A Drive Around the Miramar Peninsula

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is located on the southwest corner of North Island. Travellers have told us that there are some spectacular scenic drives close by that travel through beautiful coastlines, mountains, the city and farmlands. We have a car so we decided to check out one that is very close by - the 23 km Shelly Bay Circular Drive on the Miramar Peninsula.

From the city we followed the road east along Evans Bay Parade to Miramar. We saw some of the colourful wind sculptures that spin and rotate on the waterfront and then continued on to Shelly Bay Road which took us on a beautiful coastal drive. The bay was on our left while the steep-sided Maupuia hill was on our right.

We passed the old warehouses and docks of West Point Studio (of Lord of the Rings fame) and passed a place called the Chocolate Fish. The barbecue food is supposed to be great and people from Wellington like to stop in there, but it wasn’t time to eat so we drove on.

Our very scenic drive continued past one sandy beach after another around Evans Bay. There was lots to see in the water - spear fishermen, people collecting mussels from the rocks, sailboats, surfers, swimmers, cyclers, the ferry and low-flying aircraft approaching the airport. It is a happening place.

The drive continued around the peninsula past the popular Scorching Bay Beach, the Worser Bay Sailing Club, and Breaker Bay with its colony of Little Blue Penguins. We didn’t see any penguins but we saw signs that said Penguins Crossing. Drive Slowly.

We ended this hour-long circular drive around the peninsula fairly close to our hostel which was very handy as we had some preparations (laundry) to do before leaving Wellington and taking the ferry to the South Island.

By the way, it was a lovely day, weather-wise, so it was a nice final day in the North Island. For now...Read more