Wellington Markets

Weekly markets are a big deal in New Zealand and Wellington is no exception.  There are three main markets in Wellington that Ross and I make it to most weeks:  the Night Market on Fridays, one of the Fruit and Veg Markets on Saturday or Sunday, and the Underground Market on Saturdays.  If you come and visit us, we will probably take you to dinner at the Night Market on Friday, go shopping for local arts and crafts at the Underground Market on Saturday, and then take you to the Fruit and Veg Market on Sunday so that you can marvel at the piles of inexpensive produce while Ross and I pick up the vast majority of our groceries for the week.

Night Market (www.wellingtonnightmarket.co.nz)

The Night Market runs on both Friday and Saturday nights on Cuba Street in downtown Wellington.  Ross and I generally go on Friday nights for dinner.  There are a couple arts and crafts stalls but the real appeal of the Night Market is the wide range of international food.  So far, we've had everything from crepes to Argentinian to Indonesian and more.  It's a great place to meet friends for dinner as everyone can get whatever they want and it's all fairly inexpensive.

Underground Market (www.undergroundmarket.co.nz)

The Underground Market runs every Saturday (10am to 4 pm) along the waterfront in the carpark under Frank Kitts Park.  It is a great place to get locally made arts and crafts.  Ross and I have to limit how often we go because we always leave with something.  Lately we have started stopping by just for lunch while running errands as there are also a number of international food vendors.  All in all, the Underground Market is a great place to wander through on a Saturday.

Fruit and Veg Markets

Harbourside Market fun facts

Harbourside Market fun facts

Fruit and Veg markets are the cheapest way to buy your produce every week in Wellington.  These are not farmers' markets though.  Most of the produce has been purchased wholesale and is then stored until the weekend.  As such it tends to be a bit lower quality than what you would find in the supermarket but there isn't anything wrong with it.  As long as you shop around and go early, you can get really good produce (http://salient.org.nz/2013/04/beginners-guide-to-wellingtons-fruit-and-vege-markets/).

There are multiple fruit and veg markets in Wellington on the weekends:  Newtown, Harbourside, Victoria Street, Thornton, etc.  Ross and I normally go to the Newtown Market as it is the closest but we will occasionally stop by the Harbourside Market if we are down on the waterfront.  We eat a lot of produce so we love the fruit and veg markets.

All of this cost NZ$19 - 12 kiwifruits, 1/2 head of cabbage, 10 apples, 4 nashi, 4 bananas, 2 beets, 1 avocado, 1 head of garlic, 6 onions, 2kg of carrots, 2 lemons, and a giant head of kale.