>> P.S. Avoid Wellington if possible, it's an earthquake mega-disaster waiting to happen.

> What, just like California?

I tend to think like the parent, so am curious where our imaginations diverge. Basically, I'd worry about a violent enough earthquake that lots of people/supplies immediately need to be moved in/out, but their movement is impeded by the geography. It seems likely that the two roads out of town would be impassible (isn't one on land that lifted out of the water in a major quake?), and the airport and waterfront are mostly on reclaimed land so will likely need substantial work before boats/planes can operate.

It's a lovely city though - second best in NZ to Dunedin!

Wellington is hosting KiwiCon later this week too: https://www.kiwicon.org/

Wellington is a terrible risk, there's a major fault line running right through the city. But yeah, it's a decent place to live in the meantime.

And there are some simple ways to make sure your earthquake risks are lower than other risks in your life.

1. Don't work in old buildings - especially hipster brick ones. (Maybe if they have added steel structure that looks ridiculously oversized: see Dux Central, what was Twisted Hop in Christchurch).

2. Avoid living on hills with unstable geology.

3. Avoid living in old apartments that are not up to 100% earthquake code.

Liquifaction really isn't as big an issue as you might think.

Anecdote: my parents are on top of the 7.2 Darfield quake, my sister's is very close to the 7.8 Kaikoura epicentre, and I live in Christchurch.

Unfortunately you've described the majority of Wellington's buildings. Wellington is old timber houses on hills, or poorly built apartments on reclaimed land in the harbour, most of which are not up to earthquake code, and aren't required to be for another decade.

> Wellington is old timber houses on hills

These seem to do ok and have been tested on some decent shakes, unlike some of the new code-compliment buildings. Chimneys are a notable exception.

The risk with the housing stock on Wellington's hills isn't that they'll fall over, timber houses on piles are quite safe in earthquakes as they are very flexible. The main risk is landslides.

Although, it should be mentioned that the weather is also terrible. I'll never forget that wind.

And they regularly get cracking good days too. Personally I prefer the Wellington weather to Christchurch (nor-wester, hayfever, overcast, too hot or too cold), or Auckland (I really don't like Auckland's weather).

For me the best places in NZ for weather are Nelson, or North of Kaitaia (the winterless North, although rains).

Nothing beats Wellington on a good day.

The less there is to celebrate the more we celebrate it! Wellington is my favourite city, but I like a good fire so may be biased.