We got high at lunch; 620 feet high to be exact.

It was August 8th, 2023, and Allison's birthday. Our birthday tradition requires that she choose a restaurant where we would enjoy a celebratory feast. She chose very well indeed. Here we are outside the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland.  

We're not far from the restaurant now, but we can't walk to it. It's straight up.  

Not long ago, in my first 'Fish Market' post, I showed you pictures of a group walking the platform of the Sky Tower.  This is a close up of one of those shots. This time, instead of focusing on the walkers, take a look at the floor to ceiling windows that are visible just below them.  That is the restaurant named Orbit that revolves once every hour, and it's there that we celebrated Allie's birthday lunch.  

As we exited the elevator on the 52nd floor, we were greeted with this view of the Harbor Bridge. (You'll note that all these shots are slightly tinted due to the glass in the windows.) 

I noticed that the restaurant turned clockwise. We were soon therefore able to admire the 650 year-old volcanic island of Rangitoto. 

Notice the narrow peninsula extending into the Pacific from the left.  Just about in line with the center of Rangitoto, you can see Mt. Victoria, and the rounded cone at the very end of the peninsula is North Head.  All three of these are/were volcanos.  Can you imagine how this place must have appeared during the eruptions?  

It's a beautiful city, isn't it? The pink path winding it way along the motorways is the bike lane. 

In this direction is Mt. Eden, yet another ancient volcano.

This is a good view of it's very evident crater.  

The people at the tables are revolving along with us. The waiter on the raised platform on the left is not rotating.  

One nice thing about this restaurant is that you don't have to walk far to use the restroom. It seems to come to you if you're patient.  We were able to reserve our table for a two hour period, plenty of time to see all of Auckland. Twice. 

And there is the famous walking platform. No zoom this time.  They're about 15 feet above us. 

Again, I need to refer back to my first 'Fish Market' post.  Some of you may recall that as I made my way toward the bridge that day, walking from the right toward the center of this picture, I was stopped while the bridge was raised.  I was standing at the far right when I took the 'Sky Tower walkers' series of photos.  Now, we're the ones looking down, and once again, the bridge is raised. BTW, I've zoomed in quite a bit for this shot.  

Lunch is over and we're on our way down.  A couple of brave souls decided to stand on the glass portion of the floor as we dropped like a rock toward the basement level where we left the elevator.  Those struts you see below us were actually rocketing toward us.  If you didn't already feel that odd falling sensation in your stomach because of our rapid descent, you certainly would when you looked through the floor.  

We had a wonderful time. A few of us (Jeanne and I) were a bit hesitant at first during our high altitude spin, but we quickly settled in and enjoyed it immensely. 

This picture and the next were taken well over a year ago from the 5th floor of the Vines, here at Waitakere Gardens.  It's nice to know that I can go up there anytime I want to and admire our lunch spot from 7.5 miles away, day or night.  

Allie, you're the best!  (But how are you going to top this next year, huh?)     -djf