32 - Climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge

Entry 32 – 9^th November 2016 

This entry is about our Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. 

But it is just as much about the journey as it was the destination as seen by our previous entry (31) which was all about our journey making our way to Canberra for the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. 

On our behalf our son Tim and wife Penny had planned our trip to Sydney and made all the appropriate bookings. On Saturday morning Tim and Penny drove us in their vehicle to Sydney from Canberra; a drive of about 3½ hour’s to our accommodation at the Oaks Hotel on Castlereagh Street, Sydney. They had obtained accommodation about 2½ kilometres from our target, Sydney Harbour Bridge which ticked the box for our preferred means of travel; walking.

Once we had deposited our gear into our 22^nd floor room we all took off on our exploration of central Sydney with a walk through Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens to Mrs Macquarie’s Point where we got to view the Sydney Opera House and our goal, Sydney Harbour Bridge from the east. Then we walked around farm cove to the Opera House before walking back to our accommodation.

Tea was at one of the restaurants at Chinatown followed by an evening walk viewing the night life and lights around Darling Harbour. Day one tallied up to about 10 kilometres of walking.

Day two, Penny provided an energy boosting breakfast consisting of pancakes topped with strawberry’s with a covering of golden syrup and a garnish of cookies & cream ice-cream.

It was Sunday with beautiful blue skies, a nice mild cooling breeze with a maximum forecast temperature of 23 C. We walked to the bridge where we were fitted out with our jump suits the attire for our Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. The allocated time for the bridge climb was 3½ hours = nearly 5 hours spent at the Bridge. 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge climb was an awesome experience that will stay in our memory banks for all of time. We were glad that we had been attempting to put some condition into our legs over the last couple of months to improve our fitness level for the bridge climb. We found the climb to be reasonably comfortable. Below us the glistening waters provided by the reflection of the sun set the scene of a beautiful harbour, full of all types of crafts with a high percentage consisting of sail boats. The sights from the top of the bridge were exhilarating or simply breath-taking.

Half way

Our climbing group

At the very top

Circular Quay was the location of our main meal for the day at about 3 pm where we watched the busy ferry terminal and the movement of large crowds of people. 

By the time we returned to our accommodation we had been on our feet for 8 hours feeling exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. 

Day three we revisited the Darling Harbour area viewing it during daylight hours and it did look very different without the dazzling lights all around us and of course minus the crowds of people drawn by its night life. We walked to Headland Park (Barangaroo Reserve) where we got to view the bridge from the western side.

We continued walking around the suburb of “The Rocks,” viewing areas of historic buildings. Then it was into one of the four towers of Sydney Harbour Bridge, just another couple of hundred steps to the top where we got a close up view at the location of our bridge climb and the then seemingly deserted harbour. It was very apparent the difference of a Sunday to a working Monday for the population. The tower contained all sorts of statistics and information relating to the bridge with a couple of examples showing it was held together by about 6 million rivets and 272,000 litres of paint were required to cover the bridge for its initial 3 coats.

Then we joined the crowds onto a ferry travelling to Watsons Bay where we walked across the headland to view the open ocean then up the peninsula to the South Headland point where Sydney Harbour and the open ocean meet.

View from Watson Bay

Entering Sydney Harbour from the Ocean

From lookout at Watsons Bay

Looking out to the Ocean from southern side of the Head

Heading back the ferry still had to negotiate around some sail boats

Our legs were starting to protest from another 10 plus kilometre day and when we stood up to get off the return ferry Mary’s legs refused to respond, saying ‘no more.’ Naturally Steve was putting on a brave face. We succumbed to Mary’s legs wishes and caught a taxi back to our accommodation. Mary immersed her legs into a hot bath for a recovery soaking. Tea for the night consisted of a Thai meal at the local pub about 100 metres down the road. 

Day four we left our accommodation in Tim’s car, travelling to Bronte Beach located a couple of bays south of Bondi Beach. We enjoyed a lovely walk along the coastal headlands to Bondi Beach a great way to finish our Sydney adventure. It was back to the car for our return trip to Canberra arriving home at 4 pm.

The coast walk. The beach in the background was our start point 

We weren't allowed near this thong but you can see the tractor tyre marks indicating its huge size

Then there was the washed up Rhino

Bondi Beach in the background

Bondi Beach

Coast walk

We were a little disappointed with ourselves for focusing on the bridge climb and failing to consider the other several thousand or so steps required when exploring other areas of Sydney. Appreciatively Tim & Penny had splendidly considered what we might like to see around Sydney and as it turned out reading one of the publicity brochures at our accommodation we had ticked off 8 of the recommended 10 must do’s list. 

For us our Sydney experience could not have been any better. It was the perfect experience in the fashion we most enjoy.