Shortcuts!

   Wellington is a rather small city, area wise. However, there are lots of people here. This means that a lot of living space is crammed into the hillside, houses and buildings are close together, and there are shortcuts weaving through the mass of structures.

   Some shortcuts I use everyday: tunnels under busy streets, walkways zigzagging up to Kelburn, and stairways down the steep hills.
   Other shortcuts, people living in Wellington use everyday: personal cable cars, pathways to their houses, and stairs making the steepest of hills doable.

You wouldn't know most shortcuts were there unless you were looking for them!

Farmer's Lane, going from The Terrace to Lambton Quay. Remember this Mum Dad and Adam?

The tunnel from The Terrace to Lambton. I use this every day!

The Terrace is way too busy to cross during the day. Solution? Go under it!

Cool things about the tunnel: it's lit at night, and
sometimes people do weird things like put bubble wrap on the ground.

You can just imagine all the twisty staircases getting you down in elevation quickly,
without leaving you too far from where you started.. if that makes sense.
This one goes from The Terrace down to Lambton, and you can see how high up it is!

   There are plenty of shortcuts going from The Terrace down to Lambton Quay (pronounced 'key' by the way!), probably because The Terrace is so much higher in elevation that Lambton. There are stairs, elevators, and pathways all over the place!

Everton Terrace, going up to Kelburn Parade. This path is the easy part...
walking up the street beforehand is a workout!

This is the shortcut from the top of the cable car down to Kelburn Parade.

My family and I explored it a long time ago!

At uni - shortcut through an old cemetery. Students hang out here sometimes, and it creeps me out.

Mount Street, dun dun dunnn!
This picture is deceiving though. It keeps winding around and gets steeper.

   There are lots of little shortcuts around uni, just like the rest of the city. The most popular is the dreaded Mount Street, which brings you to the back of the buildings on Kelburn Parade rather than the front, and is almost too steep. Various others just bring you to campus more directly than following the street. Since uni is on a hill, as is a lot of Wellington, it seems as though there are countless stairways and pathways going up and down, while streets do more switchbacks.

I can't imagine living in such a densely populated area,where my neighbours
are literally on top of me and I have start my day by climbing a big set of stairs.

This is more manageable. These are everywhere too.
Houses not quite on street level, so there are pathways down to them.

Yikes! The price you pay for living on Mount Vic...
They really stack the houses on the hill!

The beginning of my descent down Mount Vic...
I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

15 minutes later and I'm only halfway! These stairs went on for what seemed like an hour.

   I guess it's smart to pack all the houses you can onto the hillside, connect them with a few roads, but mostly pathways. Although I can't imagine having to climb the stairs on Mount Vic everyday.. especially with groceries!

   Another big shortcut is cable cars. There are plenty of personal cable cars all over the city, as well as THE cable car. I would much prefer a cable car to stairs, but I would feel so lazy every day.

Stairs and a cable car. I like options.

Okay but surely there's a road up there? 

THE cable car, cutting through motorways, neighbourhoods,
and parks to get from Lambton Quay to Upland Road.

   I imagine all cities have shortcuts like these, but it seems as though Wellington is a bit extreme! I could get to the same place a million different ways. I usually try not to take the same path twice, and I've found a lot of interesting shortcuts. I love that I'm still discovering new things about this city : )