Day 4: Thursday, February 8, 2002
Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge

Today we woke up to the first sunny day we'd seen since we'd been here. The difference was amazing. Suddenly the city was alive with life, it was great that we got to see it this way.

Sydney Harbor

Today I wanted to spend the morning going out with my good camera taking shots of the city. I usually have a hard time taking city shots (preferring landscape photos instead), but Sydney was such a pretty city I thought I'd give it a try. (Although I always feel like I can't possibly capture something that others haven't shot a thousand times before.)

Sydney honoring its firefighters

First, though, we went down to the Quay to pick up some deli sandwiches and then Walendo sat outside the Opera House looking out at the harbor while I went off to take pictures of the Opera House and the harbor. I doubt I took anything that special. We used the FRS radios to communicate so he'd know what I was up to while he sat. Eventually, I rejoined him and ate my sandwich. Across the harbor there were a gazillion firefighters dressed in their bright yellow gear, all gathered for an event to thank them for all their work putting out the fires that had spread through this area last month. It was a very colorful scene. In general, the Quay area was full of life, people walking everywhere, street people out performing and so on. Such a difference from the gray rainy scene of the last few days.

View from Botanical Gardens

Next we walked through the Botanical Gardens again and I took a few pictures of the park with the city buildings poking through the trees. By the time it had gotten hot and muggy and I was overdressed in a long-sleeved shirt, so we went back to the room to change. Gordon was arriving that morning and we planned to meet him at noon for lunch. He found us in the lobby checking email at the internet kiosk, which was appropriate. He was with a colleague, Brett, who was on his business trip with him. Brett was a nice guy, friendly and easy to talk with. It was such a trip to see Gordon in Sydney. It just so happened that he had this business trip planned, so we had arranged to spent today together and then go up to Heron Island this weekend.

Brett, Gordon, & Ellen at Pancakes Restauarant

Anyway, it was time for lunch. They wanted to go to dim sum down near Paddy's market (where there's the largest dim sum place in the city), but we were concerned we wouldn't make it back in time for our appointment to climb the bridge, so we just walked to the Rocks and found a place. We ate at a restaurant called Pancakes, which had ordinary lunch fare. Fine for our purposes. We checked in at the bridge climb with plenty of time. We had made our reservation for Gordon and us a few days earlier. Brett tried to get in that same group but it was full so he was going 10 minutes earlier. (They have groups going every 10 minutes, quite a machine as it turned out.)

Sydney Harbor Bridge

The bridge climb is quite a popular attraction in Sydney. Every time we looked up at the bridge we could see several groups up on the bridge, usually three clusters of people on their way up, and three on their way down. We were quite impressed with how efficient and well organized the whole thing was. While you're waiting, they show you a video of what to expect. Then they call you in (after reminding you to use the bathroom since you won't be able to go for the next three hours).

Sydney Opera House & Harbor Bridge

You take a breath test to make sure you haven't been drinking, then you get outfitted with gray one-piece outfits (mostly so that the people are camoflagued on the bridge so they don't stand out so much), then on to lockers to store your stuff, then on to put on a special belt contraption that will hook you onto the bridge the whole time you're up there, then they give you hair clips and hankies and strings to attach your glasses to the suit — they'd thought of everything. Then you walk up and down a simulated part of the bridge so you get the idea of how it works. Finally they give you a walkie-talkie receiver so you can hear the guide while up on the bridge. While we were going through all of this, we heard the guides talking about the storm that was coming. One of them said it was going to "hammer," which was an unfamiliar term. We figured that meant rain hard. When we'd bought the tickets the woman said they go in all weather except electrical storms. Suddenly that seemed like a possibility. It has been so beautiful this morning, how strange that it would suddenly storm up.

People climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge

We were all set to go and we walked out to the entrance to the bridge. We walked along a long straight-away to get to the bridge, and our guide (Graeme) told us some stuff along the way. By this point it started to rain and once we got to the bridge entrance the sky opened up and there was a downpour. We waited a while with some other groups (putting on the rain gear they'd provided), and finally word came that they were cancelling our trip because of the lightening. What a bummer! Back we went and we took everything off and went back to the lockers to get our stuff. How disappointing. When we were done, they took us to the "handler" who told us our options with a smile, not mentioning that we could get our money back. She said if we had other needs, we should speak to her directly, so I asked her and she said we could get our money back. I didn't like that they didn't just tell us.

We went back to the check-in area and there was a long line of people whose climbs had also been cancelled. Brett was ahead of us, since his climb had been cancelled as well. We joined up with him and decided that we'd do a night climb. It was our last day in Sydney so it was now or never. We booked the last climb at 7:35pm, which would bring us back by 10:30. We had a 7:35am flight the next morning so we'd be exhausted getting up at 5am the next morning. Even worse, Gordon and Brett had just flown in from San Francisco that morning so they would be completely exhausted going up on the bridge, not the ideal situation. But what the hell.

So now we had a few hours to kill. We found a cheap pizza place in the Rocks, and I ran back to the room to change (it would be cooler on the bridge in the evening) while they ordered. As I rushed back I made a quick pitstop in a bakery for some chocolate dessert stuff (cookie and brownie). Then I joined them for at the restaurant. The pizza was okay, and my dessert items were only okay. They'd come from that same place that sold the okay meat pies. I guess their stuff is really just okay. But it sure looks good.

Gordon, Walendo, & Ellen in Bridge Climb outfits

After dinner we relaxed by the harbor. Gordon and Brett were pretty tired and could have used a nap. They ended up deciding they'd make a dash back to their hotels to change as well, so we all did that and then rushed back to the bridge. It turned out that they'd opened up a final group for us (I guess they open them on demand), and it was just the four of us. So we had our own private tour. (The evening tour is also more expensive for some reason, but we didn't have to pay more cuz it was a reschedule.) This time our guide was Michael. He seemed a bit irreverent and cynical at first, but over time I came to like him. Since we were pros at the whole prep thing this time, he just let us go for it without all the instruction. I think he liked having a group that was small and fairly together.

Brett, Ellen, Walendo & Gordon on Bridge

We took off around 8:30, just at twilight. After a short while, we were climbing up the main structure and suddenly we were walking on the bridge. It wasn't scary at all, since there was so much metal beneath us and we were hooked to the cable at all times. Walendo got a little spooked on a catwalk that went over the water, but mostly it was fine. The view was wonderful. The harbor was all lit up and there was a big gay/lesbian event going on outside the Opera House with a loud mic and a big screen and colored lights, it added to the scene. There was lightening lighting up the sky over the water (not that close to us), giving us a beautiful light show to accompany our walk. Michael told us a bunch about Australia and Sydney, not just about the bridge. We got a lot of questions answered that we'd been wondering about. (Australians feel more connected to US than Britain, which surprised me. This is when we found out the stars in the Australian flag are the Southern Cross.) He also told us stuff about the bridge. It is 440 feet high at the crown, it was built from 1923 to 1932, 16 people died during construction. There are 1400 steps. He told us a tale about George Smith who fell into an area that they will filling with concrete and died, and now they say the bridge is haunted with George's ghost. (I'm not so sure I believe that one.) The main supports are steel girders going down either side, not the stone pillars, but they put the stone ones in because people seem to feel that big brick pillars make it stable, so it makes them more comfortable.

Ellen & Walendo on Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb

At various points along the way he took our pictures with the major attractions in the background (which is part of the deal — they don't let you take cameras but then they take shots of you and your group. You get a group shot for free, but then you pay for any other pictures). For us, the group picture was perfect, since it was just us. We did take one of Walendo and me and later bought it, but the others were happy with just the group picture. At one point he managed to get some lightning in the background, which he was psyched about. (In the end, that picture didn't come out that well cuz we were backlit, oh well.)

Finally, at about 11pm we were back and had returned all the gear, and Gordon and Brett were exhausted. Brett took off before I'd bought the photos, he was so tired. We walked back, and then collapsed, setting the alarm for 5am for our flight to Heron Island tomorrow. It had been a very nice day.

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