431 feet above the Sydney Harbour

The other thing I really wanted to do while in Sydney was the Bridge Climb. yes...climb the Syndey Harbour bridge. When I came here in 1997, they don't offer this expereince. They started it in 1998. What I didnt' know is that it took 10 years for a company to meet all of the safety standards before they were allowed to offer this activity.

so...this morning, I headed down to Paddy's market to do some shopping. I didn't buy much..but already, not sure where I'm goign to carry this stuff or how. I have Anna's sleeping bag in  my pack which takes up room....so that will at least allow me some space there later on. Hoofed it back to the hostel to drop off my shopping and then did some laundry by hand and hung it on the roof to dry. Headed down to the bridge for the CLIMB OF MY LIFE@!

so...before you hear about my VC..you have to get a history lesson on the bridge first. Took 7 years to build from 1924-1932. sydney had grown and it was more and more difficult to get from one harbour to antoher so a huge debate to build a bridge or a tunnel. Finally, they decided to build a bridge and model it after New Yorks Hells Gate bridge. Today, this steel arch design is the 3rd largest one in the world (not sure where other two are located). It cost 10 million to build, it has 6 million rivets to hold it together, it took 52,800 tons of steel and over 1,400 people to build it. It is 1149 meters long and 49 meters wide. From top to bottom, it is 134 meters (or 431 feet). The bridge was built to be able to expand and contract based on th4 temperature. It was built from 2 different sides with the final center pin holding it all together. When it was time to join the 2 sides (which were held up by many cables), it took 8 days to ease the cables and line it up just right). Today, 190,000 vehicles cross it each day ($3.00 charge for one way). It has 7 vehicle lanes, 1 bus lane, 2 train lanes, a bicycle path and a pedestrian path. Oh yeah...16 people died while they were building the bridge.

So..back to my VC. First, one must strip down to t'shirt and panties and put on a bridge suit. It helps one to keep warm, not get caught on anthing. then, one must remove all jewelry and can only wear sunglasses. All other belonging, including cameras, must remain at base. Once we get on bridge suits, we walk through a metal detector to make sure we are not trying to sneak things onto the bridge. We then get straps for our sunglasses, hats with straps, fleeces with straps and even snot racks with straps. Everything has to be secured and our bridge suits have all kinds of buckles to attach everythign. Finally, we get harnesses and go through training. The most unique pulley system I have ever seen in my life. We practice walking up and down steps and ladders and hooking into the pulley system. Finally, we are ready to head to the bridge.

Yeah..one begins to think about what they are about to do...literally climb up and over the top and cross the top of the bridge and come down teh other side. But hey..if I can bungee jump,sky dive and microflight, why not bridge climb.

For the next hour, we climbed and climbed and climbed. It was such a rush! 431 feet up..looking down at the inner workings of the bridge, seeing traffic below us, see the harbour and lots of boats passing by and seeing the opera house. Oh my gosh...what a view we had. It was AWESOME!!!!! One couldn't help but get and feel in the moment. If anyone is afraid of heights, this is not the experience for you. Mom...don't even think about it...you would die. We were comepltely safe...harnessed in and when we walked, we held onto the strap of our harness system and/or the railings. I wasn't scared at all. It's such a cool thing to do. This, and the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical will be the highlights of my trip.

Now..don't get too excited as I'm not the first MOC person to do this. No..not Yeeka, but Dr. David Rendall did this when he was here a few years back. I understand that he has his photo hanging on his office door. Yes..I have 2 photos to prove that I did this feat.

Oh my gosh...this was so cool...can you tell that I loved it. The weather was absolutely perfect too. The sun came out the entire time we were on teh bridge. I think the neatest part of the bridge climb was the crossing over from one arch to the other. That was excellent.

After the bridge climb, we were all on such a high. I had a bunch of Americans on my climb which was interesting. We all get a free ticket to the pylon museum about the bridge so I headed there straight after my climb to get a different view of the bridge and learn about it (thus the history notes).  I then walked about 1/2 across teh bridge and then headed back to my hostel.

so..liike the Vicitoria Falls in Zambia that I expereinced in many ways, I hvae now been across  on the bridge (via bus and walking), under the bridge (via ferry) and on the bridge (via bridge climb). I hvae the certificate to prove it.

So...my time in Sydney has come to an end. It's been a great 6 datys...despite the weather. I have to catch a shuttle at 7 a.m. to the airport. My flight leaves at 8:50 a.m. for Launceston, Tasmania. I will hvae a day to explore Launceston. My tour will pick me up from  my hostel at 9:05 a.m. on Wednesday, June 13 and I will start a 7 day tour.

I'm looking forward to my next adventures.

Climb on and adventure on, friends,

Julie