A very red moonrise taken from Henderson Heights Auckland. NZ

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A very red moonrise last night 13-02-2025.

Taken from  Spence Road, Henderson Heights, Auckland ,NZ

Shot at 750mm and cropped.

 Sky Tower, Auckland. New Zealand

Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images

The impossible-to-miss Sky Tower looks like a giant hypodermic giving a fix to the heavens. Spectacular lighting renders it space age at night and the colours change for special events. At 328m it is the southern hemisphere's tallest structure. A lift takes you up to the observation decks in 40 stomach-lurching seconds; look down through the glass floor panels if you’re after an extra kick. Consider visiting at sunset and having a drink in the Sky Lounge Cafe & Bar.

The Sky Tower is also home to the SkyWalk and SkyJump.

Auckland Sky Tower is an icon on the skyline

 Sky Tower, Auckland. New Zealand

The tower within the SkyCity Auckland complex

The Sky Tower is a telecommunications and observation tower in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets within the city's CBD, it is 328 metres (1,076 ft) tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the second tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere, surpassed only by the Autograph Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the 28th tallest tower in the world.

Since its completion in 1997, the Sky Tower has become an iconic landmark in Auckland's skyline, due to its height and design. It was the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere from 1996 to 2022.

The tower is part of the SkyCity Auckland casino complex, originally built in 1994–1997 for Harrah's Entertainment.[3] Several upper levels are accessible to the public, attracting an average of 1,150 visitors per day (over 415,000 per year).

Panorama as seen from Sky Deck, Sky Tower, Auckland

Yep, this is my spot!

Bailey-relaxes-at-the-Sky-Cafe-at-the-Auckland-Sky-Tower

Views-out-the-large-windows-of-the-Auckland-Sky-Tower

Once out of the lift, you will enjoy 360º views. Surrounded on three sides by water, Auckland offers a variety of views in each direction.

Signage lets you know what you are viewing in each direction.

Note that the Observation deck is 100% indoors and the glass casts a blue tint.

To get the best photos, you will need to adjust your white balance.

A few hours before the Sugar Club opens for dinner.

A view from Orbit, the rotating restaurant.

 go bungy jumping 

That heart-stopping moment – taking the step that begins an 85km/hour vertical drop from 192 meters off the Auckland Sky Tower.

View-from-the-Sky-Tower-in-Auckland-

Ocean and city views from the Auckland Sky Tower

Bailey-enjoys-the-view-at-the-Sky-Tower-in-Auckland

Bonoculars-at-the-Auckland-Sky-Tower-Auckland

Views-out-the-large-windows-of-the-Auckland-Sky-Tower

Wide-view-out-the-windows-of-the-Auckland-SKy-Tower

New zealand-tour-destinations /auckland /auckland-city / sky tower  /harbour bridge / north shore / waihekeisland

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The Sky Tower is also illuminated in various different colors on special occasions.

For example, it lights up in red and yellow to mark the Lunar New Year, green for St. Patrick’s Day, and pink for Mother’s Day, as well as the whole of October for breast cancer awareness month.

The Auckland Sky Tower is an iconic landmark and the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Located in the heart of Auckland city, the Sky Tower offers breathtaking 360-degree views of the city, the Hauraki Gulf, and beyond.

 The Sky Tower will shine in red, white, and blue, celebrating what has been hailed as one of Aotearoa’s best sporting weekends.

The tower often lights up different colours for particular events and holidays.

The upper sections of the Sky Tower, illuminated at night

Sky Tower on a fine night lit up by  lights, Auckland, New Zealand.

The tower illuminated in Christmas colours. Various other lighting schemes and colours are also used.

Skyline of largest NZ city by night, Sky Tower lit in red and green. Harbour in foreground.

Sky tower, Auckland, New Zealand

Skycity Auckland

Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand

Corner Victoria and Federal Streets

Located at the base of the Sky Tower

Auckland_SkyCity_Casino

The building and logo of SKYCITY Auckland, Auckland City, New Zealand,

as seen looking south-westward.

Skycity Auckland is an entertainment complex and casino in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, between Victoria and Federal Streets.

Located at the base of the Sky Tower, it was the second casino in New Zealand, and is the only casino in Auckland.

Auckland_SkyCity_Tables_Inside

Inside the gambling hall

The SKYCITY Auckland, Auckland City, New Zealand casino from a walkway above the main gaming hall.

The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson on land gifted by mana whenua hapū Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. It is New Zealand's leading financial hub, and the centre of the country's economy; the GDP of the Auckland Region was NZD$139 billion in the year ending September 2023.

Auckland CBD

Central business district

Skyline of the CBD seen from Devonport in 2010

The Skyline of Auckland as seen from Devonport, located at the North Shore

Urban areas of New Zealand - Wikipedia

Auckland

Tāmaki Makaurau (Māori)

Metropolitan city

Nicknames: 

City of Sails
Queen City

America's Cup race, San Francisco, 2013

Team New Zealand's decisive victory in the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017  and its successful defence of the trophy in Auckland in 2021 finally laid to rest the bitter memory of its dramatic 8–9 loss to Oracle Team USA in 2013.

New Zealand achieves America’s Cup three-peat 

뉴질랜드, 아메리카컵 3회 연속 우승

San Francisco, 2013(34th America's Cup)  Oracle Team USA  9--8  Team New Zealand,

Bermuda, 2017 (35th America's Cup)   Oracle Team USA  1--7  Team New Zealand,

Auckland,  2021(36th America's Cup)  Emirates Team New Zealand  7--3   Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Barcelona, 2024(37th  America's Cup) Emirates Team New Zealand  7--2   INEOS Britannia,

The America's Cup (ewer),

Sport :   Sailing match race

Founded : 1851

The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport.  America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known as the defender) and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup (the challenger). The winner is awarded the America's Cup trophy, informally known as the Auld Mug. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years.

 Competing for the cup is expensive, with modern teams spending more than US$100 million each;[5] the 2013 winner was estimated to have spent US$300 million on the competition.

The most recent 2024 America's Cup was held in October 2024 between the challengers, Royal Yacht Squadron's INEOS Britannia, and the defending champions, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, who won 7-2.

2021 America's Cup: Race 9

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - MARCH 16: Emirates Team New Zealand competes against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team during the America's Cup Race 9 on Auckland Harbour on March 16, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Sailing Energy/Getty Images)

History

The America's Cup is the oldest competition in international sport, and the fourth oldest continuous sporting trophy of any kind.[6][better source needed] The cup itself was manufactured in 1848 and first called the "RYS £100 Cup". It was first raced for on 22 August 1851 around the Isle of Wight off Southampton and Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, in a fleet race between the New York Yacht Club's America and 15 yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron. The race was witnessed by Queen Victoria and the future Edward VII and won by America. This is considered to be the first America's Cup race.

On 8 July 1857, the surviving members of the America syndicate donated the cup to the New York Yacht Club via the Deed of Gift of the America's Cup filed with the New York Supreme Court.

Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Race 8 - October 18, 2024 - photo © Ian Roman / America's Cup

Sailing - 37th America's Cup - New Zealand v Britain - Barcelona, Spain - October 19, 2024 Emirates Team New Zealand celebrate with the Auld Mug trophy on the podium after winning the 37th America's Cup REUTERS/Nacho Doce 

  Emirates Team New Zealand clinched match point in the 37th America’s Cup on Saturday, beating INEOS Britannia 7-2 in the best-of-13 final off   Barcelona’s  beachfront.  October 19, 2024

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — New Zealand’s reign as the master of high-speed yachting remains intact. Britain’s long, long wait goes on.

Emirates Team New Zealand clinched match point in the 37th America’s Cup on Saturday, beating INEOS Britannia 7-2 in the best-of-13 final off Barcelona’s beachfront.

The team led by Grant Dalton won its third consecutive cup, adding to wins in 2017 in Bermuda and 2021 in Auckland.

America's Cup: Team NZ wins Auld Mug for third time in a row

7:39 am on 20 October 2024 

Team New Zealand has proven - once again - that Kiwis can fly.

The New Zealand side has won the America's Cup in Barcelona, becoming the first team in modern history to lift the trophy three times in a row.

"[At the] end of the day, the better team won," Ainslie  said.

The New Zealand boat, Taihoro, was given its name by iwi manaaki Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

It translates to "to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth".

Team New Zealand's most recent two America's Cup wins were in 2021 in Auckland and 2017 in Bermuda.

Prior to that, the Kiwi sailors lifted the Auld Mug in Auckland in 2000 and San Diego in 1995.

urbanandsport_louisvui

LOUIS VUITTON CUP - 37th America's Cup

The Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selections Series) will determine which team will face the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup  ...

The Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup taking place between 22nd August and 27th October 2024 in Barcelona.

Partners since the league’s inception, Rolex expands its commitment to SailGP as the first Title Partner for this elite sail racing competition - now known as the Rolex SailGP Championship.

Rolex SailGP Championship  is an international sailing competition that features high-performance F50 foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix (GP) around the world.  The reigning champion is Diego Botín's Spain SailGP Team, which won the 2023–24 SailGP championship.

Spain lead the SailGP on Auckland's Waitematā Harbour. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP

The opening day of SailGP Auckland was on Saturday, January 18, 2025.

The event was the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix. 

Black Foils reward their fans with victory at SailGP Auckland. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP

Three-time SailGP Champions Australia mastered Auckland’s fast and furious conditions and SailGP’s new T-Foils to claim its first win of the 2025 Season by triumphantly beating Spain and Emirates Great Britain.

The Ocean Race confirm‎s its return to Auckland

By Live Sail Die |December 6th, 2019

Auckland to be the spiritual home of the race

The Ocean Race will come to Auckland, New Zealand, during the 2021-22 edition of the fully-crewed, round the world race.

As The Ocean Race approaches its 50th anniversary, the event will be returning to New Zealand for the 12th time. All but one of those stops have been in Auckland, the City of Sails.

The Ocean Race is scheduled to start from its home port in Alicante, Spain in Q4 of 2021 and finish in Genoa, Italy in June of 2022.

Auckland, New Zealand joins Cape Town, South Africa; Itajaí, Brazil, Aarhus, Denmark and The Hague in The Netherlands as confirmed Host Cities, along with Cabo Verde, which will be the first West African stop in the history of the Race.

Leg 11 from Gothenburg to The Hague. Finish at The Hague. 24 June, 2018.

Arrivals in Guangzhou. 01 February, 2018.

Leg 7, Auckland to Itajai, start day. 17 March, 2018.

Auckland Stopover.The New Zealand Herald In-Port Race. Race Village. 10 March, 2018

Leg 6 to Auckland, arrivals. 27 February, 2018

Since 1973, The Ocean Race has provided the ultimate test of a team and a human adventure like no other. Over four decades it has kept an almost mythical hold over some of the greatest sailors and been the proving ground for the legends of our sport.

The last edition of the race was the closest in history, with three teams virtually tied, approaching the finish line. After 126 days of racing spread across 11 legs, the winning margin for Charles Caudrelier’s Dongfeng Race Team was only 16 minutes. The top three teams were separated by just four points.

The next edition of The Ocean Race will start from Alicante, Spain in the autumn of 2021 and will finish in Genoa, Italy in summer of 2022.

Auckland CBD and Sky Tower

A few snaps around the North Island, NZ. Locations include Waiheke, Auckland city, Devonport, Whangamata, Mt Eden

Auckland cityscape viewed from Maungawhau / Mount Eden.

The nearer body of water is the Waitematā Harbour and the further one is the Hauraki Gulf.

Me on a bench at the top of Mt Eden

Mt.Eden crater Auckland

Mt-Eden-Volcano-Walk-Auckland-New-Zealand

Arial-view-from-the-crater-of-Mt-Eden

Mt-Eden-Volcano-Walk

Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland.

It is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave back and forth as it descends into the valley; it runs south from Eden Terrace to Three Kings.

© superjoseph/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Mt Eden village centre is located roughly between Valley Road and Grange Road. The domain is accessible on foot from many of the surrounding streets, and by vehicle from Mt Eden Road. The central focus of the suburb is Maungawhau / Mount Eden, a dormant volcano whose summit is the highest natural point on the Auckland isthmus.

Mount Eden village seen from Maungawhau / Mount Eden

The old Mt Eden prison exterior.

Part of Mt Eden prison, Auckland, New Zealand.

Mount Eden Prisons consists of two separate facilities in the Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Mount Eden — the Mount Eden Prison and the Mount Eden Corrections Facility.

Mount_Eden_Prison_Frontage

Exterior view of the old prison.

Northern frontage (railroad side) of the older section of Mount Eden Prisons, Auckland City, New Zealand.

 Mount Eden Prisons

Mount Eden Prison was built in a castle style between 1882 and 1917. It is constructed out of the local basalt rock, one of the very few buildings built in this uncompromising material. Built with prison labour it was designed by P.F.M. Burrows and is similar in appearance to Dartmoor Prison in England.

The outside (and possibly the inside) of Mt Eden Prison in Auckland is used in the final stages of the film. This historic prison that is still operational. 

Where Jack Celliers is imprisoned needs to be verified.

Again it might be Mt Eden but perhaps it even could be on Rarotonga or somewhere else on the NZ mainland...

Bowie Downunder: MCML - Filming in Auckland 

filming-mcml-oshima-jeremythomas-akikoikoyama 

Mt Eden Prison

Rangitoto Island as seen from Mount Victoria Reserve in Devonport, North Shore City

The volcanic Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf, with the remnant of Takaroro / Mount Cambria in the foreground (yellow, grassy reserve). Viewed from Takarunga / Mount Victoria over Devonport.

Auckland-view-from-Waiheke 

Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

Landsat 1 image of Waiheke Island. 

Auckland, New Zealand, from NASA's Earth Observatory - cropped to show just Waiheke Island. 

In November 2015, Lonely Planet rated Waiheke Island the fifth-best region in the world to visit in 2016.

Waiheke Island, in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand,

The western part of the island

seen from a light airplane on the way to Great Barrier Island. Looking towards the east.

Waiheke Island (/waɪˈhɛkiː/; Māori: [ˈwaihɛkɛ]) is the second-largest island (after Great Barrier Island) in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is 21.5 km (13.4 mi) from the central-city terminal in Auckland.

It is the most populated island in the gulf, with 9,100 permanent residents, and the third most populous island in New Zealand (behind the two main islands). 

Sandcastle on Oneroa Beach

Sandcastle_on_Waiheke_Island_New_Zealand

According to a New Zealander named Debbie, this is Oneroa Beach, sometimes called Big Oneroa.

It is on Waiheke Island, near Auckland, New Zealand.

She further informs us that Little Oneroa beach is the small one around the rocks in the distance. Waiheke has beaches with great sand for sandcastles. I(Tomwsulcer) dripped this one in a half an hour.

This picture is public domain from An American's perspective on New Zealand (see notice at top of article).

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The name "Waiheke" translates to "cascading or ebbing water" in Maori. It comes from the words "wai" which means "water" and "heke" which means "to ebb, drip, or descend". 

 Palm Beach, Waiheke Island

View of Palm Beach, New Zealand -

from an elevation of 31M above sea level - Looking North at low tide.

A view of Whangamatā

The town of Whangamatā is on the southeast coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 30 kilometres north of Waihi, to the north of the western extremity of the Bay of Plenty.

In holiday times the population swells considerably: New Year's celebrations fill the town to over 25,000 though this falls soon after New Year's Day.

Whangamata Beach, Coromandel Peninsula.

The Māori name 'Whangamatā' comes from the words 'whanga', which means bay, and 'matā', which means a hard stone, in reference to the obsidian which washes up on the beach. Areas along the coast such as Onemana were locations where matā (chert) and matā tūhua (obsidian) were found and processed into stone tools.