Christmas Day - Sydney Style

Remember that harbor bridge I mentioned from yesterday? Well this morning having nothing better to do on Christmas, we decided to climb up to the top of it and overlook Sydney Harbor. Susan arranged the session several weeks before we arrived in Sydney. I guess I knew she had set it up, but I really did not focus on the particulars.  She assures me it will be a highlight.

After a fifteen minute walk from the hotel, we stand at the base of this historic bridge that was the longest span built in its day (opened in 1932). The base is built of hand carved granite stones and the superstructure is made from steel produced in the 1920’s. This iconic bridge passed its engineered useful life several years ago, but is still the main artery from the north side of Sydney harbor for cars and train traffic.

We check in at the ticket counter and are assigned to our tour coordinator. We sign a standard release form that gives the bridge climb operator permission to burn our houses and kidnap our children without any penalty in the event of their negligence.  After giving everyone in our group a breathalyzer test she takes us into a locker room and we are told to take off our clothing, watches, jewelry and all other personal possessions and leave everything behind in a locker. No worries yet, huh?

We are issued blue ball caps and grey and blue polyester jump suits that covered us from wrist to ankle. It occurs to me the term “jump suit” takes on added connotation when a person is wearing one while scaling a structure that is 134 meters above the water. This functional garment has numerous D rings sewed into the collar. Our coordinator connects sturdy nylon straps to the rings and then attaches the other ends to our caps and sunglasses.

She observed “It will be quite windy and the straps will keep your stuff from going over the side.” Someone asks “How windy?”  She assures us they have a strict policy of stopping the climb when winds reach 90 kilometers per hour. Then she sends each of us through a metal detector to make sure we have left all our valuables in a locker.  

Next we get a webbed harness to strap around our waists and cinch up it as tight as we can stand it. This harness has a nylon tether strap sewed into it that has a plastic device hooked to the end. The harness does take some of the extra bulk out of the waist of my jumpsuit.  Then we are issued walkie-talkies and headsets so we will be able to hear our climb master, Ross. He “test, test, tests” to make sure we can hear him. Then he shows us how to hook up our harness’s tether strap with the plastic device to a stainless steel cable that runs alongside the narrow and steep stairs. The plastic piece slides along the cable from the bottom rung to the top of the bridge.

And we are off, up the steel ladders and stairs inside the superstructure of the bridge. The steel is rusted and corroded. “Not to worry”, says Ross. They are constantly cleaning and repainting the steel. It was reassuring to learn that the deteriorating steel was getting a fresh coat of paint.

After climbing inside the labyrinth for an hour and a half we are at the top. The wind is howling. The straps on our caps do, in fact, keep them from blowing to Tasmania. We can see 50 miles in every direction. Our guide informs is that if we fell off the bridge at this point, it would take 5.3 seconds to hit the water. A group picture is snapped and we head back down the other side of the bridge.

Later they will send up a crew to scour my fingerprints out of the steel handrail.

Susan’s cousin, Tammy and her husband Rod pick us up at the bridge base and take us on a picnic in a nearby harbor park and a driving tour of the north shore. We end up at their comfortable home for dinner with their son and daughter Andrew and Kylie. Tammy is a jewelry designer and maker. Susan purchases last minute Christmas gifts when she chooses a necklace for her and cuff links for Mike.

When they drop us back at the hotel, we are pooped.

Merry Christmas everyone.