The Cable Car (T04-4722199), runs every 10 mins, Mon-Fri 0700-2200, Sat-Sun 0830-2200, $5, child $2 return. Before going anywhere near the gardens you should pick up the free gardens map and leaflet, available from the VIC (I-Site).
Wellington’s Botanic Gardens are really quite magnificent, but excruciatingly hilly, and although well worth the visit and a stroll, almost require oxygen and a base camp support team to do so. Gracing its precarious slopes are 26 ha of specialist gardens, radiant flowerbeds, foreign trees and native bush. Its crowning glories are the Carter Observatory and the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. By far the most sensible and conventional way to visit the gardens is via the Cable Car, at 280 Lambton Quay, first built in 1902 and now a tourist attraction in itself. The almost completely subterranean single line has cables that haul the two lovely red carriages up and down, with four stops on the way. When your carriage glides in quietly to the summit (Kelburn) station you step out into the gardens and are immediately rewarded with a fine view across the city. The recently renovated and expanded Cable Car Museum (T04-4753578, http://www.cablecarmuseum.co.nz, daily 0930-1730, free), houses some lovingly restored cars, as well as audio visual and interpretive displays.
Having arrived in such style you are now in the perfect position to explore the gardens. At the crest of the hill and a short walk from the summit station is the Carter Observatory (T04-4728167, http://www.carterobservatory.org). After recent and major redevelopments it now offers some excellent state of the art displays and planetarium shows. Be sure to see another fine view over the city on the lawn, just in front of the observatory.
Not surprisingly one of the most popular spots in the gardens is the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens, where you can muse upon the names and fragrances of more than 300 varieties form a budding pink ‘Little Willy’ to the rather dishevelled ‘Nancy Reagan’. It is located at the northern end of the gardens, at the base of the hill and along with the café (Mon-Fri 1100-1500, Sat-Sun 1000-1600), should perhaps be your last port of call.
The Otari Wilton’s Bush (160 Wilton Rd, Wilton, northwest of the Botanic Gardens, T04-4991400, http://www.wellington.govt.nz, dawn to dusk, free, take bus No 14, Wilton via Wadestown), is another famous garden that is the only botanical garden in the country dedicated solely to native plants.
Zelandia and the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (31 Waiapu Rd, Karori T04-9209200, http://www.visitzealandia.com, daily 1000-1700, from $15, child $7; introductory guided tours daily at 1100, from $33, and night tours to view or hear nocturnal wildlife, including kiwi, from $60, child $35, pick-ups from the VIC; take buses No3 or No18 from the city centre), is a great conservation success story and a tribute to an army of devoted volunteers. In 1994 250 ha of bush in the northern hills neighbouring the suburb of Karori was set aside and protected with a predator-proof fence. This was of course a challenge and an expensive one at that, the idea being to try to repeat the efficacy of New Zealand’s offshore islands. Now, with the eradication of non-native pest species within the boundary of the fence, the benefits for both native flora and fauna are plain to see. Reintroduced species like kaka (native parrot) and the ‘living fossil’ tuatara are making a solid comeback and birdsong is returning to native bush that once lay silent. The sanctuary has over 30 km of bush walks to explore its many features from the lake to specialist feeding stations. An impressive new visitor centre with state-of-the-art interactive exhibitions that tell the story of New Zealand’s unique natural history from the day before humans arrived through to the ground-breaking conservation techniques of today. Recommended....
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