Up to the Top in Wellington’s Cable Car

In most Wellington brochures, there is a photo of the historic Wellington Cable Car. Today we decided that we were going to take a ride on it and find out what is at the top of the hill.

Opened to the public in 1902, the cable car is still running strong and has become a city icon. It links the fancy Kelburn suburb with Lambton Quay, the city’s main shopping area near the harbour. The cable car serves as more than just a tourist attraction as locals use it as part of their daily commute.

The track climbs 102 metres over the city and we found out that it brings passengers, in 5 minutes, to a beautiful landscaped botanical gardens which overlook the city. There is also a small museum that gives a great overview of the history of cable car use in hilly Wellington.

At the top is the location of the former 'Kelburn Victorian Tea Rooms' which was a special destination for Wellingtonians and visitors for over a century. The views from this location are great. The Tea Rooms burned down in 1982, but in its place arose another building which for 30 years was a popular restaurant called the 'Skyline'. Now, it is called the Kowhai Cafe.

Besides a cafe, the building also houses the “Fragrifert Parfumeur, the Victorian Perfumery” and what a fascinating place that is!

All around the perfumery we found items relating to Gustave Fragrift's (the perfumer who the shop is named after) life. The sea chest that contained some of his belongings, including two of his encrypted formula diaries, a perfume organ with raw materials and ingredients used in creating the perfumes, scales and weighing equipment of the period, a range of perfumery ingredients that we could smell as well as two stills for extracting essential oils. It was a very unusual place with a lot of history.

But that is not all that is at the top of the cable car run. I have mentioned the gardens but there is also another amazing place close by called Zealandia that Time Magazine declared as “One of the Greatest Places to Visit in 2019”. It was a must-see for us.Read more