We returned to Wellington on our way back to the South Island, still taking advantage of our extended NZ stay to explore more of the country. Wellington is just a gem of a city, with a myriad of interesting sites both in the city and in the surrounding countryside. We made the most of our five days, investigating the city and beyond.

We stayed in a "treehouse" apartment on the east side of Wellington Harbor, high enough to get a nice perspective on sunset.

The city is bedecked with sculptures all through the downtown and along the harbor front.

Walkways take strollers along the water, past shops, restaurants, music venues, and artwork.

A funicular cable car will take you up the steep hill to Wellington's Botanical Garden, to spend the afternoon exploring the garden and making your slow way back down to the city below.

At the peak of Druid's Hill in the Botanical Garden, this mobile sculpture, a "Listening and Viewing Device", will swing at the slightest push.

Whimsical sculptures dot the landscape and invite one to investigate.

The Bee Lady, a sculpture by beekeeper Alison Clouton, greets you near the entrance to the gardens.

Outside Wellington, along the shores of Palliser Bay, are the Putangirua Pinnacles, a landscape of towering limestone columns that extend far into the interior. Used for shots of the entrance to the Halls of the Dead in The Lord of the Rings, these are eerie sentinels guarding the shores of the North Island.

The little fishing village of Ngawi is known for two things: the largest collection of bulldozers per capita in the world (used for hauling fishing boats in and out), and for catching Paua, a type of abalone which the Maori prize.