I climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, baby! Yeah!

Today was pretty flippin' awesome.

Of course I had to say goodbye to Ann and Arnold (and Rupert), which was sad, and the bus ride was nothing to report. But once I was off the bus, I walked up to The Rocks (the area near the end of the Harbor Bridge) and found my way to the Bridge Climb office.



I was quite early, but I figured I wasn't about to lug my bags around shopping areas, so I might as well wait there. But she asked if I wanted to do an earlier climb and since I was meeting the fam for dinner, I thought that sounded great. Plus, no waiting!

You have a little area to wait that's on a balcony and there's these two doors. Above you is a cement big tunnel, obviously built under the bridge (or the highway that goes to the bridge).



You get called in through the gate and are helped through a waiver form and a breathalyzer. It's just about this point that we realize that it's me, Barbara, and Brian. Barbara is celebrating her 70th birthday today. Yay! And Brian is her wonderful husband who brought her here from New Zealand to do the climb. I hope I'm that awesome when I'm 70! But we're all realizing that this is crazy! You always see pictures with a dozen people in these groups, and we only have three! How awesome is that?

So, once through the initial round of safety stuff, you go into the changing area and are given the fabulous jumpsuits that everyone wears. You strip off anything not tied down (yes to rings, but no to big earings, watches, and certainly cameras and such). You put everything into a locker and you end up with the soggy-bottom look:



After THAT, you meet up with your guide. We had Alex, who was awesome. But even better, we had a second guide, Lindsey! So now we have three people and two guides. For the rest of the trip up and down the bridge, the other guides were referring to our group as the VIP's. :)

Anyway, Alex and Lindsey led us over to the gear area, and we each got a big-ass belt put on us that had many clips, and more particularly, the very tethered mechanism that keeps you attached to the steel cable guide all of the way up and back on the bridge. With that all set, you move on to the next few stations for a handkerchief (nose gets runny in the wind!), fleece (cold up there), radio and headset (so the guide can talk to you all the time), and other sundries.

Then you move onto a simulation area, with some steps and flat areas that mimic parts of the bridge. You latch up to the cable, go up each ladder, across the flat, down each ladder, and then you're good to go!

Before you know it, you're out the other tunnel and looking at the underneath of the bridge! At this point we're hooked up to the guide cable, and Alex and Lindsey walked ahead, gave us some random info along the way, and we just followed along. The actual walking/climbing is very quick and easy, actually. The thing that makes it take so long is the stopping to look around, and waiting for other groups to do the same. But with our teeny-tiny group, it was excellent because we could just stand and chat. Turns out Alex is only 4 weeks into the gig (probably why Lindsey was along, for some coaching), and he's just graduated with degrees in Philosophy and German. And Lindsey's done this for over 2 years, and takes time off to travel in the down season.

There's extra workers at the tougher ladder bits, but all of it was a total breeze. I wasn't even remotely nervous for half a second the whole time. There's a spot at the "bottom" where the walkway is mesh and you can see the water, but that doesn't last long (and I loved being able to see the water). But it was shocking how little vibration or movement there is all the way up and particularly at the top! I know I'm holding on in these photos (seemed the prudent thing to do), but as I was moving up/down the walkway, I was mainly using my hands as guides... I didn't really need to hold on.

Right, so pictures! Much like the barrier reef, these suckers were expensive. But worth it!








I have the photo of the three of us with our arms all awave, too, but not a digital version. I wonder if they post that one on the little site. I'll have to check...

Anyway, it was a really amazing experience. I wish I could have taken photos along the way of all of the trusses and neat angles in the bridge, but I understand why they don't want cameras dropping from the top of a very-used highway bridge!

And once I was done (the whole thing is 3.5 hours), I came back to Shaan and Geoff's and got ready for dinner out. It was wonderful food, and the best part was seeing Ali! We got caught up a bit, got some photos, and had a wonderful time. Here's the big group shot:



And here's Me, Shaan, and Ali. We were discussing the family resemblance across cousins and through to grandmother's generations. I can certainly see how Ali was mistaken for my mom's daughter when she was in the states!



And now it is once again too late. I don't love staying up when tired to do these posts, but I really do appreciate having them done when I go to sleep so that I don't even have to think about it the next day (and gads, if I left it beyond to yet another day... I'd forget more than half of it!)