After breakfast comprising a muffin and a smoothie from McDonalds (cheaper than the Intercontinental breakfast!) we headed to the Harbour Bridge for the Bridge Climb (whose tag line is “The Climb of your Life”...). After signing the disclaimer form and passing the alcohol breath test we got kitted up in lovely grey jumpsuits (that are designed to blend with the colour of bridge so as not to distract the traffic), harness, caps, hair scrunchy, glasses holders and headsets for commentary from our guide. No loose items are allowed in your pockets, not even a tissue, and everything has to be secured, i.e. clipped on. After successfully completing the climb simulator, the climb starts by walking out in public with all the gear on (which could possibly be the scariest bit!) before ascending some stairs and emerging on the underside of the bridge below the road deck. The Road Transport Authority, who maintain the bridge, are slowly removing the old lead based paint and repainting the bridge, which meant that on the walk to the first pylon we had to walk on a temporary walkway suspended from above rather than walking on nice solid steel, which didn’t go down too well with Andrea. We walked to the first pylon and climbed the ladders up passed the road deck to get to the eastern arch. At the time the bridge was built there hadn’t been too many steel structures around, so to give people confidence in the bridge, two things were done. Firstly the bridge was over-engineered, so much in fact that it could support the weight of another bridge on top of the existing bridge. Secondly, the stone pylons or towers were built. These are purely decorative, they are hollow and do not provide any support to the bridge, but they give the impression that they are supporting the bridge and at the time people had confidence in stone so therefore they would have confidence in the bridge. We started the walk up the eastern arch, enjoying the great view of the harbour and the city. The weather was absolutely perfect; clear skies, bright sunshine and a light breeze. At one point a microlight flew over us with the pilot waving to us! The bridge was designed with future proofing in mind. It has eight lanes of traffic and two railway lines. However at the time it was built there were only nine cars on the north side of the bridge, so the designers really planned ahead! We reached the top of the eastern arch and crossed the very top of the bridge, passing underneath the light called Blinking Bill or something like that (he’s an Australian cartoon character or something). We descended the western arch with a fantastic view of the western suburbs, Olympic Park and the Blue Mountains in the distance. Once off the bridge, we bought the photos, then headed back towards the hotel, passing through the park in Circular Quay which was playing the cricket. We also had our first glance at the Sacred Ibis bird; a fascinating bird with a long curved beak (these ones were picking through the rubbish). We also looked up and saw some sky writing; a plane wrote the word “Bose”, which drifted across the city (there was a Bose shop in the Intercontinental; maybe there were trying to sell more hi-fi stuff whilst the cricket was on...). We didn’t do much of significance for the rest of the day. We went to the Visitor Centre then walked down George Street to the supermarket. Then we had a detailed search through the Aussie TV channels before calling it a night.