Day 12

We were up early today to add a blog before breakfast, but we didn't mind as we were climbing the Harbour Bridge today. Once the blog and breakfast were done we looked around Sydney CBD as our climb wasn't untill 1155.

We viewed the Anzac Memorial Statue that had an event outside and school children Cadets in Hyde Park. Then we crossed the road to the Anzac fountain via the lovely walkway.

We then headed to the Queen Victoria shopping complex, which Pierre Cardin named the most beautiful in the world. It was so posh that it had a red carpetted entrance and the interior was imacculate. Where we got stopped by 2 Chinese tourist for a photo, because they wanted a photo of us...because of our outstanding beauty or because they thought we were famous enough to shop there.

We headed towards the bridge to prepare for our climb. We had our induction including the breathaliser. Then we got changed into our climbing gear. Lorna's shoes were deemed unsuitable and so she had to wear special trainers...like at school when you have to wear lost property when you forget your kit, hilarious!

After our safety briefing our guide Pete asked if anyone wanted to go first and Al volunteered Lorna. Pete thought it was funny Lorna was pushed forward.

We started our climb by walking up the Pylon Lookout and then out under the main carriageway; this was quite scary, due to the metal meshed steps. From here we started our climb up to the arch through the steep steps, if you looked down then your legs went to jelly. At this point we were as high up as the Sydney Opera House.

It was nice to get our feet on solid metal as started the climb on the arch. We had a few individual photos along the way and a group photo at the top. We then crossed over the metal mesh from one side to the other. We were 437m above sea level and you could see right down.

The views were outstanding and you could see for miles. Pete said that it was the best views he had seen in ages. Throughout the climb we had rolling commentary from Pete, some of the points mentioned were;

• On the 1st October 2008 it is the 10th Anniversary of the bridge climb.
• Only 16 people died building the bridge.
• The workers didn't use harnesses as it wasn't 'cool' or you were a wimp.
• Crocodile Mick Dundee used to work as a rigger at the very top for 6 years before he was famous. He worked at the top for the extra danger money and the adrenaline.
• In total there are 1437 steps covering over a mile in distance.
• The most recent death was from a base jumper.
• One person survived a fall; he was a high diver as was discussing with his friend the previous day how you could survive the fall.
• The granite side structures are useless structurally but are their for asthetics. They are also known to have healing powers.
• The bridge is double the height of the Opera House.
• The Opera House was planned to take 3 years but took 7. They put aside a $3.5 million budget but cost $98 million.

We had our first meal out of the hostel as it was free, we only had to buy a drink. We enjoyed our Fish and Chips at The Gaff. It was a change for us both, Lorna didn't have to cook and Al didn't have to wash up.

We took detour home and came across the gay area and where we saw the most trannies we had ever seen. To our surprise we also found an outdoor cinema, and we watched the end of Wedding Crashers.