6 things to do when the sun is shining

It’s been ages since I’ve done a ‘6 things’ post, so here’s one with a summer theme.

1)  Go to the beach

On the day after Boxing Day, we drove up the Kapiti Coast to Paraparumu and spent the morning on the beach.  There have been pictures from here on the blog before, but here are some from our recent trip.  Nothing beats sitting on the sand, taking a stroll along the beach and listening to the waves.

Kapiti Island

A yacht on the horizon

2)  Take a different road

Instead of driving back our usual way, we took the road through the Akatarawa Forest.  This covers about 15,000 hectares between Upper Hutt and the Kapiti Coast, and is a, well, let’s say a winding road with a blind bend every few minutes.  Beautiful, but not for the faint-hearted driver!  It seemed to go up and up for ages before descending.

At the top

3)  Go to a wildlife sanctuary

One thing I would recommend to any visitor to Wellington when the weather is good – or even not so good – is to take a trip up to Zealandia Sanctuary, the very special conservation area.  The sanctuary valley is 225 hectares of preserved land, and has routes for all sorts of walkers, from those with push-chairs to those who want to do more serious walking.   We’ve been a few times (see here and here), this time taking my visiting nephew.  This time I saw the lovely little green gecko I saw last time, 4 tuatara (a reptile unique to New Zealand) and kākā feeding as well as several other birds.

Look closely, there is a tuatara in the bush

4) Go up a hill

One place you should go if visiting Wellington is Mount Victoria.  It is always windy at the top, but well worth it for a fantastic view of the city.

View over Wellington

View from Mount Victoria

5)  Go somewhere you haven’t been for ages

Let the good weather take you somewhere you haven’t gone for a while, like Taputeranga Marine Reserve, just 6km from the city centre.  The reserve lies along Wellington’s exposed southern coastline, which can take a real battering from the wind at times.  Since we were last there, vehicle access is now possible, which was a bit annoying for us trying to walk on very stony ground.  Still, we spent a short while there, and saw the remains of a lobster at least!

Taputeranga (see here too)

6) Just sit

And after all that, why not adjourn to one of the roof top bars in the city like the newly opened Dirty Little Secret or just sit on the terrace and enjoy a glass of fizz.

A glass of wine on a rooftop…

… or a glass of fizz on the terrace.