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Roots Earth in Wellington: audio stories about 44 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 44 places in Wellington, New Zealand, in Oceania. The Wellington stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Wellington, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 44 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: wellington.md

The 44 places in Wellington with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  2. Wellington Cable Car
  3. The Beehive
  4. New Zealand Parliament Buildings
  5. Wellington Botanic Garden
  6. Mount Victoria
  7. Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
  8. Old St Paul's
  9. Old Government Buildings
  10. Te Ngākau Civic Square
  11. City Gallery Wellington
  12. Wellington Museum
  13. Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
  14. National War Memorial
  15. Zealandia
  16. Wellington Railway Station
  17. Wellington Town Hall
  18. Space Place at Carter Observatory
  19. St Mary of the Angels
  20. Sacred Heart Cathedral
  21. St Gerard's Church and Monastery
  22. Futuna Chapel
  23. Government House
  24. National Library of New Zealand
  25. Embassy Theatre
  26. Sky Stadium
  27. Wellington Zoo
  28. Oriental Bay
  29. Wellington Cenotaph
  30. Lambton Quay
  31. Cuba Street
  32. Courtenay Place
  33. Aro Valley
  34. Newtown
  35. Thorndon
  36. Kelburn
  37. Bolton Street Cemetery
  38. Karori Cemetery
  39. Island Bay
  40. Petone
  41. Roxy Cinema
  42. Wētā Workshop
  43. Victoria University of Wellington
  44. Matiu / Somes Island

Is there an audio guide for Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa?

Yes. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 44 Wellington places in the app, at -41.2906, 174.7819. Every one of the other 43 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Wellington

Open Roots Earth and choose Wellington. The city has its own map of places with all 44 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 44 places in Wellington, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 44 places in Wellington, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Coordinates
-41.2906, 174.7819
In one line
New Zealand's national museum opened on Wellington's waterfront in 1998. Its Maori name means a container of treasured things, and its bicultural galleries gather natural history, art, a living marae and the country's stories under one vast roof.

2. Wellington Cable Car

Coordinates
-41.28534722, 174.767825
In one line
A beloved Wellington icon since 1902, this funicular climbs 120 metres from Lambton Quay to Kelburn in about five minutes. Its red cars, lookout and hilltop museum link the downtown to the Botanic Garden above the city.

3. The Beehive

Coordinates
-41.2784, 174.7767
In one line
Wellington's most recognisable building, this round tiered tower houses New Zealand's government ministers and Cabinet. Conceived by Scottish architect Basil Spence and built from 1969, its honeycomb shape earned it the nickname the Beehive.

4. New Zealand Parliament Buildings

Coordinates
-41.278, 174.777
In one line
New Zealand's seat of democracy gathers three buildings from three eras: the Gothic Revival Parliamentary Library of 1899, the Edwardian neoclassical Parliament House completed in 1922, and the modernist Beehive of the 1970s.

5. Wellington Botanic Garden

Coordinates
-41.2829, 174.766
In one line
Founded in 1868, this hillside Victorian garden spreads across about 25 hectares above the city. A Garden of National Significance, it holds native bush, the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, the Begonia House and sweeping views, reached by the cable car.

6. Mount Victoria

Coordinates
-41.29611, 174.79417
In one line
Known to Maori as Matairangi, its summit holds a lookout, a memorial to Antarctic explorer Richard Byrd, and forest trails.

7. Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Coordinates
-41.2763, 174.7774
In one line
This Anglican cathedral near Parliament had its foundation stone laid in 1954; construction began in 1955, and it was completed in 1998. Designed by Cecil Wood in a blend of Art Deco and Neo-Byzantine forms, its pink reinforced-concrete nave, stained glass and arches replaced Old Saint Paul's as the mother church in 1964.

8. Old St Paul's

Coordinates
-41.276262, 174.780394
In one line
Old St Paul's is a Gothic Revival church of 1866, built entirely from New Zealand native timber. Its soaring rimu and totara interior is admired as one of the world's finest examples of timber Gothic architecture.

9. Old Government Buildings

Coordinates
-41.279484, 174.777975
In one line
Old Government Buildings, completed in 1876 to William Clayton's Italianate design, is among the largest wooden buildings in the world. Carved kauri timber mimics stone, and the grand interior once housed New Zealand's entire civil service.

10. Te Ngākau Civic Square

Coordinates
-41.28884, 174.777138
In one line
Te Ngākau Civic Square, opened in 1991 to Ian Athfield's design, gathers Wellington's cultural buildings around a brick-paved plaza. Neil Dawson's silver sphere floats overhead, and the City to Sea Bridge links it to the waterfront.

12. Wellington Museum

Coordinates
-41.2853, 174.7781
In one line
Wellington Museum fills an 1892 harbourside Bond Store, a heritage warehouse on Queens Wharf. Telling the city's social and maritime history across four floors, it holds the moving Wahine disaster gallery and an atmospheric restored attic.

13. Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

Coordinates
-41.2989, 174.7772
In one line
Pukeahu National War Memorial Park opened in 2015 for the World War I centenary. Beneath its lawns runs the Arras Tunnel, while memorials gifted by Australia and other nations gather around the Carillon in a place of remembrance.

14. National War Memorial

Coordinates
-41.29888889, 174.77722222
In one line
The National War Memorial centres on a 51-metre Art Deco Carillon, dedicated in 1932, with a 74-bell carillon among the largest on earth. Its Hall of Memory holds the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

15. Zealandia

Coordinates
-41.29444444, 174.75
In one line
Zealandia, known in Maori as Te Mara a Tane, is a fenced urban ecosanctuary in Wellington's Karori valley. Ringed by a predator-proof fence, it shelters rare native birds and reptiles under an ambitious 500-year restoration vision.

16. Wellington Railway Station

Coordinates
-41.27861111, 174.78083333
In one line
Opened in 1937 and designed by W. Gray Young, Wellington Railway Station is a Neo-Georgian landmark fronted by a colonnade of eight towering Doric columns. Its marble booking hall and U-shaped brick mass once formed New Zealand's largest building.

17. Wellington Town Hall

Coordinates
-41.2893, 174.7773
In one line
Opened in 1904 to a design by Joshua Charlesworth, Wellington Town Hall is a Neo-Renaissance civic landmark whose main auditorium ranks among the world's finest for acoustics. Its Norman and Beard organ has 4000 pipes; seismic strengthening continues.

18. Space Place at Carter Observatory

Coordinates
-41.28437, 174.76697
In one line
Perched atop the Wellington Botanic Garden, Carter Observatory opened in 1941 and became New Zealand's national observatory in 1977. Reborn as Space Place, it pairs a heritage Thomas Cooke refractor with a modern digital planetarium dome.

19. St Mary of the Angels

Coordinates
-41.28876944, 174.77386944
In one line
Opened in 1922 to a French Gothic design by Frederick de Jersey Clere, St Mary of the Angels was among the first Gothic churches built in ferro-concrete. Its soaring stained glass marks Catholic worship on this Wellington site since 1843.

20. Sacred Heart Cathedral

Coordinates
-41.2766, 174.7762
In one line
Designed by Francis Petre and opened in 1901, Sacred Heart Cathedral in Thorndon is a neoclassical church in Oamaru stone. Elevated to metropolitan cathedral in 1984, it is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington.

21. St Gerard's Church and Monastery

Coordinates
-41.29275, 174.79139
In one line
Crowning the slopes above Oriental Bay, St Gerard's is a Gothic Revival church of 1908 by John Sydney Swan, joined by a 1930s monastery. Long home to the Redemptorists, this brick landmark overlooks Wellington Harbour.

22. Futuna Chapel

Coordinates
-41.2818, 174.7387
In one line
A modernist retreat chapel in Karori, built between 1958 and 1961 to a design by John Scott. It fuses Maori and European ideas in concrete and timber, and is widely regarded as a landmark of New Zealand architecture.

23. Government House

Coordinates
-41.306114, 174.7810835
In one line
The official residence of New Zealand's Governor-General, completed in 1910 in Newtown. Designed in a half-timbered Tudor manner under Government Architect John Campbell, it spreads across 12 hectares and reopened in 2011 after a major restoration.

24. National Library of New Zealand

Coordinates
-41.27946, 174.7782
In one line
New Zealand's national library, established in 1966 and housed in a bold Molesworth Street building opened in 1987. It guards founding documents including the Treaty of Waitangi and the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition in its He Tohu exhibition.

25. Embassy Theatre

Coordinates
-41.294277, 174.784066
In one line
A grand 1924 cinema on Kent Terrace, opened as the De Luxe and renamed the Embassy in 1945. The last custom-built 1920s picture palace still working in New Zealand, it hosted the world premiere of The Return of the King in 2003.

26. Sky Stadium

Coordinates
-41.27305556, 174.78583333
In one line
Wellington's main sports and concert arena, opened in 2000 on reclaimed railway land near the city centre. New Zealand's first bowl stadium, nicknamed the Cake Tin, it seats 34,500 and hosts rugby, football, cricket and major concerts.

27. Wellington Zoo

Coordinates
-41.3225, 174.785
In one line
New Zealand's oldest zoo, founded in 1906 in Newtown after the Prime Minister was gifted a lion cub. Spread across 13 hectares of town belt, it cares for more than 500 animals and runs The Nest Te Kohanga, a hospital treating native wildlife.

28. Oriental Bay

Coordinates
-41.29166667, 174.79444444
In one line
Wellington's seaside promenade and beach, just southeast of the city beneath Mount Victoria. Named in 1843 for the settler ship Oriental, it is fringed by heritage Norfolk pines and centred on a golden, partly imported beach much loved by locals.

29. Wellington Cenotaph

Coordinates
-41.279176, 174.777103
In one line
The Wellington Cenotaph, completed in 1931 and crowned by a bronze winged horse, stands where Lambton Quay meets Bowen Street. Sculpted by Richard Gross, it remains the city's central focus for Anzac Day each April.

30. Lambton Quay

Coordinates
-41.281615, 174.776043
In one line
Lambton Quay is Wellington's main commercial street and the spine of its Golden Mile. Once the harbour shoreline known as The Beach, it now lies some 250 metres inland after the 1855 earthquake and decades of reclamation reshaped the coast.

31. Cuba Street

Coordinates
-41.2935, 174.7756
In one line
Cuba Street is Wellington's bohemian heart, a 925-metre run of cafes, record shops, op-shops and bars named after an 1840 settler ship. Its pedestrian mall, dating from 1969, holds the famous splashing Bucket Fountain and the city's richest collection of Victorian shopfronts.

32. Courtenay Place

Coordinates
-41.29361, 174.78167
In one line
Courtenay Place is Wellington's entertainment district, a 440-metre strip of bars, restaurants and historic theatres at the eastern end of the Golden Mile. Home to the 1912 Saint James and 1924 Embassy theatres, it shifted from working-class retail to nightlife from the 1990s.

33. Aro Valley

Coordinates
-41.29527778, 174.7675
In one line
Aro Valley is a narrow inner-city suburb of close-packed Victorian cottages, named after a buried stream once called Wai-Māpihi. Long working-class and bohemian, it holds Wellington's largest collection of unaltered period workers' homes and a strongly student, alternative community.

34. Newtown

Coordinates
-41.3137, 174.7798
In one line
Newtown is Wellington's most diverse inner suburb, a lively multicultural neighbourhood that grew from 1879 around the new tram line.

35. Thorndon

Coordinates
-41.275, 174.7779
In one line
Thorndon is Wellington's oldest suburb, settled from 1840 and long the city's elite and governing quarter. Home to Parliament, Premier House and the birthplace of writer Katherine Mansfield, it kept its heritage cottages despite the motorway that tore through it in the 1960s and 1970s.

36. Kelburn

Coordinates
-41.288771, 174.763298
In one line
Kelburn is a hilltop Wellington suburb laid out from 1896 and famously linked to the city by the 1902 cable car.

37. Bolton Street Cemetery

Coordinates
-41.27888889, 174.77305556
In one line
Bolton Street Memorial Park is Wellington's oldest cemetery, established in 1840 and closed to burials in 1892. A motorway later cut through it, yet thousands of graves, heritage roses, and pioneers like Richard Seddon remain among the trees.

38. Karori Cemetery

Coordinates
-41.275, 174.75
In one line
Karori Cemetery, opened in 1891, is New Zealand's second largest, spreading across nearly 40 hectares with about 95,000 graves. It holds the country's first crematorium, war graves, and figures from Prime Minister Peter Fraser to Antarctic carpenter Harry McNish.

39. Island Bay

Coordinates
-41.33773, 174.77231
In one line
Island Bay is Wellington's south coast seaside suburb, sheltered by Tapu Te Ranga island and shaped by an Italian fishing community since the late 1800s. Subdivided in 1879 and reached by tram from 1905, it fronts the Taputeranga Marine Reserve.

40. Petone

Coordinates
-41.225, 174.878
In one line
Petone is where organised European settlement of the Wellington region began, when the ship Aurora landed colonists in 1840. Once industrial, it is now known for heritage-lined Jackson Street, its long beach esplanade, and the Settlers Museum.

41. Roxy Cinema

Coordinates
-41.31833, 174.81444
In one line
The Roxy Cinema in Miramar occupies a 1929 theatre revived in 2011 by figures from the film industry. Its lush 1930s interior, Weta Workshop ceiling mural, and Gandalf statue make it a landmark of Wellington's movie making district.

42. Wētā Workshop

Coordinates
-41.31889, 174.81528
In one line
Wētā Workshop is the Miramar effects studio founded in 1987 by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. World famous for The Lord of the Rings, it crafts creatures, armour, and miniatures, and welcomes visitors to the Wētā Cave experience opened in 2008.

43. Victoria University of Wellington

Coordinates
-41.28888889, 174.76833333
In one line
Founded in 1897 and named for Queen Victoria, this hillside university crowns Kelburn above the city. Its Gothic Revival Hunter Building, opened in 1906, anchors a campus also known by its Māori name, Te Herenga Waka.

44. Matiu / Somes Island

Coordinates
-41.2575, 174.86639
In one line
A small island in Wellington Harbour, once a quarantine station and wartime internment camp.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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