It was really exciting looking out over the places where we grew up, where our children were born and went to school.  The memories came flooding back.

The Auckland Town Hall

The Auckland Town Hall was opened in 1911. In 1997 it had a $33 million restoration that kept the elegance of its original Edwardian Baroque design.  The Town Hall Concert Chamber  has the finest acoustics in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Marina at the base of the Auckland Harbour Bridge

Looking out towards Mission Bay and Orakei

Looking Down the Harbour

The Auckland Harbour Bridge

The opening of the Auckland harbour bridge in 1959 opened the North Shore area for residential expansion.

Prior to the bridge being constructed the only methods of reaching the North Shore was either by vehicular or passenger ferry or by road through West Auckland, River Head and Albany, a distance of over 40 klms.

When it was first constructed the bridge only had 4 lanes which catered to 2 lanes of traffic in each direction. During times of congestion the number of lanes open in a given direction could be changed. 

It didn’t take long before the bridge reached it’s capacity and in 1969 two large box sections were added by the Japanese firm Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. These add-ons were referred to as the Nippon Clip-ons. The clip-ons only have a life span of 50 years and will need to be replaced in 2016.

When the bridge was originally built there was a toll of 25c (2 shillings & 6 pence) which was later reduced to 20 cents (2 shillings). This toll was removed on 30 March 1984 in line with the polictical committment of the time that the toll would only apply until the cost of constructing the bridge was recovered.

Rangitoto Island

Rangitoto Island is the largest and youngest of the approx 50 volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic circle. It erupted from the sea approx 600 years ago and is now extinct.  Rangitoto is 260 metres high.

The islands distinctive shape is a landmark that can be seen from most parts of Auckland and it has probably the largest Pohutakawa tree forest in New Zealand.

Rangitoto is Maori for ‘Bloody Sky’ and the island derived its name from the phrase “Nga Rangi-i-totongia-a-Tama-te-kapua” – the day the blood of Tamatekapua was shed. Tama-te-kapua was the captain of the Arawa waka canoe which arrived in New Zealand in about 1350. He  was badly wounded when he engaged in (and lost) a major battle with the Tainui  iwi at Islington Bay.

 Looking down to the streets below. 

The next scene is taken through one of the 38 ml glass panels that are strategically placed around the tower floor.

This is suppose to be reasurring but looking down through the glass plays with your mind.

Val was loathe to stand on the glass and I guess I was also a bit apprehensive. Your mind thinks straight away “Ohmigod, what if this breaks”.  But of course it won’t and once you get over the initial scary bit, it is quite exciting to look down past your feet to the streets below.

 Here are Val’s shoes as he looks down  through the glass panel

And being even braver, stepping further onto the glass

Here I am on the glass and I think the look on my face says it all. Hmm not too sure about this.

Up early and down for breakfast.  At $33.00 I did not feel that the breakfast on offer was value for money so my advice is to go out and eat at one of the nearby cafes for breakfast.

Then it was off to the Sky Tower for an impressive 360 degree view of Auckland city.

At 328 metres, the Sky Tower is taller than the Eiffel Tower (324 metres) and the Sydney Tower at 304 metres, so it is pretty impressive, we have however been up the Pearl in Shanghai and it measures an impressive 468 metres making it the 3rd highest tower in the world.

Some facts about the Sky Tower:

• It is constructed from 15,000 cubic metres of high strength concrete. The main structure is a shaft measuring 12 metres in diameter made of reinforced concrete. 
• There are 2,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel in the structure.
• The glass floor lifts travel at 18kph meaning that the ride only takes 40 seconds to the main observation level.
• A person walking at a normal pace would take about 24 minutes to climb the 1,029 steps to the main observation level. During the 2002 Sky Tower Vertical Challenge the fastest recorded time was 5 mins 7 seconds.
• The Tower has been built to withstand winds of up to 200kph and the tower will only sway up to a metre (at the restaurant height of194m) during winds of this strength.
• There is a 360 degree view of Auckland and on a clear day you can take in views over 82kms  (51 miles) away.

There is a Sky jump available from 192 metres. The great thing about the jump is that there is no bouncing around and hanging upside down as with bungy jumping.  You fall fast and smooth at approx 85kph for about 14 seconds.  At $195 each I felt that there were other things we could do and then when I decided we should do the jump, it rained. So  this is a must do for the next visit.

The Sky Tower at night from our hotel room.

The observation levels of the Sky Tower

It was a bit tricky manouvering around the streets to find the entrance to the hotel. Although it fronts onto Queen St (the main street), the place to park is in a side street that is not really easy to reach because of the one way streets etc.  However, eventually we found the right turnoffs after going around the block a few times.

The reception area is welcoming and the staff are extremely helpful and friendly. It was a pleasure to just hop out of the car and leave it in the capable hands of the valet.

The apartment was comfortable and it was great having cooking and washing facilities. Usually we have to wash our clothes in the bath, and as we only had a shower this would have been a little inconvenient.

The bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked well. Unlike some places we have stayed at in the past.

The City Life Auckland is a in a great location as it is handy to everything including transport and attractions.  Just a couple of blocks away in Wellesly St you can catch a free bus that takes you around the inner city loop and you can hop on or off at any of the stops, there is also another bus that you can buy a pass for and that goes to the outer city attractions, this is also a hop on hop off bus.

Down the other end of town are the ferries and hydrofoils that go out to the islands in the Hauraki Gulf such as Rangitoto and Waiheke Island – where I lived from the age of 10 to 16 years of age.  An idylic life for a young girl, growing up on an island with great sandy beaches and fantastic surf.

The only drawback was that I suffered from sea sickness so trips to Auckland 11 miles away were not pleasant. And in those days the trip took an hour and a half in and old steam driven ferry not like the quick trip it is today in a sleek hydrofoil.

So for ease of access to all these facilities and attractions such as the Sky Tower, the City Life Auckland is an ideal place to stay.