"Not Gone with the Wind in Wellington" Wellington by Kimi_the_Bear

Wellington is a dangerous place for light-weight bears like me. The beautiful capital of New Zealand is famous for the wind and horizontal rain, and people call it Windy Wellington. When I sit somewhere, I make sure the wind cannot blow me away to dangerous places. So when I was in Wellington with Mama the second time she did not allow me to sit on the waterfront. The wind was blowing, and the water, and... you know... It took a third visit until I could be photographed on the waterfront. And the fourth time I had to be secured again!

Wellington is also built on five faultlines, so in case of a big earthquake it surely is not the safest place in the whole country, and I wonder where the government would flee to, and we would not end up in anarchy. I hope at least the Beehive will survive an earthquake - although they do not produce honey there, and I love honey, as you know, and only the government sits around in it and makes strange decisions. But at least the building is unique. This makes up the mess politicians create.

The famous Beehive.

When you are in Wellington you should get up on a hill. There are hills all over the place, and from there you get fantastic views of the city and the harbour and the Rimutaka Hills in the distance. Well, you get a view if you do not have horizontal rain... But when I am there the weather is nice. So why not for you as well?

From Mt. Victoria you have 360° views and see just everything, including starting and landing airplanes. The airport is so very close. And you see that it is surrounded by water, and the landing strip is really short... Well, Mama has been there many times, and Papa as well, and I was four times in a bit more than a year, and nothing has happened. The only problem with the airport is that flights often get cancelled due to fog. Who wonders with this lot of water all over the place?

The second hill I recommend has a great view of Downtown Wellington only but it is fun to get up there. You can take a ride in the historic red Cable Car to the top of the Botanic Garden, this is really nice, not just for bears.

An exciting visit to the zoo.

But I am a bear... So I enjoy to meet other animals. For this purpose Wellington is also a fantastic place. There is the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary which has a predator-proof fence, so you can see a lot of rare birds there. And there are islands with great birdlife, like Matiu/Somes Island right in the middle of the harbour, and Kapiti Island, just an hour north of Wellington. And there are wildlife reserves all over the place. And tuis fly around your ears, even in the city centre.

And finally, Wellington has a very nice zoo with a fabulous Kiwi nighthouse and lots of other animals. On my last visit I was right there and made some very exciting experience. But I must admit, there were quite a lot of animals I was a bit afraid of... But none of them was a real New Zealander ;-)

The city itself is also very nice. They have this huge Te Papa, the national museum, and lots of nice buildings, a beautiful Civic Square, and cables for the electric buses everywhere in the air. They have this windy waterfront, and a lot of Italian ice-cream and ethnic food restaurants. In total, a very bear-friendly city.

• Pros:Lots of ice-cream and animals to visit
• Cons:A dangerous windy place for light-weight bears
• In a nutshell:No Honey in the Beehive but still a very nice Place