Coffee, cupcakes and stunning views

The botanic gardens in Wellington are the best in the world. They're nestled in the hills to the west of the city and if you climb up high enough you can see the sea. You can take a cable car to reach them but if it's a fine day, walk across the city and through the old cemetery.

On the way I stop off for a power coffee at Espressoholic. It's run by a guy called Leyton - he's owned it for 18 years. He tells me he'd originally planned to call it Midnight Espresso but his mate Jeff stole the name for his own café that he opened the week before Leyton's. So Leyton went with Espressoholic. The whole place is a graffiti artist's den of walls sprayed with motifs and squiggles. The deep skylights cut into the ceiling let the light pool in.

The coffee's strong - a flat-white's made with a double espresso. At the counter there's the usual motley mix of muffins, lasagnes and a raspberry and caramel slice. Tempting - but a bit early for me.

The botanic gardens are as lovely as I remember. I wander through the herb garden. Do you know the difference between a herb and a spice? If the essential oils are in the leaves it's a herb; if they're in the seeds, flowers, bark or roots, it's a spice.

Plants produce aromas to repel insects and animals - it's about survival of the fittest. A rosemary bush may look like a thing of passive beauty but it's sweating it out round the clock to be there.

On the way back to the city I walk through the scenic graveyard past the lucky souls buried there on the hillside in the sunny breeze. It's probably about the best place you could hope to end up. Talk about a view to die for.

Back in town, I head straight to Midnight Espresso to see what Leyton was up against in 1989. It wasn't midnight and I didn't have an espresso - I had a pot of tea with a chocolate orange cupcake with fudge icing. There's heaps of colourful food spread out across the bar, crying out to be eaten.

Leyton's old mate Jeff is long gone. All the food's now made by a guy called Pablo who wasn't there today. They wouldn't let me have the recipe for the cupcakes - apparently it's Pablo's secret. In fact, even they don't know it. Or so they say...