I'd love to share some pictures for you, but no pictures were allowed on the climb (the company running the climb wants to cash in on the experience, of course, so they charge you for the pictures that are taken). Actually, that's the cynical view; nothing could be carried on the climb that wasn't fastened directly to your suit. I left my camera, passport, and everything else in a locker, so you'll have to bear with my narrative for a bit.
As I waited for my turn to ascend, a fairly laid-back couple in their mid-30's sat at a table next to mine. The three of us went upstairs to the staging area and waited for our instructions. What immediately became interesting to us was that every group that passed before us consisted of at least 10 people (some were as big as 16). So, the three of us continued to wait, assuming that there would be several more joining our party. Well, at the appointed time - 11:50am - the first instructor called us and told us that only the 3 of us would be going on the trip -- sweet!
We put on our suits, met our climb instructor and within 20 minutes we were on our way. The instructor was a funny Aussie named Romeo -- a guy about 50, slightly shorter than me with very short, spiky white hair, glasses, and a bright red nose. Sadly, he knew more about Austin than I know of Sydney. He asked me if I was going to SXSW and if I followed the Texas University Longhorns (the Aggie readers will get a kick outta that). After telling him that I'm a Texas Ex, he initially gave me the "hang loose" hand sign, before I corrected him and showed him "Hook 'Em." He claimed that he was a big American college sports fan and really liked the Longhorns. I only partially believed him, but it was a nice effort to connect on his part.
At any rate, throughout the climb, he was incredibly friendly and would point out interesting Australian facts to me which I'm sure weren't of particular interest to my Australian partners. The small group really allowed us to bond -- something that definitely unique about this particular climb excursion in relation to the other, larger groups.
I had signed up for the "Discovery climb" which was the longest possible climb. The whole journey took about 3.5 hours. This climb took us through the underpinnings of the bridge where the workers performed their magic. One of the more tragically comical things the workers did was to stand (without hand railings) about 30 yards from one another, have one worker on one side light a rivet in a hot fire, and throw the rivet to the other worker, who tried to catch the rivet in a bucket. Supposedly, it took over 6 million rivets and 5-6 years to complete the bridge (I don't remember the exact timeframe).
During the climb, we had to almost crawl through some of the spaces. I banged my shoulder on a beam at one point because the walkway was so narrow. I also hit my head on a beam later, but the beam was padded, so no permanent damage. I was connected to the bridge via a flimsy cable that snapped to a cord running along the walkway and attached to my suit. I would be shocked if that cable could've held my body weight, but luckily I didn't have to test it. Plus, the cable wasn't very long, so if I fell, I would've been helplessly dangling there about four feet off the bridge like an inverted turtle.
The climb itself wasn't all that scary; there were only a couple of parts where we were on a mesh catwalk where you could see through to the water below. For the most part, the way was paved with wooden planks. We were intially fairly enclosed with the beams all around us. Hand rails lined the bridge throughout (these were installed by the BridgeClimb organization), and it wasn't too windy, so the bridge didn't shake too much (which is what usually freaks me out). Once we got to the top, it was a little eerie initially. It was surreal to be on top of the bridge and see the harbour, with the cars and trains speeding hundreds of feet below. At it's peak, the Harbour Bridge stands about 147 yards above the water. Traffic drives about 50 yards above the water.
One of the more interesting things was that the stone "walls" that rise around the bridge serve absolutely no technical function. They were designed into the bridge to alleviate fears that people in the 1920's had about traveling on a purely iron / steel bridge. Our guide comically pointed out the places where stone didn't exactly meet the bridge.
The climb took about 30 minutes. Along the way our guide stopped to capture some pics. Unfortunately the guide didn't take too many pics on the side opposite the Opera House, but on that side, there's an unbelievable view of Sydney. BridgeClimb offered these pics on a CD (they were only supposed to give me 2 pics, but screwed up and gave me all of them) -- here are the best ones...
Much to my dismay, the path downward did not include the use of parachutes. As we descended back down the bridge, one part included an area on the mesh platforms where if you walked really quickly, it looked like you were floating on air above the water. Crazy!
To reward myself, once off the bridge, I headed over to "The Rocks" one of the oldest parts of Sydney that has lots of English style pubs. I grabbed a pint and ordered a "Crocodile with Spicy Thai Coconut Pizza." Gotta say, crocodile has a interesting texture. It's tough and rubbery, but delicious. All in all, a good afternoon!
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