Oriental Bay
Wellington
Oriental Bay is a bay and suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Known for being both a popular beach and an opulent centre of affluence in the city, it is located close to the central business district on Wellington Harbour.
It has the closest beach to the central city and is thus a popular destination for locals, who swarm here especially in the warmer months (December to March). Painted ladies and other historic houses, such as those in distinctly Wellingtonian streamline moderne style, are prominent alongside and up into the hills that face the bay. Situated against the northern slope of Mount Victoria, the suburb lies 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) southeast of the city centre, at the start of a coastal route which continues around into Evans Bay. Oriental Bay was originally named Duppa Bay, after its sole original resident George Duppa, but in 1843 he renamed it after the Oriental, one of the first ships to bring settlers to Wellington. Originally described as a remote "dreary-looking spot" of rocks lying between cliffs and the sea used primarily for quarantining foreigners, it has undergone considerable changes since the early stages of European settlement.
Photo: Unknown (Public domain); Original uploader was Wheatfamily at en.wikipedia (CC BY 3.0); Lisa Maule (CC BY-SA 4.0)
It has the closest beach to the central city and is thus a popular destination for locals, who swarm here especially in the warmer months (December to March). Painted ladies and other historic houses, such as those in distinctly Wellingtonian streamline moderne style, are prominent alongside and up into the hills that face the bay. Situated against the northern slope of Mount Victoria, the suburb lies 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) southeast of the city centre, at the start of a coastal route which continues around into Evans Bay. Oriental Bay was originally named Duppa Bay, after its sole original resident George Duppa, but in 1843 he renamed it after the Oriental, one of the first ships to bring settlers to Wellington. Originally described as a remote "dreary-looking spot" of rocks lying between cliffs and the sea used primarily for quarantining foreigners, it has undergone considerable changes since the early stages of European settlement.
Photo: Unknown (Public domain); Original uploader was Wheatfamily at en.wikipedia (CC BY 3.0); Lisa Maule (CC BY-SA 4.0)