KEY POINTS:
You need a big rig to abseil down the Sky Tower. You start setting it up at about 6am and finish at 10, then you can abseil. It takes about 20 minutes to half an hour to descend 192m to the base of the tower. You're carrying a
lot of weight - about 30-40kg of rope including wind force.
Becoming a height specialist was a bit of an accident. I originally got into glazing, installing glass into buildings, when I was about 17. I was doing high-rise glazing and very technical glazing off ropes and became known for it. I also did industrial abseiling for things like building inspections and hanging billboards and remote access work on cliff faces.
I have no sense of vertigo but you do end up having a respect for heights. I prefer that to being complacent. You sometimes have an awareness of the height when you're out on the edge - your mind's telling you it's OK because you're rigged up but something inside is telling you its unnatural to be so high, suspended on a couple of 10-11mm ropes.
I'd like to go to Dubai once they've finished building the tallest building in the world - it'll be 850m. I'd like to stand on top or abseil down it if possible or be involved in some rigging projects. And I'd like to abseil down into Harwards Hole on Marble Mountain in Takaka. It's about a 400m drop underground and a 9km walk out I believe.
I teach kung fu to a small group aged from mid-20s to 40s. I used to train with all ages but it's a small, core group now. I've been doing kung fu for over 20 years. I used to watch Bruce Lee movies, and maybe getting bullied at school when I was younger made me decide it would be a good thing to do. But it was more about having an interest in doing something physical, and my mum was happy I had an interest other than rugby.
My house is eco-friendly; built out of Californian redwood. I like to live reasonably simply and try to do my bit. I have solar panels and a wind turbine I built myself. I'm trying to make less of a footprint on the environment, without stopping progress. I wouldn't say I'm a greenie; I'm a realist. People don't always seem to use technology to the best degree. We could be using a lot more alternative power to generate energy, and we could make vehicles move around without having to use fossil fuels and create pollution.
Little designer dogs are not my cup of tea. I have a blue heeler. It's an Australian cattle dog - a cross between dingo (so they're slightly wild and feral) dalmatian, staffordshire, kelpie, and a couple of others. They're called heelers because they nip at the cattle's heels. He's called Starsky and nicknamed Tuska because when he was a puppy, he didn't like it when we went out so he'd dig up everything.
Winter solstice is a tradition we have always had. We have a teepee and fire and mulled wine, with friends and family at night on the coldest, darkest time in winter, and there is usually a full moon. We've done this in Coromandel, Takaka and Wainui, where I live north of Auckland.
* Adrian Van Den Bemd is team leader for rigging services at SkyCity and oversees anything done at height on the Sky Tower or in the Convention Centre. The Sky Tower is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.
