Night skies above New Zealand’s biggest city will glow with the colours of the world, as Sky City’s Sky Tower lights up to welcome 20 teams for the Rugby World Cup.
Auckland’s iconic tower will be lit with the national colours of one team on each of the 20 nights leading up to the start of the tournament.
A symbol of home for Aucklanders and a reference point for travellers to the city, the Sky Tower is one of New Zealand’s most visible attractions.
The world’s 12th highest tower stands at a whopping 328 metres - higher than the Eiffel Tower, and weighs the equivalent of 6000 elephants.

Entertainment centre

Not just impressive in stature, the tower links directly into Sky City - one of the busiest focal points of entertainment and dining in the city, and including two hotels and a casino.
It’s also the leaping off point for the Sky Jump and Sky Walk.

Already boasting a collection of popular eateries off Federal Street - such as dine by UK-based Kiwi celebrity chef Peter Gordon, and his Spanish tapas bar Bellota - there are three new dining concepts in the pipeline for Rugby World Cup: Depot by Kiwi chef Al Brown has just opened, with Hummingbird by Luke Dallow, and The Grill by Australian chef Sean Connolly due to open soon.

New bars will also be ready for the World Cup, including Chivas at the Deck, Mumm Champagne Bar at Sky Lounge - offering unrivalled views of the city, and The Nation’s Clubrooms sports bar.
A collection of some of New Zealand’s best wineries have come together for an all-new concept - The Twelve Bar features ‘The Family of Twelve’ wine producers.

Weta Workshop

At the base of the Sky Tower, Sky City and Weta Workshop have joined forces to open the ‘Weta Cave’ shop - inspired by the special effects wizards’ original Wellington outlet.
Incorporated into the existing Sky Tower retail area, the ‘Cave’ will sell models from the Weta stable - including The Lord of the Rings collectables.

Rugby lights

Namibia kicked off the light show on Saturday (21.08.2011), with the glowing tower sporting a green stem, and a blue and red top.

The light schedule:

21 August - USA
22 August - Romania
23 August - Russia
24 August - Georgia
25 August - Canada
26 August - Japan
27 August - Samoa
28 August - Fiji
29 August - Tonga
30 August - Italy
31 August - Argentina
1 September - Scotland
2 September - Ireland
3 September - Wales
4 September - France
5 September - England
6 September - South Africa
7 September - Australia
8 September - New Zealand

City.Mobi

Also in New Zealand today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Auckland.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Auckland.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.