The woman who cleans the Sky Tower
(from the outside)
There was a time when Alisi Manatau wouldn’t go up buildings such as the Sky Tower. She thought she was afraid of heights, and that it was a fear she couldn’t overcome.
She was wrong.
Just over a year ago the 43-yearold began working as a rigger on Auckland’s landmark observation tower, and now the mum-of-two regularly spends her days dangling hundreds of metres above downtown Auckland.
She was drawn to the job by a love of rigging, the manipulation of ropes part of which she describes as an art form, and a calling that felt to her like a secret society that she wanted nothing more than to be a part of, Manatau said.
That’s not to say the Aucklander wasn’t nervous the first time she ventured outside the Sky Tower, where she is part of a team of six who clean, maintain and repair the building’s exterior, as well as fixing fireworks for city-wide celebrations and setting up gels for the various lighting configurations.
“I was nervous, but excited at the same time,” Manatau said of that day.
“I felt very vulnerable, but I [also] felt an instant trust with my teammates, who made me feel that no matter what, I’m going to be safe and I’m going to enjoy the experience.
“My job is unique — there’s nothing that we can’t get our hands on when working at heights, there’s no place that we can’t get to in order to fix something or move something or just do general maintenance.”
Later, she ventured beyond the relatively low cafe, restaurant, observation and Sky Jump and Walk levels — a mere 182m to 194m above the ground — and to the top of the tower’s mast, a spine-tingling 328m up.
The top of the city was a place like no other, Manatau said.
“The sounds are very different and the air just changes your whole demeanour — you just feel out of this world.
“You feel an adrenaline rush and a great peace that I can’t explain . . . you’re just in a place that doesn’t exist at the base of the tower.
“The beacon on top, I call it the heartbeat of the city.”