Area to take refuge in welcome when after time away from Wellington? (6)

'area to take refuge in welcome' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'when after time away from wellington?' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'hai' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'away from' suggests deleting specific letters.
'wellington?' becomes 'boot' (Wellington boots are a type of shoe).
'boot' with 't' taken away is 'boo'.
'hai' after 'boo' is 'BOOHAI'.

Can you help me to learn more?