Eureka Skydeck

For our 18th month-iversary, the boyfriend-creature and I went up Eureka Tower, to the Skydeck on the 88th floor. It was $16.50 for me to get up there, which I thought was a bit steep, but it was so incredible that I'd do it all over again. I'm even considering going up there by myself, and just hanging out and doing the Work.

The lift is a scary, scary beast. It goes from the ground floor to the floor 88 in 33 seconds, and of course bucks and vibrates and carries on all the way up, and your ears pop the entire time, but at least it only lasts for half a minute. But even if you're scared of lifts, or you're claustrophobic it's worth it, because when you get up there -- wow.

The view is absolutely unbelievable. I'd had no idea that it would be possible to see the bay; you can even see Werribee! The cars, trucks and trains look like toys, seagulls look like tiny white flies; even the giant ferris wheel looks silly and small. There are a whole lot of rooftop gardens along Southbank that we didn't even realise were there. You can see the entire Botannical Gardens, Royal Park, the Bolte Bridge and the pick-up sticks and giant french fry along whatever freeway that is. We even thought we could see a runway in the distance. Crown Tower (which you're technically not allowed to go up unless you're staying in the hotel) used to be the place the bf-creature and I would go when we wanted to be really high up, but it turns out that the view from there is nothing at all; you can see the top of Crown Tower from the Skydeck.

Seeing your city look really small gives you perspective, and kind of makes you realise how tiny your life is. That, and the fact that trams and trucks are really, really dirty on top.

Here are some photos, but they're not amazing as boyfriend-creature's battery was running out and he didn't want to spend too much time getting the perfect photo, just in case the battery died before he managed to get a photo at all. As usual, click on the images to see the full-size versions.


We also thought it would be packed, but it was actually relatively empty until we left (when the Friday night noisy drunk children arrived).

I hope none of these people are in a witness protection program.

We stayed for the sunset, too, and the view was beautiful at night, but by then boyfriend-creature's battery had died, so all we got were these:


I think I preferred it during the day; I'm not the biggest fan of night.

The only Skydeck experience we didn't have was what they call 'The Edge', which is a glass box that projects 3m out from the Tower with you in it. This is supposed to give you an amazing view, but it costs $12 extra and didn't seem worth it as we were getting enough awe action from the 360 degree view inside the tower.

Boyfriend-creature now wants to buy an apartment in Eureka Tower, preferably above the 70th floor. The ones on the higher floors go for around $1.75 million each.

I just think it's incredible that you can get an (extremely) inner-city apartment with ocean views.