Thorndon, Wellington: Heritage Streets and Local Tips

Thorndon, Wellington occupies the northern edge of the central city, and it holds a claim that surprises plenty of visitors: it is one of the capital’s oldest suburbs. The suburb is known for its heritage streets, its wooden villas, and the way its history has been debated, recorded and partly rebuilt over more than a…

Thorndon Accommodation Wellington: Where to Stay Guide

Thorndon Accommodation Wellington. Thorndon sits on the northern edge of Wellington’s city centre, and it has quietly become one of the smarter places to base yourself in the capital. The suburb mixes older streets with modern apartment buildings and a handful of well-established hotels, so you get options that range from a compact studio to…

Kelburn Restaurants Wellington: Village Eats and Campus Cafés

Kelburn restaurants Wellington. Kelburn is one of those Wellington suburbs that quietly gets on with feeding people. The eating is concentrated in two pockets: the village centre along Upland Road, and the cafés scattered around Te Herenga Waka’s Kelburn campus. That makes it unusually easy to plan a meal here. You can walk between a…

Restaurants in Thorndon Wellington: Where to Eat

Restaurants in Thorndon Wellington. Thorndon sits at the northern edge of Wellington’s CBD, a pocket of the city where wooden villas, office buildings and a surprisingly strong cluster of kitchens share the same few streets. It is also where plenty of visitors end up staying, whether they are booked into Quest On Thorndon or simply…

Kelburn, New Zealand: Wellington’s Hillside Suburb

Kelburn, New Zealand is one of those Wellington places that people see before they can name it. The suburb climbs the hills above Lambton Harbour, which means the harbour, the city and the surrounding ridgelines all sit below it. Stock photo libraries are full of images captioned simply as Lambton Harbour viewed from Kelburn, and…

Things to Do in Gisborne New Zealand: Coast and Culture

Things to Do in Gisborne New Zealand. Gisborne is the sort of place that rewards travellers who are happy to slow down. Sitting on the east coast in the Tairāwhiti region, the city and its surrounds pack in surf beaches, bush walks, a sacred mountain, a historic wharf and a railway line that crosses an…

Camping in Gisborne: Freedom Sites, Parks and Permits

The first city in the world to see the sunrise is also one of the easier places in New Zealand to find somewhere to sleep. Camping in Gisborne covers a lot of ground, from holiday parks a short walk from the city centre to freedom camping sites where the beach is right on the doorstep….

Gisborne Beaches in New Zealand: Surf, Swim and Sunrise Spots

Gisborne Beaches in New Zealand. Gisborne sits on a curve of coastline that looks straight into the morning sun, and the region around it, Tairāwhiti, is famous for beaches that catch some of the first light anywhere in the world. That shapes the rhythm of a day here. People are on the sand early, the…

Accommodation in Gisborne New Zealand | Where to Stay

Accommodation in Gisborne New Zealand. Gisborne sits on the east coast of the North Island, in the Tairāwhiti region also known as Turanganui-a-Kiwa. It is a small city with a big coastline, and the accommodation on offer reflects that. Within a short drive you can sleep in a city motel, a self-contained apartment, a working…

Restaurants Gisborne New Zealand: Where to Eat

Restaurants in Gisborne New Zealand. Gisborne has a habit of turning visitors into locals. Food writers have joked that people arrive for a couple of nights and simply forget to leave, won over by the salt-sweetened breeze, the golden sunrises and the wine. A big part of that is the eating. Tairāwhiti Gisborne is quietly…