Wild About Wellington

I don't understand how some people are able to specialise in more than one country, when I have difficulty staying up to date with New Zealand!  I was lucky enough to be checking out Wellington last week, as part of a Rugby World Cup 2011 site visit.  Before that, I had always written Wellington off, advising people that New Zealand was rightly not famous for its cities.  Way down on my priority list, I had not put the time into understanding what the place was about nor what was available there.

The first thing I did right was get in touch with Jo Heaton of Positively Wellington Tourism.  Not someone who is shy with opinions, the official tourism bureaux are usually the place I visit last.  Jo is intelligent, resourceful, capable - and she has melded a number of suppliers in Wellington into a professional, focussed and highly effective team.  I now believe that Wellington provides an excellent "small city" experience with a number of sophisticated suppliers.  After a week of touring the country and dining in lodges, this 'little New York' allows people to get out and enjoy a walkable sophisticated city.

We spent an evening with Jennifer Looman and Neil Miller of 'Wild about Wellington' on a boutique beer tour.  This was with our Irish Rugby tour operators, and the protocol of finishing each glass provided an interesting dynamic to the evening!  Jennifer specialises in excellent beer and boutique shopping tours which are refreshing and intelligent.

Further down the line, Zealandia, Te Papa and Flat Earth all had excellent offerings.  Zealandia gave us the bush only a stone's throw from the city centre.  Te Papa and the lovely Bridget gave us an interactive museum experience in the heart of the city.  And Flat Earth has an approach to its clients and tours which is identical to ours - quality, flexibility, understanding, humour and service, service, service.

Once Wellington has top-grade accommodation to match, it will indeed become unmissable on a New Zealand tour. 

Tags: wellington

post a comment