Wellington Favorite Tips by Kate-Me

Alliance Francaise of Wellington

Favorite thing: As we were wandering the streets of Wellington, I happened to notice a sign announcing the Alliance Francaise, and as I am a member of this organisation in Australia, I decided to check out the building....and found one of the prettiest, most colourful (yet still restful) that I'd seen yet....a green roof with yellow trim at the top skirting, 3 toned walls, and a blue area beyond an arched doorway.
It was just such a beautiful foyer to me.

Maori Tattoo Art studio/museum

Favorite thing: Unfortunately when we went there, the Tattoo museum was closed, but there was a fairly good write-up about it in the Lonely Planet Guide.
Maori tattoo art has a very long tradition in NZ, and though I didn't see any maori men with traditional art on their faces, i'm sure there is still plenty of it tattooed elsewhere, and we saw several maori tattoo art studios on our travels around NZ.

I found the Tattoo Museuam building quite interesting and impressive to look at on the outside.
It's just around the corner from the Chancellor Hotel in the Cuba Quarter)

Cinemas and Monsters

Fondest memory: Another thing I found interesting about Wellington city was the presence of huge monsters on several cinema buildings, no doubt a remnant from Lord of the Rings. Te Papa museum also had a kind of huge rubber monster attached to the outside, moving in the wind.

More churches...

Favorite thing: And still more churches (for a part of our walk, there seemed to be one on almost every corner, as we headed away from the direction of the waterfront)

Churches

Favorite thing: Another attractive church we came across on our on foot explorations of the city centre (which is quite hilly in parts)

St Peter's Church

Favorite thing: More nice wood work in the interior of St Peter's Church in the city (not far from the Cuba Quarter)

Wooden Churches

Favorite thing: Wellington had some particularly nice examples of wooden churches, which I rather enjoyed seeing (perhaps because most of our churches in Australia are either bluestone or stone or brick)
I was particularly taken with their steeple towers.

Walk from Civic Centre to Te Papa

Fondest memory: Once over the overpass, on our walk to Te Papa along the waterfront, we stopped to admire this interesting statue/sculpture.

Walk from Civic Centre over overpass

Fondest memory: On the cobbled walk and overpass to the waterfront, I was rather taken with this Pyramid, mixed in with the other art (which also included two metal palm trees)

Civic Centre 3

Favorite thing: Here is a view of the civic centre walkway as it crosses over the top of the motorway. You can see part of the waterfront/harbour behind it.