You can’t beat Wellington on a Christmas Day
Thursday, 25 December 2025
From Santa-clad parkrunners to brisk wharf jumps and windswept beach picnics, Wellingtonians marked Christmas Day with exercise, community and a healthy dose of classic capital weather.
Charlotte Sefton, 27, and Robyn Harvey-Smith, 26, were among 391 runners at the Lower Hutt parkrun on Thursday, setting off at 8am among a sea of Santa hats and elf costumes.
Parkruns are a free, social 5km event where runners and walkers of all abilities are welcome at 8am every Saturday. There are more than 20 active parkrun countries and 67 locations across Aotearoa – 39 of which participated on Christmas Day this year with a record 8702 participants and 664 volunteers.
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Sefton and Harvey-Smith, who hail from London, are travelling in a van across the country with a goal to do a parkrun every weekend while in New Zealand for a year.
“It’s something to give us routine while we’re travelling and you see some great places from it,” Sefton said.
But this was a special one, on their first summer Christmas.
“It’s nice to get out in the community on Christmas Day.”
Avid parkrunners Paul and Julia Gordon brought along their family, visiting from Auckland.
Their granddaughters Beatrice Hale, 10 and Evie, 4, were allowed to open one present before the run. It was Evie’s first run but with some carrying along the way to get to the finish line.
They were going back home for more presents and lunch.
At nearby Shandon Golf Club in Petone, Richard Wake was playing golf with his son and his son’s girlfriend.
His wife was at the gym while he played golf; their Christmas routine.
It was good to have a relaxed day to be able to enjoy it, Wake said.
His son, Caleb, had recently returned from four years studying in the United States.
Despite four white Christmases, which did make him feel like he was in a movie, “it doesn’t feel like Christmas”, he said.
“I like this, this is a good Christmas vibe for me; garden games, a BBQ, big ham.
“It’s always good to be home.”
Across at the wharf in Days Bay, Kevin Lenahan counted down in Gaeilge as he, his son, and friends plunged into the brisk water.
It was his second time for the day after joining in on the Christmas tradition among the community at 8am.
“It’s absolutely freezing,” Jess Davidson said from the water. “What a crazy tradition” – before all four went in for a second dip.
On the beach, Abbie Kate Brown and her family braved a picnic in gusts of wind. After a Christmas Day picnic following am Italian seafood night on Christmas Eve last year, it was now a tradition, she said.
With coffee and Christmas crackers to go around on their picnic blanket, the seagulls dived in for a feed from leftovers too.