Sydney Harbour Bridge

Today we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge! I was a bit nervous about this; I was worried that it would be very exposed and scary, and I was also worried about my lack of fitness. Needless to say, no one else in the family had any doubts about the climb! Jamie took off the plastic boot that has been protecting the broken bones in his foot, because you are not allowed to climb the bridge with broken bones! He thinks it is nearly healed anyway, but I was concerned that it would hurt him. We were booked on the 10.35 climb in a group of 14, and the first hour was taken up with safety procedures including a "practice climb" up and down a wee set of ladders. We got changed into jump suits,and put on safety harnesses. Then out we went onto the bridge, first of all crossing the road through the metal structure underneath the arch, then going up a series of steep ladders until we emerged onto the arch of the bridge. We were so lucky with the weather, it was a lovely sunny day with blue skies and no wind. Our guide was well-informed and good fun, and I needn't have worried about anything because it all felt very safe and we had plenty of stops to look at the view. The views were amazing; Sydney Opera House of course, its curves bright white in the sunshine set on pink granite. We could seen the café where we had lunch yesterday and the window we looked out of during our interval drinks last night. I love a busy waterway and Sydney Harbour is certainly busy. There were boats everywhere of all shapes and sizes, with white wakes trailing behind them. The rest of the city and suburbs stretched around us in every direction, it is a very attractive city, no wonder a quarter of Australians live here! When we reached the top of the bridge we were very excited, there is a large Australian flag at the top. The whole experience including the safety talk took three and a half hours which I think is a bit too long although I did enjoy the experience, and so did the rest of the family. Experiences like this are our gift to Jamie, Ally and Davie, I hope that they remember what great fun we had. We then walked to Darling Harbour; on the way we saw some beautiful rainbow lorikeets in a tree. We had a coffee in the sunshine before heading back to the hotel for a swim and a sauna before dinner.