Picture Factoids: Wellington, New Zealand

WELLINGTON has been the capital of New Zealand since 1865 when the capital was moved from Auckland, supposedly to provide a more geographically-central government for settlers in the South Island.

It has a current population of approximately 474,000 residents, is the seat of government - at the beehive - and according to Wikipedia is ranked as the third most populous area in New Zealand after Auckland and Christchurch.

Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington to honour his victory at Waterloo.

In Māori, Wellington is known as Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara literally translated as "The great harbour of Tara".

Wellington is ranked 12th on the Mercer 2009 scale of world cities with the best quality of life. Auckland is 4th and Vienna is top.

The city lies directly on a geological fault line which in 1855 raised the central business area by 3 metres, up and out of the sea.

The port is the main jump off point for travellers between the North and South Islands. The Interislander ferry service carries over one million passengers and 230,000 vehicles per year, with 5,700 sailing between Wellington and Picton.

The region of Wellington is comprised of four cities. Porirua to the north, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, and Wellington City.

The city boasts over 2,000 hours of sunshine per year (UK: 1,500 when lucky).

The Wellington Cable Car, one of the premier tourist attractions in the city, is not actually a cable car, but a funicular railway. Though there is also a cable attached.

The Cable Car transports about a million passengers per year between Lampton Quay and the Botanical Gardens.

Comments

[Domestic Executive]

I knew someone who drove that cable car - she was a British Journalist who used to work for BBC and horrified and scared off by working in New Zealand Government communications she went off and had some fun. How fantastic is that!

[William Knight]

I don't know though. It's only 750m long and goes up and down every 20 mins. that's got to be a long day and how many times can you read watersip down before you think about hanging yourself on that cable?