Cable Cars and Gardens in Wellington, NZ

We started our day taking the antique cable car from the shopping district all the way to the top where it stops next to the Cable Car Museum and the Botanical Garden. There is an overlook with stunning views of Wellington.

The 121-year old red cable cars runs every 10 minutes, traveling 612 meters through three tunnels and over three bridges. The top is 120 meters above sea level. It costs $6 NZ ($4 US) to ride one way, but they offer multi-trip passes if you live locally.

There are a couple of stops along the way that locals use. I think one was next to a school. The highlight of the ride is going through the tunnels. Each has 60 arches of LED lights that can be programmed to match holidays or special events -- pride rainbow, New Zealand flag, etc. 

We made it to the top before the museum opened, so we went to the botanical garden first. We soon realized the botanical garden is built on the side of hill. The further into the park we went, the further downhill we went, meaning we would have to climb back uphill to get to the Cable Car Museum -- which is why we took the cable car in the first place.

Spring begins in New Zealand on September 1. I tried to explain to people that in the United States, we tie it to the equinox, but they feel having seasons start on the first of the month is simpler, so that's what they do. Technically it was spring in New Zealand, but summer in the United States. 

As is the case with early spring in the United States, not much was in bloom yet. On this trip I visited six different botanical gardens. The only one that looked like spring was the last one I toured in Sydney.

While walking the grounds we met a couple from Christchurch, NZ. Since we were heading there the next day we asked for suggestions of what to see. They raved about how much nicer their botanical garden was theirs over the one in Wellington. Anything else? No, they didn't have other good suggestions for what to do for two days in Christchurch, other than there were "lots of great things to do." Upon further reflection, though, those great places needed a rental car.

It was starting to sprinkle, so we double backed to the museum, enjoying the vistas before it opened.

Along with a few others lingering by the door, we walked into the cable car museum as it opened. This was the first museum I visited Down Under where I was really glad it was free because we only stayed a few minutes. To be fair to the museum, one-third was closed off as they were installing a new exhibit. We saw the upstairs room, took the stairs down to the basement level, passed a closed off space, and into another room. Don's favorite part was from the basement level you could look up under the cable car and see the mechanics behind it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. On our WETA Workshops tour, one of the women raved about the museum saying she learned that a number of the homes along the Oriental Parade have private cable cars that are maintained by the cable car company (for a fee). If she hadn't said that, I would have missed this one display talking about it. As Wellington only has the one track, I'm glad there are other business opportunities for the mechanics. It is a specialized field.

Model of a house with a
private cable car

Underside of a cable car

Nice interpretive plaques

Wonder where we are going?

This one said to stay off

Exhibit on how the cable cars work

We were only there about 15 minutes, then we returned to the botanical garden. Fortunately, the rain was holding off with only a few sprinkles here and there.

At the halfway point there is an interpretive center with bathrooms and a gift shop. We got to chatting with the woman working there. We asked her about the glow worms and she told us they do come out at night, and pointed us in the direction of where to look for the best chance to see them. There are no lights on the path, but as there are no gates around the park, and people use the area as part of their commute, you can come in and look. This is not advertised, but since we asked.

Pictures from the garden:

Pops of spring

Sculpture by Regan Gentry

The most spring we saw in one space

The first pop of color we saw in the garden

Pretty

Lovely

Wooden sculpture by the Tree House
information center

Cozy nook in the Tree House

A test garden

I found this helpful

Rose Garden -- check back again in a
couple of months

We continued down the twist, windy path suggested by Google Maps until we were at Te Papa on the waterfront. This museum truly deserves its own post.