandia reserve has been clear of introduced mammalian predators — the first time this area has been predator-free since the arrival of Polynesian settlers (approximately 700 CE); the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus — the tuatara is the most significant species in the Zealandia sanctuary: the tuatara is the sole surviving member of the order Rhynchocephalia (the "beak-heads") — a group of reptiles that separated from the lizard lineage 250 million years ago and has remained essentially unchanged for 200 million years; the tuatara is a living fossil of the Triassic period; tuatara can live to 100+ years in the wild; Zealandia has 300+ tuatara; tuatara can be seen most reliably at dusk on the Zealandia guided night tour); the kākā (Nestor meridionalis — the bush parrot; the kākā is the most visible native species at Zealandia (the kākā population has spread from Zealandia back into the Wellington CBD — kākā are now regularly seen and heard in the Wellington Botanical Garden and on Cuba Street)).

Weta Workshop (the physical effects and prop-making company in the Miramar suburb of Wellington (12 km east of the Wellington CBD, adjacent to Wellington Airport); founded by Sir Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger in 1987; the physical and digital effects work of the most influential film production company in New Zealand): the history (Weta Workshop's creative output that defines modern fantasy cinema: the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003): the miniature models ("bigatures") of Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep and Isengard (some up to 10 metres long, built to 1:72 scale), the 48,000 pieces of armour (the approximately 20,000 chainmail shirts hand-woven by the Weta Workshop staff, the foam latex orc and uruk-hai prosthetics applied daily to 300+ performers in the Battle of Helm's Deep sequences, the 500 costumes for the major characters); The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014): the revisited Middle-earth props and sets; King Kong (2005): the physical Kong scale models and the facial reference models; Avatar (2009): the Na'vi physical reference models and the costumes for James Cameron's on-set direction); the Weta Cave and Workshop Tour (the Weta Cave (the public visitor centre and gift shop in Miramar) offers the Weta Workshop Unleashed tour: the 90-minute guided tour of the working studio spaces (the design studio, the mould-making room, the foam latex appliance workshop, the armour and weaponry making workshop, the painting and finishing workshop); the tour includes interaction with current Weta Workshop projects and the chance to see the prosthetics, models and props being made for current film and television productions.

New Zealand Parliament Buildings (the parliamentary precinct on Molesworth Street, Wellington CBD — the home of the New Zealand Parliament (the House of Representatives) and the Executive Government (the Cabinet)): the Beehive (the Executive Wing — the most recognizable building in New Zealand government: the circular 10-storey building with the distinctive beehive shape (the dome of circular office floors decreasing in diameter toward the top, each floor cantilevered beyond the one below — the shape that gave the building its popular name); designed by the Scottish architect Sir Basil Spence (1909-1976) and completed 1977 (construction began 1969); the beehive design was notoriously controversial at the time: the curvilinear modernist building next to the Victorian Neo-Gothic Parliamentary Library (1899) and the Edwardian Renaissance Parliament House (1922) was considered by many New Zealanders to be the worst aesthetic decision in New Zealand's building history (a sentiment that has softened considerably over the 50 years since completion, the building now considered a New Zealand architectural icon)); the Parliament House (the main parliamentary building (1922) adjacent to the Beehive: the debating chamber of the House of Representatives, the select committee rooms; the free public gallery allows visitors to observe parliamentary proceedings from the public gallery when Parliament is in session (roughly February-December, with recesses); the free guided tours (the Parliament Buildings offer free 1-hour guided tours Monday-Friday and Saturday morning: the tour includes the debating chamber, the Grand Hall, the Beehive foyer and the Parliamentary Library reading room).

Wharewaka o Pōneke (the Māori cultural centre on Taranaki Wharf on the Wellington waterfront — the home of the waka hourua (the traditional Polynesian double-hulled ocean voyaging canoe) used for the Wellington Matariki celebrations): the waka hourua (the waka hourua ("Haunui") — the 18-metre traditional double-hulled ocean voyaging canoe moored at the Wharewaka wharf on the Wellington waterfront; the waka hourua is the vessel type used by the Polynesian navigators who first sailed to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia (approximately 1280-1350 CE), navigating by stars, ocean swells, cloud patterns and the flight of seabirds; the "Haunui" is a working replica built by Wellington Māori craftsmen using traditional lashing and carving techniques; the vessel participates in the annual Matariki (the Māori new year, marked by the appearance of the Pleiades (Matariki star cluster) in the pre-dawn sky in June-July) ocean voyage from Wellington to Picton across Cook Strait); the cultural programme (the Wharewaka o Pōneke offers: the "Waka Experience" (paddling a waka on Wellington Harbour in a group session guided by a Māori instructor: the most direct way to engage with the waka tradition in Wellington); the Māori carving and weaving workshops (the traditional Māori arts of whakairo (wood carving) and raranga (flax weaving) demonstrated by Wharewaka staff); the te reo Māori (the Māori language — the co-official language of New Zealand since 1987) introduction workshop for visitors).

Interislander Ferry departure experience (the Interislander — the Strait NZ ferry service between Wellington (the Wellington Ferry Terminal on Aotea Quay, 2 km north of the Wellington CBD) and Picton (the Marlborough Sounds ferry terminal) across Cook Strait): the Cook Strait crossing (the 3-hour ferry journey that is rated one of the 10 most scenic ferry crossings in the world: the departure from Wellington (the first 30 min: the Wellington Harbour — the departure across the horseshoe harbour with the views of the Oriental Bay beach, the Mount Victoria lookout, the Beehive visible above the city roofline, the Petone shore and the Hutt Valley); the open Cook Strait (1 hour: the open water between the North and South Islands (the most exposed section — the Roaring Forties westerlies can create 3-6 m swells in this section; the Cook Strait weather is the most variable in New Zealand: a calm, glassy Cook Strait in the morning can become a 4 m swell crossing by afternoon)); the Marlborough Sounds (the final 90 min (the most scenically dramatic section): the ferry enters Queen Charlotte Sound (the southernmost of the three major Marlborough Sounds) through the narrow channel between the wooded hills of the Marlborough Sounds (the drowned valleys formed by the post-glacial sea-level rise that flooded the river valleys of the northern South Island) — the most operationally complex section of the Cook Strait crossing (the ferry navigates through a channel 200 m wide at the narrowest point)); the Interislander ferry is also accessible as a partial sailing experience (visitors can board the ferry for the Wellington Harbour portion and disembark before the open-water crossing).