Exceptional Travel Writing
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 With its harbor and tight, white houses packed on hills, Wellington is reminiscent of San Francisco. |
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Make
sure you take a ride on Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car, operated by
Wellington City Transport. It is a funicular system consisting of two
cars on a single track and powered by an electric motor at the top station.
The cars counterbalance each other and pass on a loop at Talavera Station
at the halfway point. The cable car began operation in 1902, but the
present system dates from 1979. The builders, Habegger AG of Switzerland,
have done an admirable job of marrying Edwardian ambience to state-of-the-art
engineering.
Wellington contains no fewer than 13 museums, featuring everything from
musical instruments to aviation. But the "must see" is the
National Museum and Art Gallery on Buckle Street. Here you will see
a superb display of Maori artifacts along with showcases of native flora
and fauna, much of which has become extinct since European settlement.
The "beehive" government buildings and the botanical gardens
are also worth a tour.
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Wellington,
with a regional population of 424,000, has matured tremendously
in the last 20 years and is now recognized as having some of the
best shops and restaurants in New Zealand. Visitors love the city that New Zealanders love to hate. But Wellingtonians like to make a virtue out of a defect when they say:
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