Day 21: It's "Climb the Bridge" Day

Sunday, Feb 26th

Today was a “free day” of sorts; for the most part there wasn’t any hard schedule for the group to meet with the exception of our two “Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb” tickets.


Early this morning Diane and Greg headed for The Royal Botanic Garden of Sydney for a stroll.

Sometime thereafter Sheila headed into town to visit to several of the art museums including a Picasso exhibit at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the botanical gardens and St. Mary’s Cathedral.








Pat, Jack Chris and Denny took off for breakfast at the “palace of chocolate”, Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café; they reported back that the quiche and pancake breakfast entrées were excellent. This was followed by a walking tour of downtown Sydney. For myself I awaited the noon bridge climb event.

 

On to the “Climb of Our Lives”, Diane returned early from the gardens and at noon she and I headed for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We arrived and began the adventure. 

As luck would have it we were in a small group, only four climbers and our guide. After a brief indoctrination, Breathalyzer tests (limit .05) and disclaimer signatures we were off to the dressing room where we donned the spiffy blue and gray climbing suits. Once appropriately dressed and stripped of all cameras and other items that might fall to the roadway we geared up with climbing belts, hats, radios and foul weather jackets. Fortunately it was another gorgeous day in Sydney so wind and rain were not in our future. By 1 PM we were on the bridge for the climb. Our guide Damon took us along the under-carriage of the bridge to the “near-vertical ladders leading to the upper arch. Out on the arch the views of Sydney were as expected, spectacular. Our assent took about 45 minutes, stopping along the way for views, photos, history and anecdotal stories. Our small group made for extended viewing times and special attention from the guide that would have normally been shared with 10 other climbers. At the summit, we stopped for photo ops and the opportunity to get the 360^o view of Sydney. What made the view even better was our tours from Saturday. We were able to trace our land and sea tours from our bridge top vantage point, bringing the entire city and surrounding area into focus. About thirty minutes later having descended back to ground level, we were back on the ground, back into our own clothes and standing before the “would you like to buy these photographs” computer screen. As you can see, of course we bought the photos. All told, the climb was one of the highlights of the trip.

After returning to the hotel and meeting up with Sheila and Greg, the four of us had sandwiches at a local pub. The “roo” burger was excellent.

For dinner, the eight of us walked back to the quay area of The Rocks and sat down for what would be light fare, including a most unusual Caesar's Salad at Wolfies Grill.

So ended another great day filled with MART 2012 experiences and memories.