Advertisement
Published: September 13th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Sky Tower
It is the tallest free standing structure in the southern hemisphere since 1997. Only in Auckland, New Zealand. Monday, September 10th, 2007 - Auckland, New Zealand Qantas has lived up to my expectations, it provided excellent services and helps that we all needed during our 13 hrs flight.
It was an interesting thought to think that we simply never existed on Sunday, September 9, 2007, as we crossed the International Date Line. Our flight left Los Angeles on Saturday, September 8th and arrived on Monday, September 10th.
Haere mai. Welcome to New Zealand
- New Zealand passenger arrival card
We safely arrived in Auckland around 4:55 in the morning, and had to drag our groggily bodies through New Zealand immigration. I passed through the immigration with no problem, but Ryan got delayed due to his inability of showing the on-going flight ticket. For the first time ever, we broke our travel routine: I had to wait for him in an immigration portal, not the other way around.
Auckland is considered a big city for Kiwis, with 1.4 million residents living in the city limit (the whole country's population is 4.4 million). In contrary, judging from strolling around the city, it still maintains a small town charm of intimate sidewalks, friendly (but busy) people, and hilly streets.
My body
Pride of Auckland
Sailing across the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland. had to adjust more than just its biological clock, I had gone through 100sF degree Atlanta summer into a breezy 60sF Auckland winter morning. I honestly couldn't complain on the matter.
Auckland hosted the American Cup in 2000, and many of its modern buildings and renovations occured in conjuction with the event. Its dedicated 'New Zealand National Maritime Museum' has many memorabilia and impressive collections of Kiwis pridest activities.
Our sailing experience with the Pride of Auckland brought us to view the city from a different perspective. 'City of Sails' is Auckland's famous nickname due to its heavy involvement in sailing industries, and it was a staggering sight to see some 250,000 sailing boats in a designated area in Waitemata Harbour. From what I've heard from our sailing captain, the city has the biggest sailing boat concentration in the southern hemisphere. There were two Japanese tourism personnels who were documenting our journey for their travel program back in Japan, so don't be surprise if you see us in a Japanese TV Program, I suppose.
We managed to check out the 'Minus 5' Ice Bar, the 'coolest' bar in town, literally. We were given parkas to stroll around
Spring time in Auckland
Since New Zealand is located in the southern hemisphere, it is an early spring time here! in 25F temperature, and the admission price includes a glass of signature cocktails from the bar. As we were chewing our ice glass, we were talking to people from all around the world that flock into New Zealand just like us.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 - Auckland, New Zealand It is a morbid reminder that on the sixth anniversary of 9-11, we were on top of the tallest free standing structure in the southern hemisphere, the Sky Tower. And even worse, I signed up to be base-jumping it, if you will, with the Sky Jump! It is officially the highest tower base jump in the world. Before my noon slot for jumping (Ryan decided that he wasn't going to do it anyway), we accessed the Observation Deck of the tower, which contains sections of glass floor. It was a discouraging moment for me, especially since I already signed up for the event and there is no way for me to turn back. So here I was trembling, looking down at the target down some 200m below, a reminiscent of my bungee jumping experience several years ago in Bali, Indonesia.
The worst part of the whole experience
was the anticipation, as we saw several jumpers falling off the base of the tower. Even the Sydney famous local weatherman, Grant Daniels, was jumping before I did! It was an adrenaline pumping as I feel myself plummet to the ground.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the seaside suburb of Devonport, a short ferry hop from Auckland City. It was a quaint village with Victorian houses, and in the middle of it all was Mount Victoria, which provides a 360 degrees view to Auckland City, several volcanoes in the distance, and the Barrier Islands.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.137s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0494s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Heidi
non-member comment
Hi Halef!
Looks like fun. Glad you still have those traveling shoes on! I enjoy periodically receiving your blog. Cheers! Heidi