The Sky Tower is the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest free standing building. It was built in 1997 as part of the Sky City casino complex under the ownership of Harrah’s entertainment. The complex includes two world class hotels, Auckland’s premier dining precinct with over 20 bars and restaurants and a 700 seat theater.
The Sky Tower’s main function was to serve as a radio and telecommunications facility and it currently hosts the world’s largest single FM radio transmitter, local television broadcasts, wireless internet, mobile network and weather measuring.
The Sky Tower is 328 meters (1076 ft.) tall and is one of the tallest towers in the world. There is a graphic in the observation deck that provides a comparison of the Sky Tower to other towers of the world. A photo of this graphic is shown below.
The observation deck provides a 360 degree view of the city and the surrounding area and is located 220 meters (722 ft.) above the street level.
The Tower is home to three restaurants including a 360 degree revolving restaurant. The observation deck provides spectacular views of Wairemata Harbour, the city of Devonport and all of Auckland’s landmarks.
Several places around the observation deck have sections with glass floors which provides for a bird’s eye view of the Auckland streets and buildings.
New Zealand is famous for adventure activities and for inventing the bungee jump so it is only fitting that there is access for adventurers to take the Sky Jump off the Sky Tower and fall 192 meters (630 ft.) and land in the bullseye on the street.
At night the Sky Tower lights up and becomes the defining building of the Auckland Skyline. Most nights the tower is lit up with a white light which is the color that it was during my visit but on special occasions the tower is lit with different colors that is appropriate for the celebration.
The tower is lit with the following colors on these occasions:
• Green base and yellow top – Daffodil Day
• Orange at the base fading to yellow at the top – Celebrating Matariki
• Rainbow – Pride Festival and other major events for New Zealand’s Rainbow community
• Pink – Mother’s Day, New Zealand Breast Cancer Awareness Week, or Pink October
• Blue – Blue September
• Red top with Poppy emblem projection – ANZAC Day
• Red and green – Christmas
• Red and gold – Chinese New Year
• Green – St Patrick’s Day
• Red top – Cure Kids Red Nose Day
• Lights off – Earth Hour
As is my custom, I like to photograph skylines, bridges, major buildings and towers during the transition between daylight and night time. The photos below are of the Sky Tower from dusk to dark.
My final photo is a night shot with the city light reflecting off the waters of Viaduct Harbour.
The Dust on My Shoes
When I visit a new city, one of the first things that I like to do is to get an aerial view of the city because it lets me get a different perspective of the city than I can see from the ground level. Going to the observation deck of the Sky Tower is a great place to start when visiting Auckland.
The view from the Sky Tower is amazing. There really is no other way to see the beauty of the city and the harbor than from the observation deck of the Sky Tower. It is on my list of “must see” activities when visiting Auckland.
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