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Published: February 20th 2011
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Up early at around 7.00 am the day of the Bridge Climb, and I am like a "coiled spring" raring to go.
We touch base with our friends in Aberdeen via Skype. At around 07:30 I set off for the bridge climb and arranged to meet Di at the swimming pool at around 11:00am. I arrived early at the Bridge Climb office, and have some time to kill. My climb will be the first of the day and I am on the "Express climb" which just goes for it without too many stops. Very soon we are called through, first we sign the disclaimer and are breathalised. Next we move to another room where we collect our trendy jumpsuits and introduce ourselves to our fellow climbers (On my climb there were two Americans, Two Bermudans, two Irish and a guy from Brisbane).
We then went to get changed, we have to strip down to our undergarments below our jumpsuits as it is so hot today. We cannot take anything on to the bridge - any cameras, watches etc have to left in the locker.
We then meet our leader for the climb "Nick" who shows us how to put on our
belts, get our radio sets and hankerchieves. (to mop up the sweat!) and we are ready to go! (There are other accessories- thermal jackets, gloves etc, - but these won't be needed today.)
We set off at around 09:00 am, the climb itself starts off easy, Nick is pointing out various points of interest on the way (Like Nicole Kidman's penthouse that she has just sold for A$6 million- what's she got that I haven't? OK hair, but what else?). Nick also gives us history of the bridge and some of the tales. He also takes pictures of us halfway up. We continue the climb as it starts to get steeper and we have some 400 steps to reach the top. Pretty soon we are there at the top. We have photos taken ( I am the only guy "leaking"profusely and with a red face!) and take in the scenery, we can se the Blue Mountains off to the west, the Olympic Stadium off in the distance and fantastic views of the harbour (pity I could not take my camera!).
The going down was a hell of a lot easier, but to be trueful the climb itself was no great
shakes, it was just the heat that made it harder for me. We get back down to the bottom, get rid off all our "bits & pieces" and pick up our certificates and photos. I buy the obligatory tee shirt.
I catch up with Di at the Hotel Pool. We did some sunbathing and swimming, have lunch (A nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc) and go back to our room mid afternoon. After a shower and change, we went for a walk around "The Rocks", looking at some of the older parts that I had found on the way to the Bridge climb. We came across a bride having her photographs taken in the older part of the district, we could not make out whether it was an actual wedding or a photo shoot.
The market was just closing up, we heard music coming from a pub, we went in and it was an acoustic U2 tribute band, they were quite good so we stayed for a few beers ( beer called Purely blonde). We had a wander around Circular Quay, but did not feel like any dinner after a late lunch (Yes Graeme we actually missed a meal!!). We
made our way back to the hotel to relax and have a early night - we leave Sydney tomorrow! (On the way back we passed the trees that were again full of large bats.)
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