Up early to get our washing sorted this morning. We're jam packed for the next couple of days and need to get our backsides in to gear.

Today we did....the Harbour Bridge Climb! We took a long walk up George Street and saw the Harbour Bridge for the first time since we got here. It's huge!
We'd already pre-booked it for today at 1pm - booked it the other day and that's all they had left for the week! Before we got started though, we had to have our lunch...that pasta from last night. Tasted better after adding the pesto.
Anyway, time for the climb. It's a very well organised activity. They go through a briefing, then you get overalls, then a waist belt with all sorts of bits on. That took about 45 minutes itself.

Time to start the climb! We were attached to this cable that we couldn't get off until we get back. It starts off from the west on a walkway underneath the bridge. When we were walking along there, you could feel the whole bridge shuddering as the train went past above! We all had a radio pack and earphones so the climb leader could talk to us and tell us different bits of history etc about the bridge and Sydney. First fact was about a $21million yacht sat in the harbour outside a fancy hotel...and next to it was a yacht that was 5 times bigger! Wonder how much that cost!

They're repainting the bridge at the moment. Well, they've been painting it for something like 8 years and it'll take another 9 years to finish! Somebody got a good contract out of that.

It's a huge bridge though. All steel. And about 60% or 70% of the steel is from England. The company that built it were English too. Enough facts, go see WiKipedia for more...

We had 5 steep long sets of stairs to climb to get to the start of the top arch. It was weird because when we were climbing up we got to the road level and then climbed right above all that. Therese had a train flying past her when she was climbing up.

We then walked along steps (which didn't exist originally) gradually making it up the arch to the highest point and obviously the centre of the bridge. We stopped a few times along the way for some info/facts and the climb leader took some pictures. You're not allowed to take anything up with you other than you sunglasses, so we weren't even able to take any photos!
The view at the top was amazing. We could see so much and also see how big Sydney is - it stretches really far. Sydney is set in such a nice area as well. It was a shame that it wasn't clear sunny skies, but we still had a fantastic view.

At the top, we could also see the pyrotechnics team putting all the fireworks up on the other side of the bridge for New Year's Eve. Apparently they spend $8million on the fireworks.

It was very pricey at $220 (£147) each (they also put the price up over Christmas by $32) but was a great experience.

On the way back to our hostel, we walked through an area called The Rocks. It's a really nice area that reminds me of a seaside town in England, apart from it's much nicer. The buildings, the cobbled streets, plenty of proper pubs, bakeries. It's brilliant.
We also went down for a quick look at the Opera house from across the harbour and took a few pictures. Crazy looking building. Going to go down and take a proper look at it another day though.

We got back and got ready to go out and meet my mate Ben. We met in a bar called The Gaff. And he was also there with another lass that me and him used to work with called Gail. I haven't seen Gail or been in touch at all with her and she's in Sydney at the same time as us.
The Gaff has a crazy deal on - free meal if you buy a drink. And Ben was very kind and bought us the drink. So, we had a free meal, a pint from ben, then we were given two vouchers each at the entrance for a free drink (beer or wine) from 9pm!! Plus, Ben knew one of the managers and we got a free JagerBomb each. We had a couple of drinks with them and got some really good tips for our travels up the east coast. Gail has just done the same tour bus as us so she gave us a few money saving tips.

And that's the beauty of Facebook. I haven't seen Ben for about 8 years, but through Facebook I'd seen that he'd moved to Oz etc, and could stay in touch and meet up with him.

From there me and Therese stopped off for a drink in a place called 3 Wise Monkeys. It's like a proper English city centre pub. Really busy and also had a live band on upstairs. The music wasn't so good though so we stayed downstairs.

We had a really good day today. The Harbour climb was a brilliant experience and it was nice catching up with some old friends.