P212 - New Zealand - Auckland's Skyline

Auckland's Skyline, New Zealand

The Auckland metropolitan area, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with over 1.4 million residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country. Increasingly cosmopolitan, Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, and has seen many people of Asian ethnicity move there in the last two decades.

The metropolitan area is made up of Auckland City (excluding the Hauraki Gulf islands), North Shore City, the urban parts of Waitakere and Manukau cities, and Papakura District and some urban parts of Rodney and Franklin Districts. In Māori its name is Tāmaki-makau-rau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.

Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.

The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand. It is 328 metres (1,076 ft) tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast,making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and the 12th tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers. Due to its shape and height, especially when compared to the next tallest buildings, it has become an iconic Auckland structure, often used in logos and promotions.

The landmark is part of the SKYCITY Auckland casino complex, owned and operated by SKYCITY Entertainment Group. However, the complex was originally built for Harrah's Entertainment.

The upper portion of the tower contains two restaurant levels (one, 'Orbit' with revolving seating, turning 360 degrees once every hour ) and one cafe level, as well as two observation decks (including some with sections of glass floor). The tower attracts, on average, 1,450 visitors per day (over 500,000 per year)

The tower also features the SkyJump, a 192-metre 'fan descender' jump (an experience between a bungy jump and a base jump) from the observation deck, during which a jumper can reach up to 85 km/h (53 mph). The jump is guide-cable-controlled to prevent jumpers from colliding with the tower in case of gusts.Climbs into the antenna mast portion (300 m/980 ft heights) are also possible for tour groups.

As well as for entertainment, the tower is used for telecommunications and broadcasting with the Auckland Peering Exchange (APE) being located on Level 48. Several radio broadcasting companies co-locate transmitters and share antenna systems, while television company Canwest (who ran the TV3 and C4 channels) has secondary transmitters on the tower, their primary one being at Waiatarua.

奧克蘭（英語：Auckland；毛利語：Tāmaki Makau Rau 或Ākarana；老華僑譯作屋崙）位於南太平洋南緯37 度。是紐西蘭在北島最大的城市，人口約120萬，被稱為「帆之都」，同時也是紐西蘭工業和商業中心。

奧克蘭原是紐西蘭的首都，1865年就讓給北島南端的惠靈頓（據傳是因為南島的權貴長期抱怨到奧克蘭開會實在路途遙遠）。但無損其第一大城市的地位，不僅是紐西蘭經濟貿易的中心，同時也是南太平洋的樞紐，旅客出入境紐西蘭的門戶。在2006年的世界最佳居住城市評選中奧克蘭高據全球第五位。

天空塔是一座觀光及通信塔，位於奧克蘭市奧克蘭中央商業區維多尼亞街及聯邦街的交界。從地面到塔狀天線桿頂部計算，塔高328公尺（1,076英尺），是南半球最高的獨立建築物、世界高塔聯盟（World Federation of Great Towers）最高的成員。相較其他高樓大廈，天空塔獨特的外型和高度，使它成為奧克蘭的標誌性建築，常用於標誌和宣傳。

該地標是奧克蘭天空城（SKYCITY Auckland）賭場綜合設施的一部分，由天空城娛樂集團（SKYCITY Entertainment Group）擁有及營運。然而，綜合設施原為哈拉斯娛樂（Harrah's Entertainment）而建。

天空塔上部有兩層餐廳。一層是「Orbit」，設有旋轉座椅，每小時旋轉360度。另一層是咖啡廳層，並有兩個觀景台（包括部分玻璃地板）。每日平均吸引1,450名遊客（每年逾50萬人）。

該塔亦特設高飛跳（SkyJump），由觀景台起跳的192米「樂趣下降者」（fan descender）彈跳（介乎於高空彈跳〔又稱笨豬跳〕和低空彈跳之間的體驗），達到每小時85公里（每小時53米）。摩天彈跳是受引導電纜控制的，防止彈跳者在陣風時撞向塔身。天線桿部分（300公尺（984英尺）高）內的攀登活動亦適合旅行團。

除了娛樂外，該塔用於通信及廣播。奧克蘭對等互聯（Auckland Peering Exchange，APE）位於48樓。數家電台廣播公司設立了發射台，共享天線系統。電視公司Canwest（經營TV3及C4頻道）在塔上設有二次發射台，其主發射台位於Waiatarua。

References sources : wikipedia