Wellington

The national museum charges nothing and holds a Maori meeting house inside it. A colossal squid specimen is kept on display frozen.

A red car running since 1902 climbs to the botanic garden at the top. Walking back down leads through the garden and into the centre.

A pedestrian street mixing second hand shops, cafes and small venues. A bucket sculpture in the middle tips water without warning and standing close means getting wet.

A valley beside the centre was fenced and cleared of introduced predators. A guided round after dusk offers a chance of seeing the national bird in the wild.

A guided round goes through the workshop that builds film props and make up. At one point objects actually used on set are handed over to hold.

A hill of 196m, forty minutes above the centre on foot. Wind up there makes standing hard on plenty of days.

Timber decking follows the water, and in summer people jump off the bridge into it. Sculpture and lines of poetry are worked into the paving and the rails.

A round tapering government building stands beside the debating chamber. The guided round shows how the structure sits on rubber bearings against earthquakes.

Walking the southern shore in winter finds male fur seals hauled out on the rocks. People keep back and hold a distance of twenty metres.

The crossing to the south island runs 210 minutes, with the last stretch inside a sound. Strong wind cancels it and another sailing has to be found.

A city beach 15 minutes' walk from downtown, its sand shipped in from elsewhere. A fountain anchored offshore lights up in colours each evening. When a northerly blows, the hillside behind shelters it and it becomes the warmest spot in the city.

A harbour history museum in an 1892 bond store on Queens Wharf. A floor is given to the ferry Wahine, which sank at the harbour mouth in a storm in 1968. In a dark room on the top floor a short film tells the Maori legend of how the harbour was made.

New Zealand's first zoo, opened in 1906. Its wildlife hospital, The Nest, has viewing windows so you can watch vets treat injured kiwi and penguins. Enclosures are spread over a hillside, and the paths climb a lot.

A harbour island once used as a quarantine station and, in both world wars, an internment camp for enemy aliens. Now predator-free, it shelters tuatara and native parakeets. There is no shop, so carry water and lunch, and look out from the old gun site on top.

A bay village across the harbour, a ferry ride from the downtown wharf with the skyline behind you. A lawn and cafe face the wharf, and the shore leads on foot to Eastbourne. A short stream walk climbs into the bush behind, easy to fit between two sailings.

An island reserve off the coast north of the city, protected since 1897. Entry means booking a licensed boat in advance, and a night at the island lodge brings a guided walk to find wild kiwi. High surf cancels morning crossings, so check the day before.

Near the south Wairarapa coast, rain and wind have carved a gravel hillside into a forest of earth pillars. The Paths of the Dead in The Lord of the Rings were filmed here. The way in follows a dry streambed that runs with water after rain.

A Gothic timber church built from native woods in 1866. The roof beams look like the hull of an upturned ship. It sits just behind Parliament and hosts frequent weddings, so check the noticeboard by the door before walking in.

A public botanic garden given over entirely to native New Zealand plants, with no entry fee. A canopy walkway carries you along at branch height. Deeper in stands a rimu 800 years old, signposted from the main path.

A darkened room in the National Library holds the original Treaty of Waitangi, the 1835 Declaration of Independence and the 1893 women's suffrage petition, its signed sheets glued end to end and rolled. Entry is free; no flash near the fragile papers.