Climbing the Bridge

So, climbing the Sydney Harbor bridge was one of the items on my Bucket List, even so, I surprised even myself on how excited I was to do it.  The area where the bridge and Opera House are located is called Circular Quay ("Key") and is very walkable.  There's also the botanical gardens which are close by.  So, shortly after dumping our stuff in the hotel room off we went down to Circular Quay.

A kind stranger passing by took this shot - too bad he cut off the top of the Opera House : /

So, by 10:30am on our first day in Sydney, Mark and I are suiting up for our Sydney Harbor bridge climb.  And 'suiting up' is no understatement - they literally completely outfit you even to the point that we are all in matching jump suits with matching hats, belts, rain gear, radios, and even a little hanky in case you start sweating or your nose runs. Everyting other than your t-shirt, underwear, and glasses are provided for you and is also strapped to you as the miraculous jump suits as hooks and ties for every little thing. The tool belt is worthy of a police officer or batman. The bummer is that you can't bring a camera or cell phone or anything else that you can inadvertently drop off the 500 foot span thereby accidentally killing the pedestrians or people passing underneath in cars and trains. They literally put a metal detector over you looking for loose change, guns, knives or whatever to be sure. Sort of makes sense.  You also can't be drunk because they give you a breathalyzer test - they have their act down and the process is fairly idiot-proof, or so it would seem.

So, we were suited up which took about an hour.  Our climbing guide, Maria, was very nice.  She memorized all our names and almost immediately started calling Mark - "cheeky Mark" which told me she was smart. :)  The climb wasn't nearly as strenuous as I had thought and our little group of people was very  nice and friendly - most from the UK, one couple from Australia.  Here we are "summiting" the Bridge :)



We had a great time and out timing was perfect as right after we got down under the covered part of the bridge it started raining.  So, for $200 dollars you get a 2 1/2 climb to the top of the bridge, a hat, a commemorative certificate, and a group picture and I get a check mark on by bucket list - well worth it :)