20231207 AAAA Trip - Sydney, Australia Day 3 - Bridge Climb, The Rocks, Barangaroo

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 82/105 - Sydney, Australia, Day 3, Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge, eating in The Rocks, and drinking in Barangaroo

That's where we went today!

It's Bridge Climb Day, here in Sydney, Australia.  Yup, we decided to hoof it to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I rubbed Voltaren on my knees, popped some Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen, and we were off.

The day started early as our climb was set to commence at 9:05 a.m. and we needed to be there at least 15 minutes early. It was about a 20-minute walk from our hotel to the bridge. We started early and found a street bakery. We grabbed a couple bakery items and noshed on the street.

Arlona had a yummy caramel confection, and I had a tasty macadamia nut twice-baked croissant

We continued our walk and arrived at BridgeClimb Sydney.

While waiting to check in, we met fellow Viking cruisers, Lee and Béla who had also disembarked in Sydney. As luck would have it, they were also on our climb. Funny how those things work sometimes. After checking our health forms and giving us the safety information, it was time to suit up.

Yes, we are stylin'

Unfortunately, it was also at this point that we lost everything. Phones, wallets, watches, bracelets, hats, cameras – everything had to go into a locker. There are two reasons for this. First, the bridge is part of Sydney’s critical infrastructure, and therefore, behind-the-scenes photography is not allowed for security reasons. Second, anything that can blow off, will blow off. This means that you aren’t allowed to have anything on or with you that could blow off. The provided eyeglass straps that clipped to your harness. They also provided baseball caps with a ring so that they could also be tethered to our harness.

What all this means is that there was no photography allowed on the climb so I could not document it. As luck would have it, they provide a photography service for a fee. Huh, how about that. They know what they are allowed to photograph so that makes it OK. We opted for it when we booked the climb, so we knew we’d have photos when we came down.

This is the basic route we took.

After suiting up and getting harnessed, we climbed a set of practice ladders so the climb leader, Jess, could show us the correct and safe way to go up and down. Our harnesses were attached to a cable the minute we started the climb and didn't come off until we were down and back in the building.

The tether slides along a steel cable, sliding through mounting points along the way. The harness went over the shoulders, around the waist, and around each leg. There were tether points to attached glasses, hats, and radios with headsets. This is how the climb leader communicated with us along the way. It worked very well.

We exited the building from the upper level and that put us on the lower level of the bridge. We walked for a long way on a very narrow walkway to begin our climb. We had to climb up four very steep ladders that got us to the bottom of the arch. From there, we walked up a series of steel steps until we reached the top of the arch, 440 feet up. We did stop for photos in several places on the way up.

Here we are shortly after climbing the four ladders and starting the climb

We are only a short way up the arch at this point

Jess provided some scenery

Here we are, nearly to the top

Just before the summit

Here we are, standing at the very top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge

We are 440 feet above the harbor

Woo hoo - we made it!

All too soon, it was time to make the trek down the arch, down the four ladders, and the long walk on the narrow walkway under the bridge back to the building.

We reached the building and slid our tethers off the cable, disconnecting from the bridge. From start to finish, the whole experience was a little over three hours, but it felt a lot shorter as we were so engaged the entire time. 1,332 steps and we were done.

Proof we did it - Jess even signed them

We proudly sported our new hats for the rest of the day.

After leaving the bridge, we decided to walk under it, taking in the views of the bridge and the archeological site below it.

If you look closely, you can see climbers on the lower section heading back from their climb

This showed how this area was used for defense in the past

Luna Park

More climbers on the arch

Climbers approaching the ladder section

The pylon buildings are for aesthetics only and do not support the bridge

They were designed after the pylons on the Hell's Gate Bridge in New York

Somebody found the water in Sydney Harbor

We continued our walk around to Circular Quay and then to the area known as The Rocks.

Sydney has an amazing amount of green space throughout the city

The juxtaposition of old and new is evident everywhere

Of course, this is a particularly good example

Check out the stills in that raised glass building

We were hungry and found this place, Ribs & Burgers, The Rocks

I had the Waygu truffle burger - super good

Arlona had the ribs and raved about them

We continued our walk, taking in the sights.

A cool, three-sided sandstone sculpture

We stopped at The Rocks Discovery Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In our opinion, neither had much to see hence no photos.

We both thought this was a fun sculpture

Arlona was comfortable riding

I felt the need to hold on...

We continued our walk to the west to the Barangaroo area. There are tons of bars and restaurants along the waterfront. 

Really cool ray sculptures hung from the ceiling

We tried to get into two or three of them for a drink and all were closed for private functions. I guess we hit the day when everyone was having company Christmas parties or something like that. We eventually found an available watering hole so we relaxed for a bit, enjoyed a drink, and did a fair amount of people watching. Barangaroo has a constant flow of people, so people-watching is easy and entertaining.

A Mango Jumbo for Arlona and a Northern Territory draught for me - and plenty of water for both

We walked back to the hotel. Neither one of us was hungry for dinner so we just had some snacks in the room and called it another successful day in Sydney. We have no specific plan for tomorrow so we’ll figure that out…tomorrow.