Wellington is the culture capital of New Zealand. It is the home of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (tel: (04) 381 9000 or 0800 432 623; website: www.nzballet.org.nz), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (tel: (04) 801 3890 or 0800 479 674; website: www.nzso.co.nz), the National Opera (tel: (04) 384 4434; website: www.nzopera.com) and the national dance and drama schools, which all perform regularly. There are more than 300 sporting, arts and cultural events in Wellington throughout the year.

Music and Dance: The Westpac St James Theatre, 77-87 Courtenay Place (tel: (04) 802 4060 or 384 3840 for tickets; website: www.stjames.co.nz) is one of New Zealand's finest Edwardian lyric theatres, and it is the venue for opera, dance and major musical shows, and home to the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Theatre: Downstage Theatre, 12 Cambridge Terrace (tel: (04) 801 6946; website: www.downstage.co.nz) has been inspiring audiences for over 40 years and is New Zealand's longest established theatre company. The theatre presents a fresh and stimulating mix of New Zealand plays, innovative classics and international favourites. For cutting edge stuff and New Zealand productions, check out BATS, 1 Kent Terrace (tel: (04) 802 4175; website: www.bats.co.nz), which has an exciting, accessible, and unpredictable live theatre experience almost every night of the year.

Film: Wellington was the main filming and production location for the Oscar winning The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which was shot in New Zealand between October 1999 and December 2000, directed by Peter Jackson and featuring an array of Hollywood stars, including Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortenson, Sean Bean, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen.

The Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Terrace (tel: (04) 384 7657; website: www.deluxe.co.nz) is New Zealand's grandest picture palace and was fully refurbished inside and out just in time for the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King. Rialto Cinemas, on the corner of Cable Street & Jervois Streets (between Te Papa & Civic Square) (tel: (04) 385 1864; website: www.rialto.co.nz) is a multi screen showing all the latest releases, while the Wellington Film Society (tel: (04) 934 4540; website: http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz) in the Paramount Theatre, 25 Courtenay Place (tel: (04) 384 4080; website: www.paramount.co.nz), screens a range of films unlikely to be seen elsewhere, including international classics, foreign language films, documentaries and kiwi classics.

The website www.film.wellington.net.nz has a comprehensive listing of all the movies screening at downtown cinemas, with times and reviews. It is updated every Thursday.

Literary Notes: Katherine Mansfield, possibly New Zealand's best known author, was born in Wellington. She is noted for her short stories, and her most famous works include Bliss (1920) and The Garden Party (1922). Another famous New Zealand writer is Keri Hulme, of mixed Maori, English and Orkney descent, who won the Booker Prize for The Bone People (1983). The book originated from a short story but it took 12 years before Hulme finished the manuscript. Following rejections by several publishers, it was eventually taken up by Spiral, a Wellington-based feminist collective. This was an experimental work drawing on Maori culture and the best selling book ever by any living New Zealand author.