Wellington: Arty, indie, and more than a little bit Hobbity

With Peter Jackson's next epic due this winter, Christopher Wakling goes on a pilgrimage to the laid-back capital of New Zealand

Wellington (Tourism New Zealand)

Hobbits. Independent-minded, outdoorsy, don't take themselves too seriously. If you're familiar with their work you'll know they come from New Zealand. Specifically from Wellington, a capital city with its tongue in its cheek.

Before I set off there I asked Tourism New Zealand whether they'd had enough of the Hobbit infestation. Peter Jackson's Tolkien films showcase New Zealand's epic landscape, and that has lured many visitors, but isn't the association wearing thin? "Not a bit of it," I was told. "Hobbit followers are welcome any time."

It's true. The first thing I noticed as the plane touched down in Wellington airport was a huge sign over the terminal saying "Welcome to the Middle of Middle Earth". And the last thing I did there, having been told it was a must see, was take a guided tour of Weta Caves Workshop (00 64 4 909 4100; wetaworkshop.com) where much of the model-making and special effects wizardry for the films go on.

I learned lots. That there was, for example, a $3m (£1.9m) budget for Hobbit hair on the last movie. Warren Smith, who works on the models himself and guided a group of us through the workshop, allowed me to run my fingers through a head-full of the stuff.

In a couple of months (12 December) we'll all be welcoming the final film in the trilogy (or hexalogy, if you include the earlier Lord of the Rings films), which makes now an appropriate time to undertake the pilgrimage to Wellington. It's well worth the trek. There's a laid-back, creative vibe to the capital. The city sits among rumpled green hills fronted on one side by a wide blue sea, and has an intimate, friendly feel, somehow intensified by the huge expanse of the Southern Ocean beyond the harbour.

Cuba Street's mall (Tourism New Zealand)

UNPACK

Base yourself down by the water on Cable Street, in the Museum Art Hotel (00 64 4 802 8900; museumhotel.co.nz). It's wonderful: imagine the hotel love-child of David Lynch and Wes Anderson, beguiling and bonkers, kooky and luxurious. Two stuffed peacocks sit on a glass plinth by the mirrored bar beneath enormous chandeliers. There's art, often surreal or kitsch, on just about every wall. "The common thread of our eclectic collection is the nature of the human condition and each artist's attempt to make sense of it," declares the hotel literature. Either way, the breakfast buffet is immense.

THINK LOCAL

This is a city that very much feels accessible and home-grown. A walk down Cuba Street takes you past countless independent shops and cafés, such as Espressoholic, at No 136 (00 64 4 384 7790), a diner which serves killer coffee. The chequered floor and black banquettes give the place a unique Gothic-Cubist atmosphere.

If you have time to spare head to the broad-beached Kapati coast, 45 minutes north of the city: this is where Wellingtonians go to escape. Treat yourself to a stay at the Greenmantle Estate (00 64 4 298 5555; greenmantle.co.nz) the nearest luxury lodge to Wellington, set in secluded grounds just back from the coast. It has the largest private nikau (native palm) forest in the country. There's a candlelit outdoor hot tub to relax in, and a helipad in case you're feeling flash as well as flush.

EAT

Try Charley Noble, which opened earlier this year on Post Office Square (00 64 508 242753; charleynoble.co.nz). The restaurant, with its exposed floorboards, dangling lightbulbs and velvet dining booths, has an industrial-chic buzz. A "Charley Noble" was what sailors called the galley chimney in a wooden ship, and the lamb cooked on a wood-fired rotisserie here is a real treat. If you have space after pudding, drop into the Wellington Chocolate Factory on Eva Street (00 64 4 385 7555; wcf.co.nz). They make their own range of intense chocolate "from bean to bar", doing all their own roasting, cracking, winnowing, conching, and tempering – the artisan vocabulary is as rich as the end product.

DRINK

Until recently you'd have felt obliged to drink sauvignon blanc, since they make enough of it in the vineyards across the Cook Strait to flood the Marlborough Sound. But craft beer is big in Wellington now. Garage Project (68 Aro Street; garageproject.co.nz) microbrews a bewildering array of ales, porters, stouts and lagers, stocked in bars throughout the city. You can keep up to date with where's selling what via Twitter (@Garage_Project), and you can buy direct; this year they opened a cellar door off-licence at their Aro Street premises. An impressively bearded chap came in and refilled his own jerry can with Venusian Pale Ale while I was there, but you can buy bottles too.

SPEND

If lugging shopping home from the other side of the world is your thing, and you're a man, then check out Brown & Co on Wakefield Street (00 64 4 385 0102, brownandco .co.nz). Their tag line "for house and homme" gives them a licence to stock all sorts of vintage furniture, decoy ducks and stuffed puffa fish in glass domes. The place looks so interesting that they've banned photography, which is a shame. If you only have enough space to pick up a book for the Hobbit-length journey back to the UK, the selection of second hand titles at Pegasus Books, on Cuba Street again (00 64 4 384 4733; pegasusbooksnz.com) is bewilderingly good.

GETTING THERE

No airline flies direct from the UK to Wellington. Air New Zealand (0800 028 4149; airnewzealand .co.uk) flies via LA and Auckland.

STAYING THERE

The Museum Art Hotel (00 64 4802 8900; museumhotel.co.nz) has doubles from NZ$199 (£98). On the Kapiti coast, the Greenmantle Estate (00 64 4 2985555; greenmantle.co.nz) has doubles from NZ$575 (£273).

MORE INFORMATION

Tourism New Zealand: newzealand.com/uk

Positively Wellington Tourism: wellingtonnz.com