We had another early start to our day, heading to the Sydney Bridgeclimb. Now I would describe myself as being moderately afraid of heights, so the idea of climbing to the top of the Harbour Bridge made my heart pump considerably fast. We arrived at the Bridgeclimb building (above), where we saw a wall of celebrities that had completed the climb (above). One celebrity was Will Smith, which was funny because when the climb leader heard I was from Philly, he said “Isn’t that where the Fresh Prince is from?” Anyway, first they had us take a breathalyzer test (I guess the last thing they need is a drunky stumbling off the bridge). Then, they suited us up into our Bridgeclimb gear, which was basically a jumpsuit, and added on the various accessories. That included the safety belt and latch, which held us to the bridge at all times. Hanging off of the belt was a fleece, a rain jacket, and our walkie talkies. The headset deserves mention, because the earpieces actually went on your cheekbones (not your ears), and the vibration on your cheeks allowed you to hear the climb leader while still hearing the surroundings through your ears. Pretty cool. We completed our stylish look with a baseball hat and beanie that were tethered to the suit and a hankie wrapped around our wrists.
Then, we headed out on our adventure. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring cameras up with us (imagine that falling onto traffic below), so you’ll just have to use your imagination. The climb leader had to hold my inhaler (we couldn’t bring anything up ourselves), so I was placed first in line in case I needed to use it. That was not exactly the line placement I had been hoping for, since I was apprehensive enough as it was. But alas, it turned out fine.
First we walked on the flat part of the span that is above land, and saw painters completing a 7 year re-painting project. Then we climbed up some pretty steep ladders (actually the most dangerous part of the whole thing). Finally, we got to the arch, which makes up the longest single-arch bridge in the world. We walked on top of the arch until we got to the highest point. The pictures I have are not from my group (obviously, I took them two days before of another group), but they show what we looked like. At the top, we had pictures taken of us with the Opera House in the background. I have to digitize these, but hopefully I’ll have them up soon. Then, we walked from one arch to the other and walked down the other arch.
This experience was one of the coolest of my life. I actually was not scared at all, since we were harnessed and there was like a 3 feet cushion of bridge between the walkway and the dropoff to the water below. Even though I was about 500 feet above the water, I didn’t feel nervous at all. The views were absolutely incredible. I could see for so far in every direction. While we were on the bridge, a huge oil tanker came into the harbor, which was really neat to see pass under us. The whole climb was amazing.
We had a decidedly tamer afternoon, eating lunch at an outdoor café in the Rocks (above) and then heading to Bondi Beach (above). Bondi is one of the most famous beaches in Australia, for good reason. It was beautiful, and also the reality show based on its lifeguards probably doesn’t hurt it popularity. On one side of the beach, there were a lot of low-lying rocks (above), making for really cool tide pools filled with anemones (above) and crabs (above). The surf was absolutely incredible, with continuous 5 feet tall rolling waves. There were easily 75 surfers catching waves, which was really fun to watch as some were quite good (above). Because there were so many people there, there were probably about 40 lifeguards on duty (above) for an area that would have maybe 10 guards in NJ.
At night, we ate dinner outside on the waters of Circular Quay, and then headed to the Opera House. There, we saw the Australian Ballet perform Don Quixote (above). It was awesome! The leads were so good. I was kind of surprised that Don Quixote is a relatively minor character, and he didn’t even dance. Instead the story focused on two young lovers that he helped while performing one of his chivalrous deeds. It was a very lighthearted ballet, with several funny moments. The show was great, and it was cool to see the inside of the building. It was hard to tell, but we thought that the hall was located inside of just one of the sails. We weren’t sure what was in the other sails. It definitely made me miss dance class. The end of perfect day #3.
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