15 Interesting Facts About Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington, also quoted as the ‘coolest little capital in the world’ by Lonely Planet, is located on the southern part of the North Island. The city boasts of a perfect blend of unspoiled nature, pretty harbors, cozy cafes, along with great weather.

It is the windiest capital city in the world, with an average wind speed of more than 16 miles per hour.

It has almost 22 days a year with wind speeds of 40m/h and 173 days with more than 37 m/h.

The city has a high number of cafes and restaurants, similar to New York if  compared to per person ratio. The city is also renowned for one of the best coffees in the world.

The Beehive, the legendary Parliament building, is said to be drawn first on a napkin as a joke. Even the designer hadn’t imagined that it would be built.

The residents are known to be one of the fittest in New Zealand because of the numerous steep streets here. Also, more than 10% residents walk to their workplace. People mostly use public transport.

The city was voted as the 13th best city for quality of living in 2012 Mercer ‘International Quality of Living Survey’. Nielsen Quality of Life Survey held in 2014, also indicated that the city has the best quality of living.

The city is not only blessed with a great 497km of coastline, but it is said that almost every resident lives within 3 kilometers from the coastline.

Zealandia, formerly known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, is the first urban completely fenced eco-sanctuary in the world. The city boasts of almost 50,000 hectares of parks and forests.

The country knows the actual meaning of ‘Girl Power’. There were almost 24,000 signatures on the ‘Electoral Act 1893’ petition; which was passed in Wellington and allowed women to vote. New Zealand was the first country to do this.

The Colonial Cottage Museum or the Nairn Street Cottage built in 1858, is the oldest house in the city. It also housed three generations of the Wallis family before it was turned into a museum.

The city is renowned as a location used in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. The Weta Workshop, Miramar Film Empire, and Weta Digital all are great tourist attractions in the city where you can see the magic unfold.

The Government Buildings are the largest wooden buildings in the country and are also known to be the second-largest and one of the finest in the world.

The city hosts famous festivals like the World of WearrableArt Awards Show (Sept-Oct), the NZ Festival (once in every 2 years), Wellington on Plate, and the Visa Wellington (every August).

The residents of Wellington enjoy the highest average household income in the whole country.

The longest hand-delivered pizza in the world was to Wellington from Madrid. Paul Fenech traveled more than 12,000 miles to hand-deliver a pizza to Niko Apostolakis in 2006.