We navigated the Sydney bus system and then absolutely booked it from the station across Circular Quay and to the Sydney Opera House in time for our 9AM tour. In the tour we got to go inside the complex and learned about its construction and very unique building properties - how the roofs were designed not as shells but as parts of a cut-away sphere - and they're also mostly concrete and ceramic. We were also able to go into three theaters, including the main Opera theater, and were stunned by the sheer size of it and also the attention paid to the acoustics.
After the tour we continued to walk around the Opera House and then the Quay, enjoying a quick lunch and slowly meandering our way over to The Rocks where we would begin our Bridge Climb.
As we wandered through The Rocks and finally find the Bridge Climb prep building, I was getting more and more nervous. We signed in, walked through the museum and learned a bit about the bridge, and then met our group. From there we very systematically signed waivers, were breathalyzed, received our suits, were fitted into harnesses, got clips for our sunglasses, got some hats, and finally trained on a climbing simulator. The climb team literally thought of everything!
After all of our preparation and some encouragement from our guide, Darren, we headed outside and found ourselves on a catwalk suspended some 30 meters above the roadway below. We were still under the bridge but the narrow path frightened me enough. Luckily Erika was always there with a smile behind me and Darren kept distracting all of us as he talked into a microphone and gave us a great tour and history lesson while we excited (or nervously) walked and climbed on. After getting past the first support tower, we began climbing up and popped up in the middle of the 6-lane highway. Honestly this was the only point where I even considered turning around... but 90% of me told the wimpy 10% to harden up and we pushed on, climbing up another 30 meters to reach the arch-level of the bridge.
From there, the climb got a lot easier and we were rewarded for our efforts with an absolutely stunning, blue and sunny day. It had been cloudy in the morning but we were really pleasantly surprised with a perfect natural backdrop to the beautiful Sydney around us. We slowly moved up the arch, pausing to learn about the various sites around us, and not look down!
Finally, after over two hours of prep and climbing we reached the top, and I was able to let out a bit of nervous celebration. We then crossed the bridge (which proved to be the most nervy part of the climb since we cross 140 meters above the sea on a narrow catwalk!) and then began our descent down the other side of the bridge, still stopping and learning about the sites around us as we went down.
I was glad to touch solid ground again when we got back to the base (after descending in between 6 lanes of traffic, and a commuter train) but the experience was amazing and something that I'm really, really glad Erika convinced me to do!
After we left the climbing complex we walked through the Rocks and came upon our friends Kristy and also Hannah and Dale who arrived in Sydney earlier that day. We headed home to change (and get the smell of nervousness off of us!) and then went back into town for a Contiki reunion dinner with Kristy, Hannah (UK), Dale (Melbourne), Camilla (Sydney) and Jess (Sydney) at the 360 Restaurant at the top of the Westfield Tower - the highest point in Sydney.
Finally, we all continued the reunion at a nearby bar and then made it home to promptly and quickly fall fast asleep. Today we are off to Manly Beach and then to the Taronga Zoo to meet with Koalas.
Cheers!
-Erika and Simon
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