Australia 9/2/2019 - 9/22/2019

Wednesday, 9/11/2019 - Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Meeting our G Adventures Group

We enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast at our hotel before setting off for our Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. We were supposed to check in at 10:50 a.m. We knew that it would take at least half an hour to walk to Circular Quay, so we left ourselves plenty of time, departing the hotel at around 9:30.

We enjoyed the architecture and public art along the way. From Circular Quay, we took some photos of the Opera House, the Shangri La Hotel where we had drinks last night, and the bridge that we were about to climb. It was a bit confusing trying to find the BridgeClimb Climb Base office. I tried to use Google Maps on my phone, but since The Rocks area has many footpaths in addition to roads, it wasn't really all that helpful.

There were signs, but it was hard to tell the location of the BridgeClimb from pedestrian access to cross the bridge. A local man was feeding a parking meter and we asked him for directions. He was so kind that he stopped what he was doing immediately and explained where he thought we needed to go. He wished us a pleasant climb, and said that if we were "puffed" aftwards, he recommended the nearby Glenmore Hotel for a drink.

We followed his directions up several flights of stairs, but found that we were approaching pedestrian access to the bridge. We were running out of time. We asked a woman jogging across the bridge, and she said that we needed to be down below. We shouldn't have climbed the staircases. Luckily, we noticed a lift, and were soon down at the right spot. We found BridgeClimb's Climb Base in one of the archways underneath the roadway which leads up to the bridge itself. We arrived just in time, at 10:50 a.m. on the dot.

We entered and went to the registration desk and presented our voucher. They called over the health and safety coordinator to talk about Craig's MS. She smiled and said, "Tell me a little bit about your friend here" (his cane). He explained that he uses the cane for balance, but obviously wouldn't need it if there are handrails on the climb. The woman said that there are always railings, and you are also always clipped onto a safety line. She saw no problem with Craig doing the climb, and offered to check his cane for us as it was too tall for their regular lockers.

She directed us upstairs, where we met the other four people in our group. As we sat waiting for 11:05 (the actual start time of our climb), we saw people all suited up in their BridgeClimb jumpsuits walking on catwalks, ready to head onto the bridge!

We didn't really know what to expect in terms of physical exertion. Neither of us is afraid of heights when we are in a safe situation, so we were more concerned with the physical exertion of the climb. The climb takes 3.5 hours, so that could be strenuous. Craig assumed he would overheat in the noontime sun, especially wearing the mandatory jumpsuit.

There were 6 people in our group, including ourselves. We met Renee, who took us into a small room and gave us the proper paperwork to fill out. She also administered a breathalyzer test. I haven't taken one before, but it was pretty cool that all you need to do is count to 5 aloud and it gets its sample...no physical contact with the machine.

She explained the rules of the climb. You basically can't take anything with you except glasses (which you wear on a strap), a complimentary BridgeClimb baseball cap that they give to everyone (which clips onto the back of your jumpsuit), a "jumper" (a windbreaker that they provide which packs into itself and clips to the suit), and a hanky which you attach to your arm with an elasticized band. That's it. Nothing that could possibly fall from the great height of the bridge and cause damage or get lost. No jewelry or watches that can get caught on anything. No bandanas, bobby pins, headbands. No tissues in your pockets. No cameras, phones, or GoPros.

We put our stuff in lockers and then Renee got us into our harnesses. Craig and I have been in harnesses before (skydiving, paragiding), and it is never an easy or comfortable process. You have straps all over the place and people are trying to attach them in awkward positions. But the way they did it here was absolutely brilliant! The harnesses were arranged on a metal stand. Renee had us each stand in front of a harness, and then step in one leg at a time. Renee walked us through how to attach the harness, and it was so efficient and easy!

Renee introduced us to Courtney, our climb leader. Courtney brought us over to an area where she explained how to clip ourselves on to the safety line. A couple of ladders and catwalks with a safety line had been set up in the middle of the hangar-like toom. She demonsrtated how to clip on and safely climb up and down the ladder with three points of contact. We each got to practice.

She then gave us each a headset and receiver, so that we could hear her as we climbed the bridge. We attached our sunglass straps, hats, and jumpers to our suits, and wrapped our hankies around our sleeves.

Now we were set to go. Courtney pointed out the water fountain where we could take a drink (water bottles are also not allowed while climbing). She said that there are several other "bubblas" on the bridge climb itself, should we get thirsty. We chuckled at the fact that Australians call water fountains bubblers (which is also a Boston thing), as well as the fact that the Australian and Boston accents pronounce it similarly as well.

From the BridgeClimb website:
Latching on in the Climb Base below the Bradfield Highway, you will walk on catwalks below the road-deck until you reach the South-East Pylon. Here you will ascend 4 ladders to the start of the upper arch, surrounded by the hum and buzz of Sydney's traffic.
We clipped onto the steel cable system by means of a special carabiner. You just walk normally and it follows along with you. You never need to worry about it or do anything special, unless it gets caught up on the transition between sections of cable, at which point you would feel a slight tug and might need to straighten the carabiner. You never need to detach and reattach, so you are always safely connected and never vulnerable.

It was strangely exhilarating to clip on to the line and walk out a tunnel to find yourself on a catwalk on the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We got great views of the Rocks area of Sydney from these catwalks. Courtney recounted the history of the area, which was once very dangerous due to street gangs. Women would lure unsuspecting men into alleyways where they would be robbed by gang members.

She directed our attention to an outdoor loo which was a gift to Australia from France. Craig wisecracked that both Australia and the USA sh*t on their gifts from France (ours being the Statue of Liberty, of course, as all that she stands for has been made mockery of by our current government). The funny thing about the outdoor loo is that it has no ceiling, so anyone on the catwalk can look down and see exactly what is going on in there.

We could see a small group of people assembled under the shade of a tree, with a woman in a large hat speaking to them. I wondered if that might be the "Rocks Aboriginal Dreaming Tour" that we would be experiencing tomorrow. (It turned out that was indeed the case).

She pointed out the Park Hyatt Sydney, which has a penthouse which has recently housed the likes of Elton John and Will Smith. It is right on the harbour with a stunning view of the Opera House.

When we got to the South-East pylon, we had to climb up 4 ladders, which took us past the road level. Lots of traffic was passing by. The pylons are each 89 meters (292 ft) high. Their core is concrete, but they have a facade made of locally quarried granite blocks.

Climbing the ladders was not difficult, but you had to have some spatial awareness to make sure that you didn't turn the wrong way when transitioning between the offset ladders, or you would get tangled in your safety line.

Several other staff members met us by the ladders to make sure that everyone was safe, and didn't start climbing until the person ahead of them had finished. They are also there in case anyone gets anxious about the heights or has any other problem requiring them to abort their climb.

Now we were ready to climb the main arch. You ascend on the east side, with a view of the Opera House. You are now on top of the arch beam itself. You have handrails on both sides of you at all times. A series of metal stair treads lead to the apex of the arch. They are comfortably spaced and not too steep.

The weather was gorgeous. It was a bit breezy and the sun was out. We were perfectly comfortable temperature-wise, and visibility was perfect.

There were several other groups climbing at the same time. Again, the operational coordination was impressive. We were well-spaced, taking frequent breaks to take in the scenery and chat about the history of the bridge and surrounding area. You get plenty of time to rest; you are certainly not doing a strenuous climb for 3.5 hours. That is the total time of the entire activity, including prep, the liesurely climb, and returning of equipment.

The bridge's design was influenced by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. Construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge began in 1924 and completed in 1932. It took place during the Great Depression and provided much-needed employment for several thousand people.

The bridge is made of 550,000 pieces of steel (52,000 tonnes) held together by six million rivets. Courtney explained how workers would stand on the X at the center of the crossbeams (with no harness or safety line) and catch red hot rivets in as bucket.

Sixteen workers died during construction (only 2 from falling off the bridge). One riveter named Vince Kelly survived a fall from the road level into water. He was knowledgeable about diving, and was able to enter the water in such a way that he survived a fall which woud kill most people with just 2 broken ribs. And due to the high demand for work during the Depression, he returned to work a week later!

The bridge is painted gray because it was initially the only color paint that they could obtain in such massive quantities. According to Wikipedia:
The steelwork of the bridge that needs to be painted is a combined 485,000 m2 (120 acres), the equivalent of sixty football fields. Each coat on the bridge requires some 30,000 L (6,600 imp gal) of paint.
Courtney told us that Paul Hogan, Crocodile Dundee himself, had worked as a bridge painter before he got his big break.

The bridge was designed with foresight. Even though there were relatively few cars in the area when the plans were made, the design allowed for it to be wide enough (48.8 meters / 160 feet) that today it supports eight lanes of traffic and two rail lines, with more than 200,000 vehicles crossing the road deck each day.

The official opening of the bridge took place on Saturday, 19 March 1932. Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, was scheduled to cut the ribbon at the south end of the bridge for the grand opening. Francis de Groot, who was offended that a member of the Royal Family had not been asked to inaugurate the bridge, burst through the crowds on horseback and slashed the ribbon with his sword. He was promptly arrested, and the ribbon was quickly re-instated so that Jack Lang could ceremonially cut it for the assembled crowds and cameras. However, de Groot has been seen as a folk hero ever since.

BridgeClimb started in 1998; the same year that we got married. Over 4 million people have climbed in the intervening 21 years, the eldest person being a 109 year old woman. Proposals have taken place on the bridge, and as long as your wedding party confirms to the maximum group size limit, you can even get married atop the bridge. Talk about unique and memorable!

Courtney took digital photos of each of us couples at various points on the bridge climb. When we got to the summit of the arch, we were 134 meters (440 feet) above the water level. We posed together for a group photo there.

Although one woman in the group had feared that she would be nervous due to the height, she actually did just fine, and instead it was her husband who unexpectedly got a bit of vertigo. He pushed through it well, and nobody suspected it until he confessed once we were back on terra firma. The reality is that the safety mechanisms are so all-encompassing that everyone felt very comfortable.

Courtney pointed out the Blue Mountains to the west, joking that Australians are incredibly literal. When they saw the blue haze emitted by the eucalyptus forests which cover the mountains, they dubbed them the Blue Mountains.

To the north, she pointed out Manly Beach, and to the southeast, Bondi. In my ignorance, I had assumed that these beaches were something we could easily walk to from downtown. They're in Sydney, right? But actually, Manly is 12 km from Circular Quay, and Bondi is 9 km. The easiest way to get to them is by ferry. I always thought that if we went to Sydney, we would certainly visit the famous Bondi Beach. But given our scheduled activities and its distance from downtown, it was not to happen. Oh well, something for next time!

Courtney was a really good guide, funny, knowledgeable, and personable. She even shared that she herself was a bit afraid of heights, but that she loved her job and now didn't even think twice about it.

Then we crossed over the top of the bridge via a catwalk to the west arch (which overlooks Darling Harbour, which we explored yesterday with Carmen) for our descent. We were all pretty pumped; the whole thing not having been as strenuous as expected. Even those in our group who were apprehensive about heights really enjoyed it and felt very safe. We felt quite accomplished for having completed the climb, as we had spoken to some Sydneysiders who are too afraid of heights to attempt it.

After descending the steps, we descended the 4 ladders again. As Craig and I were climbing down the ladders, a train whizzed past right next to us. It was exhilirating. We walked via the catwalks back to Climb Base. Once again, everything was like clockwork. They collected our headsets and we deposited our jumpers, hankies, and the lanyards that clipped everything to our suits into laundry bins.

We walked past a display of the various jumpsuit designs used over the 21 year history of the climb, with Courtney pointing out her favorite: one designed for Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander. When he was in Sydney promoting his Zoolander 2 film in 2016, he donned a custom designed jumpsuit with a black and white hibiscus motif in order to strut his stuff on the "highest catwalk in the world."

We proceeded to a large sink area where we could thoroughly wash our hands after hanging on to the railings during the climb.

We were given clipboards and satisfaction surveys to fill out while we changed out of our jumpsuits.

We went to our lockers to get our clothes, but my locker (A-11, one that both Craig and I had our eyes on) was jammed. My key wouldn't work. Craig thought it was just my usual fumbling with keys/locks. He tried and failed (and was glad that he hadn't gotten locker A-11 after all). We told a staff member, and they also were unable to unlock it. I felt vindicated.

They were very apologetic as they sent someone to get the "master key." I waited patiently while Craig changed out of his jumpsuit. After a few minutes, someone returned with the "master key", which turned out to be a screwdriver. They pried open the locker and retrieved my possessions.

After we had changed into our clothes, we deposited our jumpsuits into a "suit chute." Courtney gave us each a complimentary copy of the group photo as well as a certificate of completion. We were also given a voucher for free entrance to one of the pylons either today or tomorrow. You can climb up and take your own photos from the top. (We didn't end up using this, because we had done enough climbing for the day and we had other activities planned for tomorrow, but it was a nice gesture).

The other photos Courtney had taken were available for purchase, but there was no hard sales pitch. Since we hadn't been able to take our own photos, we wanted to purchase the digital package, which comes on a cute BridgeClimb-logo USB drive. (Something apparently went wrong when he transferred the photos - the USB was blank when I tried to read it later. Luckily they also gave me a download code, and I was able to download all of the photos in high resolution. Always check your USB drives! End of public service announcement.)

We were finished by 2:30 p.m., and stopped at the cafe / gift shop on the way out. We each got a Gatorade to replenish our fluids. I bought a sweatshirt and Craig bought a T-shirt proclaiming "I climbed it!" with stats about the bridge:
Views 360 degrees
Stairs 1390
Height 134 m
Steel 52800 t
Length 1149 m
Rivets 6 million
When we saw a Nanoblocks Sydney Harbour Bridge kit (think tiny Chinese Legos) which included little people climbing on the arch, we couldn't resist buying that as well. It will go nicely next to our Lego Taj Mahal.

Other cute merchandise (that we didn't purchase) included a teddy bear in the BridgeClimb jumpsuit with the baseball cap tethered to the suit.

We looked at a display of photos celebrities that have accomplished the climb, including Steve Irwin, Bette Midler, Prince Harry, Oprah, Ben Stiller as Zoolander, and many others.

By now we were quite hungry. We decided to take the recommendation of the guy we spoke to this morning and try the Glenmore Hotel for drinks and lunch. Craig had a Fat Yak Original Pale Ale, and I had a Bulmer's Cider. We each got their fish and chips for lunch. It was delicious and hit the spot. TV's in the pub were showing cricket and rugby.

We decided to walk back to our hotel and take a short rest before meeting our tour group this evening. Along the way, we stopped at a bottle shop to buy a couple of drinks. When faced with a wall of unfamiliar beer, Craig was overwhelmed and unable to make a decision. This is a common occurrence since his MS diagnosis, and very often I intervene to suggest what he might want to eat in a restaurant or drink in a bar. We selected two beers for him (one was a GOAT - in honor of our Greatest Of All Time Patriots quarterback Tom Brady!) and I got a Pimm's Lemonade and Ginger Ale (after learning that I like Pimm's at Tyson's house this summer).

When we got back to our room at the Vibe Hotel Sydney, we cracked open our drinks and I posted to Facebook and Instagram.

Shortly before 6 p.m., we went downstairs to the restaurant to meet our G Adventures tour leader Britney and the other members of our group. It was surreal to think that we were just joining our guided tour now. We have already seen so much of Perth and Sydney that we felt that we could go home now and still be satisfied, let alone visiting 3 more cities!

Britney was a lovely, enthusiastic, friendly young woman. She explained the itinerary as well as the optional excursions that we could sign up for. We had already signed up for two of the most popular excursions (full day snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef and the Sounds of Silence dinner at Uluru) ahead of time. (G Adventures had been great about booking the two nights of hotel prior to today as well as the Bridge Climb).

We met the other members of our group: Eric and Allison (also from Boston), Brad and Mary (Seattle), Pam and Gail (California), Elaine and Bert (Arizona), Sydney and Forrest (Dallas), "Alison with one L" (Washington state), Danielle (Saskatchewan), Peggy (Colorado), and Kay (New Mexico). At 15 guests, this group is the maximum size that this particular trip allows. Danielle apologized for being the only non-US citizen, and we all said that at this particular point in time, we all would rather be Canadian!

After the information session, Britney had reserved a table at the hotel restaurant for anyone in the group that wanted to eat dinner there. Craig and I, after our big late lunch, were not feeling up for a large fancy meal.

Instead, we opted to have another light dinner at Harpoon Harry's. When we got there, it was packed. Apparently there was some kind of technology meet-up here tonight. We were only able to snag a table after some people got up to leave. We were seated at a window table with a view of the street, so it was a good location for people-watching.

Harry's has daily specials, and Wednesday is "burger" day. Aussies use the word "burger" to refer to pretty much anything that is served on a bun, so all of those items were on sale today. We opted for the Wagyu burger with fries.

As for drinks, Craig chose the Yalli's Brews Sea Bass Mediterranean Lager. We have a running joke with our dear friend "Cap'n" Marty in St. Thomas about Chilean Sea Bass. Whenever it is on the menu, he tells the server he only wants the sea bass, please hold the chili. So we immediately sent him a photo of the beer, telling him we are thinking of him from the other side of the world.

I had Young Henry's Cloudy Cider. Continuing on the Cap'n Marty theme, Craig's next beer was a Port Local Pirate Life Lager.

Harry's only serves one type of dessert, and it is a good one: salted caramel tiramisu. Craig and I split a portion, and Craig's final beer was a Modus Operandi Wippa Snippa Session Pale Ale.

By around 9 o'clock, we walked the short distance back to the hotel and got some sleep before embarking on our first group adventure tomorrow.

Sydney Opera House viewed from Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House viewed from Circular Quay - morning

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Circular Quay

Circular Quay

BridgeClimb view of Opera House and Circular Quay (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb view of Opera House and Circular Quay (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb ascending the main arch (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb ascending the main arch (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb view of Circular Quay (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb view of Circular Quay (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb view of Pinchgut Island  (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

BridgeClimb view of Pinchgut Island (Photo courtesy of BridgeClimb Sydney)

Glenmore Hotel

Glenmore Hotel

Fish and chips at Glenmore Hotel (Steph photobomb in mirror)

Fish and chips at Glenmore Hotel (Steph photobomb in mirror)

The Rocks

The Rocks

Sydney Opera House viewed from Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House viewed from Circular Quay - afternoon

Burgers at Harpoon Harry's

Burgers at Harpoon Harry's

See all photos from September 11





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