Day 47 Auckland 4th April 2011

We were both awake early this morning with a need to visit the communal facilities.  Fortunately they were pretty close to our unit, but very inconvenient nevertheless.  Upon returning, it was time for an early cuppa before showering etc.  We sat in bed drinking the tea and thinking that this was our last day on a campsite in New Zealand as we are moving into Rydges Hotel in Auckland today to complete our sightseeing tour of North Island.  We had sorted our bags out last night, so after breakfast all we had to do was load the car and we could be off.  We waited for the rush hour traffic to die down before setting out around 09.45 and having dropped the key into reception, we were soon on our way.  The route into Auckland was very straight forward, taking us over the harbour bridge and into the city centre.  We were exceptionally lucky in that the hotel and the Avis depot were just one block apart, so our plan was to drop the bags at the hotel, even if we could not check in yet, then return the car, spend the day sightseeing and then return to the hotel to check in.  Again the gods must have been with us as we found the hotel straight away and when I went in to see if we could leave our bags, the delightful lady on reception said that the room was already, so we could check in and leave the bags in the room.  We did just that, then got into the car drove about 150 metres and pulled up into the Avis depot.  Within a couple of minutes, we has disposed of the car and were free to sightsee.

I guess the main attraction in Auckland for most people, including ourselves, is the Sky Tower. It’s similar to the BT tower in London, but it’s 328 metres high (1076 feet) and most of the way up there are windows in the lift shaft. 
With glass fronts to the lifts it means that it’s like riding up the outside of the tower!!  Quite a few OMG’s on the way up from some of the lift passengers.  The alternative is to take the 1029 stairs to get to the main observation level at a mere 186 metres (610 feet).  Just to spice things up a little one of the two lifts also has a glass panel in the floor, so you can see all the way to the bottom of the lift shaft.

We thought that we had left the undie staining activities back in the South Island, but oh no, they have a couple of real humdingesr here in Auckland.  At the Observatory Restaurant level at 636 feet, there is an outside mesh platform that goes all the way round the outside and for about £75 you can be harnessed up, attached to a rope, which is attached to a ring over the external platform and you can walk all the way round the outside of the tower!  As we were going up in the lift, there was an Indian family all togged up and were going to do the walk round.  Very brave people that’s all I can say. 

 The other experience you can have at the tower is to jump off of it.  Not like a bungy jump, but to freefall attached to a cable, which arrests your fall just before the ground.  The mean twist is that just after you have jumped off, they stop the fall and you are suspended in the air, dangling on a cable attached to your harness 610 feet from the ground!

 The people in the observation platform can wave to you as you remain suspended for about 30 seconds or more.  They then release the cable and you freefall the remaining distance to just before the ground.  No thanks!

Whilst we were at the observation platform a young lady dropped in and was waving furiously whilst she dangled 600 feet above the ground, then she was gone; straight down to street level in 11 seconds!!

It’s really quite wrong to criticise the people who were walking round the outside, as they were exceptionally brave to have even considered doing it, but the guide who was taking them round clearly had to encourage some of the party of four to continue and there was no way that they would hang backwards over the edge to have their photo taken.  Personally, I think that the tower management should either have issued sowesters / waterproof clothing for those people walking underneath or bicycle clips to the Kumas overhead.

 I’m not sure why I’m making fun of this as I will be walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Friday.  Must remember to pop into a bicycle shop before leaving here.

The view from the Sky Tower was fantastic as the sun was shining most of the time and therefore you could see for miles.  Another little addition to the observation platform was the glass section in the internal walkway.  You can either just stand on it or walk across both of the panels. 

 

 From the tower we walked down to the harbour front and the ferry terminal to eat our lunch whilst we watched the various ferries come and go.  The clouds were beginning to thicken and look ominously black in places, so we disappeared into the Maritime Museum on the harbour front.  The museum charted New Zealand’s history as a maritime nation from the first Polynesians through to modern day New Zealand yachtsmen and their winning of the Americas Cup.  It was reasonably interesting, but by no means the best museum that we have been in. Having said that, it occupied a good couple of hours of our time and generated a good deal of walking exercise.  By the time we came out, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, so the walk back to find a coffee shop for afternoon tea was a pleasant one.  Just as we walked past the Sky Tower there was an almighty scream and it had come from some poor soul dangling above us.  Then there was an even longer one as a body just fell to the ground and came to a halt just a few feet above the ‘landing platform’ at the base of the tower.  Poor chap – and he paid money to do it!!!
Look closely at this picture, just below the bottom window.

Back at the hotel it was time to put our feet up before venturing out to dinner and planning tomorrows sightseeing adventures.