Understand
Although it is a separate city, Hutt City (http://www.huttcity.govt.nz) is often considered a suburb of Wellington, and forms part of Greater Wellington. The city includes Lower Hutt as well as the distinctly separate communities of Petone, Eastbourne and Wainuiomata.
Climate
Although only across Wellington Harbour from the capital, Wellington, the Hutt Valley climate is distinctly different. Sheltered by the surrounding hills the weather (http://homepages.paradise...) is less windy and generally warmer, although winter frosts are more severe, particularly further up the valley, away from the sea.
History
The early settlers that came to Wellington in 1840 first settled by the beach at Petone and then moved up the Hutt Valley, looking for suitable land for farming. Much of the flat land in the lower valley has now been urbanised, though the steep and relatively undeveloped valley hillsides, which are much more suited to forestry, as well as the many trees in private residential gardens, gives the city a rural feel.