I've had the Climb of My Life

So I just have to tell you that last night was absolutely amazing. It was a once and a lifetime experience. If anyone ever makes it to Sydney they need to do the bridge climb. It was worth every penny I paid for it (and that happens to be quite a few pennies).

I was scheduled for a 645 starting time and basically it is supposed to take about 3.5 hours to go from the getting ready stage to the coming down and taking your gear off point. I wasn’t sure how it was going to be because I was on my own but it all worked out great. There were two other young couples (as well as some other people) on the same climb and they pretty much adopted me. I was however the only American on the climb at that time.

The way it starts out is that you go in and while you are signing away your life – I mean signing the waivers – they have to give you a breathalyzer. If you blow over .05 then you cant climb. I passed in case you are wondering. We didn’t drink until after the climb ; ) the next step after the paperwork is to get dressing into these incredibly attractive gray jumpsuits. Made me think of the stuff you see fighter pilots wearing. Trust me, I looked totally hot in it. As did everyone else. And then as if just the fact that you are scaling a humongous bridge isn’t enough, they weigh you down with so much other equipment you feel like a pack mule. Actually, once you get the jumpsuit on you have to take any loose objects off. Which for me meant unloading all the jewelry I wear off and shutting it up in the locker. And you realize how much jewelry I wear on a regular basis. I even had to take both my bracelets off. I did however refuse to take my st. Christopher off. Im just a tad superstitious about that. He doesn’t come off until I walk safely through the doors at home. Yeah I know crazy. Boston made fun of me for it when I was visiting him, but its just me. and this time I actually have two st. christophers since im extra far away and alone completely. Hey, it makes me feel better.

So once you get nekkid, you have to walk through a metal detector just to prove that you aren’t trying to smuggle something to toss over the side. And then they made me spit out my gum. Yes, I was the problem child of the group. But its ok because I just got to score quality time with our cutie climb leader Nick (more on him later). Once all that is done, you get strapped into a harness which you use to attach yourself to the bridge from the moment you walk out the pylon door until the moment you walk back in. like a strap around your waste attached to a wire line is really going to keep you from falling 300 meters into the harbour. Not really. Then they pack you with a handkerchief, a rain slicker, a fleece, a radio and ear pieces a headlamp and a leg shackle. Just kidding. They don’t really give you lamp. You have to climb in the dark….(lying if you couldn’t guess about that.). the funny part about all of it is that it is all attached to you. There are so many clips and buckles its crazy.

After taking all that time to get ready you get to do a simulated climb so you can see how the latches and harness and everything works. Plus you have to practice climbing up and down the ladders and such. Once you get all the practice and gear its time to head out for the actual climb. The entry way is through one of the pylons and you go through a tunnel that takes you to the rafters underneath the roadway. Its really an amazing experience to walk along underneath the bridge. There are a lot of parts that are really tight squeezes too. Anyone who is claustrophobic would definitely not make it. Nor would anyone who has issues with vertigo.

I think one of the coolest parts was actually climbing up the ladders because you climb from below the traffic, up between some of the lanes and then up above the traffic to the top beams of the bridge. Once the entire group gets up there then the leaders start taking you up the bridge. I happened to be on the night climb so it was just getting dark when we started out. It was starting to get cloudy though so there really wasn’t much of a sunset. About 15 minutes up I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye but ignored it until I couldn’t anymore. There happened to be an approaching thunderstorm. The lightning was streaking across the sky and lighting up the clouds. It was actually an amazing sight. And we just kept on climbing too. They keep you up there as long as the storm is at least 20 minutes away. About ¾ of the way up they stop to take your picture with the opera house in the background. By then I had made friends with the couple in front of me. they were aussies from wagga (or something equivalent to that) named phil and amy. They invited me up to be in a picture with them so I wouldn’t have all pictures just by myself.

Along the way up too the leaders talk to you through the headsets and give you a history about the bridge. It apparently took something like 6 million rivets to put the bridge together. And by the end of the climb we had done 1439 steps all around. The view from the top is absolutely spectacular. You can see so far through the harbour and we even had the added bonus of the lightning which was getting even more active (and closer). So basically you walk up one side then over across the top (and traffic) and then back down the other side. Half way down right when we had finished out third photo session, all the sudden our leader nick turned off his radio and told us to go and now move down until we got to the ladder. Hello panicking. Apparently the storm reached its 20 minute mark because the two groups behind us were in a pretty big rush as well. Probably the freakiest part was having to go down the ladders with trains going past on either side. And then standing there below with trains going by 10 ft overhead.

Once we got back to the climbing headquarters and got out of the gear, they gave us a group photo and a climbing certificate. I also bought a picture of myself with the opera house in the background. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a scanner so youll have to wait until I get home for those pictures. It was truly awesome. Phil and amy (who informed me that phil likes to “collect” amy’s and another couple who had adopted me (from Edinburgh – mark and I cant remember the girls name) decided that we should go for a celebratory drink. While we were picking out pictures and such I got in a good chat with my cutie nick who decided to come out for a quick drink with us before taking his 10k bike ride home.

We all ended up sitting around at this little pub called the glenmore hotel for hours drinking and talking and it was really good to talk to people from different places. Except for the fact that I couldn’t really understand the Scottish girl because her accent was crazy heavy. The scots ended up walking me most of the way back to the hotel because by that point in time all the public transportation had stopped running.

I walked into my hotel room to hear someone saying “hello?” great I got a roomie now. Boo I was liking having it to myself. Couldn’t last forever thought I guess. She was sleeping so I tried to be a quiet as I could but I wasn’t very successful.

Next morning she introduced herself and between the accent and the big huge maple leaf on her bag I could tell she was from Canada. Calgary to be exact. And kind of a dud. Not much fun really. Figures.

Today was pretty low key. I spent most of the day on the red city explorer bus checking the city out. It was a cold rainy generally icky day so I didn’t feel like doing much. I checked out st. mary’s cathedral, kings cross (the seedy red light district) and spend quite some time lost in the neverending shopping center in the CBD. Yeah so I shop. And I got lost. How typical. Im still pretty tired from last night so I didn’t go full on like normal. Not an overly exciting day.

I just got back from dinner with the roomie. We went down and had food at a little place in Chinatown im not entirely sure what I ate but it wasn’t bad. There was some smell to it that didn’t work well with me but it didn’t taste bad. I still wouldn’t get it again though. After that we couldn’t resist going to see santa and his elves arrive in darling harbour on jet skis to light the Christmas tree. Its pretty bizarre.

So tomorrow is the day I set out on the east coast. We have a few stops before we hit coffs harbour (where I will be stalking Russell crowe who happens to live there). I met a few people in my group today but not enough to really tell about them. A kiwi, two german guys and an Italian girl so far. Ive got to head back in a few minutes to work on repacking my stuff. They apparently do really weigh your bag at the beginning of the trip so I have to figure out how to arrange my junk so that my bag isn’t to heavy. This is going to take a master packer. I better get on that.

Well on to the beach. Still missing everyone. A lot.