This one is going to be short and sweet. I am going to highlight the best view of Auckland. It cannot be beaten.
I am, of course, talking about Maungawhau. Or, as it is more commonly known, Mount Eden. You might think I would have included the view from the top of the Sky Tower, but nope. That view is not for the faint of heart. This view is for all.
It is an easily accessible park. You can get there by bus, train (with a little walk), or car. Since we had a car, we, duh, went by car. This was our last real stop before we went to the airport. It allowed us to reflect on our time and take in the beauty of Auckland and, as a whole, New Zealand.
Leading up to this trip, I was taking virtual walks on treadmills. One of the walks goes through downtown Auckland and, eventually, up to Mount Eden. Needless to say, I was ready. I came to find out, pleasantly, I might add, that the paths have been updated at Mount Eden to help preserve the grounds and make it more accessible for all.
You can see the updated walkways sitting just above the greenery.
The view from the top is spectacular. As you can see, the Auckland skyline dominates the vista. Having jumped off the Sky Tower hours earlier, to see it with the rest of the city was stunning.
Eden Park is in the middle.
Opposite the city is the “quieter” side of the Mount. I use quotations because, given the day or night, Eden Park can be quite raucous. Either way, it is another gorgeous view of a different part of Auckland.
The duality of the beautiful cityscape and the surrounding environs.
This was the perfect way to end our journey through New Zealand.
It was back in 2007 when I last jumped off a perfectly sound building. Flash forward a dozen or so years and here I am back on top of the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand.
It was a rather misty day in Auckland. I was super pumped to jump again but the low clouds had me nervous.
Once again, I made my way up to the tippy top of the Tower via elevator and looked out over downtown Auckland.
There were five of us jumping that morning and when asked who wanted to jump first, I hesitated. In that moment of hesitation one of the other people in my group shot their hand up and volunteered. That started a domino effect of every one else going ahead of me.
The waiting was the worst part.
I watched as everyone else jumped until it was just me on the platform.
As I was getting clipped in the guys manning the equipment asked me a few questions and told me to wave at the camera above me. They were excited to hear that I came back to do this jump again.
I told them how that first jump went and they said “oh yeah, we don’t do it that way anymore.” I explained how, on my first jump, they stopped me ten feet after jumping and had me look up for a photo. Not this time. They strapped a GoPro to my hand and walked me out to the ledge.
Back to the weather. It was misting. I was nervous that I was going to slip and fall and flail all the way down to downtown. They counted me down and I didn’t jump when they reached zero. A second or two later I pushed off and plummeted to the ground.
It was exhilarating.
The wind in my hair. Tiny raindrops splattering on me. And the ground – getting closer.
I made a point to look around at the surrounding buildings – as well as scream for joy – because it’s such a unique view and experienced. To jump off of a building in a busy downtown is not something one sees every day. The Kiwi’s are crazy like that. And I mean that in the best way possible.
After landing safely and finding my partner waiting for me, I was ready to do it again. I was so amped up! Alas, we had a flight to catch so this was the one and only time I could jump.
I was unclipped from my harness and free to walk about the Earth and the city once more. I will say this to anyone out there who is hesitant about doing a jump like this: don’t hesitate. Just jump. It’s an amazing experience that you won’t regret.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my partner and I went to New Zealand because of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Being from the United States, that meant that we were going with the intention to support our four-time World Cup champion USA.
We felt confident enough that we could skip the group stage and see some knockout round matches featuring our home nation. Never in the history of the competition had the USA failed to reach a semifinal at a World Cup.
Until 2023.
The IKEA-loving Swedes knocked them out of the tournament but it did not knock us out of our trip. Our plans remained the same: go, see the country, and watch some world-class soccer.
Eden Park, Auckland
Now, with the USA knocked out and sent home I needed to choose a different country to support. Luckily for me, I have a system: Every country I visit I buy a sport jersey. Rugby or soccer or whatever. But, it’s mostly a growing collection of soccer jerseys. When we left for Auckland I had a few jerseys to choose from: Japan, Spain, and Australia. Now, logistically I would not be able to wear the Australia jersey because they were playing across the Tasman Sea in, you guessed it, Australia. Still, I brought it anyway because I had to wear something on other days!
That left me with Japan and Spain.
It worked out beautifully that I could wear my Japan jersey to the Quarterfinal and then, should Spain advance, I would wear my Spain jersey (more on that game in a future post).
Pre-game walkout and anthems
Attending an event at Eden Park is relatively simple thanks to Auckland Transport. The train takes you within steps of the ground courtesy of the Kingsland station stop. During the tournament, the fees associated with using the train were waived for all fans attending a match. We simply had to show our ticket for the match to a Transport worker and that was the same as a valid fare purchased. Lovely!
I love trains. I love public transport. While this train moved slowly at times I was very appreciative of it. Coming from a car-dominated country, I always appreciate a train when I can.
Eden Park is a gorgeous stadium. It’s primarily a rugby stadium for the super successful All Blacks (you can even see that in the black-grey color scheme they chose for the seats). I was told that it was updated for this tournament and walking around it, I can say that there was not a bad view of the pitch from any level. The only thing that bothered me was the urinal trough. I need a barrier between the dude next to me! Other than that, great stadium!
An early corner for Japan
It was a truly great atmosphere in the stadium that night. There were pockets of blue & yellow Viking-clad fans speckled throughout the park but, for the most part, the audience was pro-Japan. I could spot a fair few of my fellow USA fans throughout the stadium. They, like us, thought that it would be the USA taking on the Japanese that night. Still, I was happy to be there.
One thing I’ll note about the grounds is that the food was standard gameday food. In that it was mostly fried. We tried a pork bao bun type sandwich thing but it was more like a Sloppy Joe and nothing to write home about…except I’m…now writing…about it…smdh.
Japan denied from The Spot
Now, you’ll look below and see a bird-looking thing. That’s Tazuni, the official mascot of the tournament. Nearly everything has a mascot these days and I love it. I love mascots. I have a soft spot for them because I was one back in my college days.
For my junior and senior years at Santa Clara University I was Bucky the Bronco. It’s not easy to don some fur and a giant head and prance around an arena. Tazuni gets my admiration and respect for bringing joy to a lot of people on that and every night.
Tazuni, the official mascot for the tournament
After the final whistle blew the Japanese players dropped to the pitch in despair and the Swedish players jumped in jubilation. The world of sports is cruel at times. It can give you everything and take it away just as easily. I felt for the Japanese players. They left it all out on the field that night. They had looked to be the best team in the tournament leading up to this match. But all it takes is one off night.
As we left and made our way through the neighborhood surrounding the stadium we could hear the faint echoes of music coming from ahead of us. We turned a corner to make way to the train and there was a house with an amp on their front steps blasting ABBA. Now, you might expect “Dancing Queen” or “Take A Chance On Me” to be played at this time but no.
“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” was playing for some strange reason and you know what? We loved it! It was weird and gave us something to smile and laugh about on our journey back to downtown Auckland.
As we made our way back to our hotel I took a fleeting moment to recognize the Sky Tower. I noticed that it was lit up in Swedish blue & yellow. A fun and simple tip of the cap to the victors that evening.
I love doing adventurous things. Hell, it’s in my tagline right up there beneath the title of my site! I might be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Who can say?
If there’s a building, bridge, platform etc. that I can jump off, I’m going to do it. You can clearly see my header image is of me jumping off a structure. That’s Bloukrans Bungy in South Africa. I wrote about it here.
As far as my partner goes for these sorts of things…not so much.
She’s grounded. Grounded in the sense that she likes her two feet on the ground whenever possible. She does a great job at being ground support. We love her folks, don’t we? Yes.
Back in 2007, when I first went to New Zealand, I jumped off of the Sky Tower and Auckland Harbour Bridge. I knew way back then that New Zealand was an extreme sport capital. Sixteen years later, I still know it. This time I went to a new bungy location: Lake Taupo.
Lake Taupo view from Hilton Lake Taupo
To start it off, Lake Taupo is gorgeous. The town is lovely and the views are spectacular. In the summer, it’s a truly happening spot. In the winter, it’s still happening but not as much. BUT! They have bungy (among other things) and that is year round.
Let’s start with the walk out. The fine folks at AJ Hackett have the utmost respect for you and your safety. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t still be letting people jump off of buildings and structures after all of these years now would they?
They strapped me in. Made sure I was as snug as a bug in a rug in my harness and let me walk out to the bridge. Ok, it was more of a waddle since the harness is a bit snug in some of the more sensitive areas of the body. Let me tell you all this right now, Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part.
Feeling good, anxious, but good
I stood looking out over the river/gorge/water & land below waiting for what felt like an eternity. I saw two people jump ahead of me and then anticipation was killing me. I waved at my partner who would have her two feet firmly on the ground for the entirety of my jump as I continued to wait.
Then it became my turn.
I sat down and they hooked me in to the bungy apparatus. This is their job so the guys there were as cool as could be. If you’re still super nervous at this point just talk to them. Talking makes it easier. The tension will release and you’ll forget all about your nerves. As someone who has done a bungy or two here and there I was still nervous. It had been 10 years since my last jump. Talking to the workers strapping me in calmed me down and, for lack of a better term, grounded me.
Bye mom!
After that was all taken care of I shuffled my way to the very edge of the platform. The tips of my shoes were on the edge. Pro tip here: don’t look down now if you’re still nervous. Pick a spot on the horizon and look at it. I looked up, waved at a camera, and then turned my attention to the empty space beneath me. Maybe I should have followed my tip above because for a fleeting moment I felt the nerves again.
The guys behind me counted down from three. After they said the word “BUNGY!” I jumped. Gravity took care of the rest.
Only one way to go now
With the wind whipping my face and the blood rushing to my head I felt truly alive. The water came at me fast but I kept my form and my wits about me. Unlike the Auckland Harbour jump I did before, I did not get wet. I stayed dry. Except for my eyes. They were watering because the rush of blood to my head was so intense! I forgot all about that part of it. I bobbed for a bit and realized that I just jumped again. Woohoo!
The lads below me in a dingy floated over and reeled me in. After they unhooked me from the bungy and had me take off the harness that was it. I walked back on solid ground up to my partner who had both looks of fear and excitement in her eyes. I was still buzzing from the jump and wanted to get my photos and video. I did just that and then went about my day as if I hadn’t just done something extreme. Just a normal day for me in New Zealand.
Thanks for visiting. Make it a great week and I will see you later!
If there’s one thing you need to know about me, if you don’t already, it’s that I like to get high.
Literally, high.
Wherever and whenever possible I seek out the highest point(s) in a city and make it my mission to get to the top. Most of the time I’m successful, except for that one time I tried to go up the SkyTree in Tokyo only to be told that it was too windy but I still made my way to another observation deck elsewhere in the city. Every time though, it’s worth the trip.
Auckland was do different.
The central tower in the city skyline is the Sky Tower. It’s the tallest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere standing at 1,076ft (328m) tall. The tower itself is a part of the SKYCITY Casino down closer to the ground. But for those looking for less of a gamble and more adrenaline, look up.
The SkyJump, at 192m, is a thrilling base jump experience unlike anything else. Similar to my Bloukrans bungy experience, I can say that the ride up was probably the worst part. I was put into an elevator and as I looked around I saw a square cut out of the floor and that square was filled with glass or plastic so that as the elevator climbed I could see the ground floor. The once bright white light that shone through became a dim afterthought once I was at the top.
When it was finally my turn to step onto the platform and jump I made the mistake of looking down. Big mistake, huge. I gripped the side railing like it was my lifeline as I inched out to the ledge. As I was being strapped and buckled in I looked down and saw a giant mat with a target printed on it at the bottom. That wasn’t much better…
To take the edge off I began to chat with the instructor. I asked her about local landmarks, the Auckland Harbour and what I should do/see next. She pointed out a few things to me and then she said that it was time to jump.
She then explained to me that as soon as I jumped I would be stopped and I would need to look up and give a thumbs up, because they were going to take another photo of me dangling above the city…charming…but exhilarating.
Then came the descent.
Falling at speeds upwards of 85kph (52mph), the buildings grew around me and the once distant sounds of the city enveloped me once again as I landed on the mat. The instructor at the bottom unhooked me and said “We have some time before our next group arrives, would you like to go again for free?”
John Kidde Writes 