High in the Sky

So last night a bunch of us decided to head to the Sky Tower in Auckland here for some dinner. As the defining icon in Auckland's skyline it stands at 328m (1,076ft). It's known as the highest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

We rode up to the observation level on possibly the fastest elevator ('lift' is what they call them here) I've ever ridden. I had to pop my ears at least 5 times on the journey up.

We looked out over Auckland and the harbor as the sun was setting, then made our way up another level to "Orbit" for our 5:30 reservations. We quickly realized why it was called "Orbit" beside it being a snazzy, hip name for a restaurant. The restaurant in fact did orbit around the center of the tower, meaning it MOVED...very slowly. So luckily we got a constantly changing views of the night city scape as we ate.

The restaurant was also pretty classy. Way to classy for a bunch of cheap and poor college kids. The minimum amount to spend for dinner was $30. Way more than I ever would. But there was justification. To go up the Sky Tower just to look out is $18. So I might as well pay the extra $12 for a really nice dinner, as I was planning to go up the tower at some point before I left NZ.
So once we spent our minimum (which pretty much included the main dish and a beverage) and ate dinner we descended back to earth. Certainly an experience to dine so high up, but with a price tag of $30, it'll be awhile before I do that again.