Sydney 2013: Tower Eye and Skywalk
This was the fourth item I went to as part of the combination pass:
Right after going to the Taronga Zoo, I saw that the skies were clearing up so I took the opportunity to go to the tower eye. The entrance is in the Westfield Mall, on Level 5. The signs were pretty hard to find and I wandered around for a while. I went to Din Tai Fung while getting “lost” and hungry.
I already had tickets to go up the Tower Eye but I was interested to see how much it would be to do the SkyWalk. The observation deck tickets was fairly expensive by itself but adding the Skywalk was a very good deal. I would highly suggest getting the combination pass, and then adding the Skywalk option after. I believe it was under 30AUD to add the Skywalk option after having your ticket. I was just looking at the prices now and they have some very attractive offers in terms of Skywalk and photos, or Skywalk and a cruise of Sydney Harbor. Take a look at the online offers before purchasing the combination pass as the combo pass can be very expensive depending on what time of year you go.
There was a 4D movie before going up to the observation deck.
Once we got up there, the sun had came out and skies were pretty clear.
On the second picture below, you can see a small dot. That was a plane that was landing at SYD. During some landings, you can see giant planes at almost eye level. Its even cooler to see them on the Skywalk.
There are windows that encompass 360 degrees of the observation deck. The windows are tilted downward so you can have a clear view of the street below. There is room for 2-3 people to sit at each window.
The tiny circular object on the right side of the park is the Anzac Memorial.
Skywalk
So below you see the staging area for the Skywalk. You are not allowed to bring anything outside, including cameras, for the risk of dropping it and hurting people down below and also for you to buy their pictures. The cost of the pictures wasn’t too bad.
You get into a jumpsuit and then put on a climbing harness.
You take a full walk around. The walkway is above the observation deck and you can lean over to see the street below.
There are two platforms on each side of the tower. The first one is quite large and doesn’t move. The second one extends outward beyond the edge of the building so you can see directly down even through the glass bottom. Both platforms have glass floors.
Outside, you can see planes landing at SYD at eye level, which was a bit disturbing. Somehow, even though I have a fear of heights, I felt perfectly calm when on the platform. You are always tethered to a railing.
I wanted to do something like this on this trip and glad I got to go up the tower eye. My first choice was the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb but that was way too expensive at about $200 USD. The Auckland Tower Skywalk was more than that.
The pictures came in a package for about $50, which wasn’t too bad. A bit expensive but considering the walk itself was $30, it wasn’t too bad. Definitely a very touristy thing to do but not many places around here you can walk outside of a skyscraper.