Bridge Walk
The Sydney Harbor Bridge connects the southern part of the city to the north at the closest point of Sydney Harbor. It was completed in 1932 and has been a famous part of the city long before the opera house came along.
About ten years ago a pair of brothers said 'hey we can make money off of this' and got through all the red tape to make this bridge a tourist attraction, that's where I come in. For some reason I booked the earliest climb of the day on a Saturday which means last night got cut short and I didn't get to sleep in today. But looking back Im glad I did because I was the first civilian on the top of the bridge today, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
In order for this company to do this walk they had to take extreme caution that no one or nothing fell. We were fitted with jumpers and were asked to take everything off of our bodies (watches, cameras, wallets etc.) so nothing would fall over and into the harbor. Also so any pictures taken would be paid for (smart brothers they are!).
So we get all hitched up and taught how everything works. They have about half inch thick wire that runs the length of the tour, under the catwalks and up to the top of the bridge. Our belts came with a mechanism on them that once connected to the wire, you weren't going anywhere but where the wire went. It was pretty cool as at no time were you in real danger because this cable had you even if you didnt have a hold of the rails.
We got the last of the brief and started our treck. I was first, of course, as stated earlier. We maneuvered through the underbelly of the bridge and climbed up to the arches. I was probably the youngest (by a ways) so we had to move slow and stop often, not that I minded. The views were great and the sun hadn't heated up the weather yet so there was a nice chill to the air. We get to the top, the tour guide takes our photos (to be purchased later) and we get about 20 minutes on the top before we headed back down.
About ten years ago a pair of brothers said 'hey we can make money off of this' and got through all the red tape to make this bridge a tourist attraction, that's where I come in. For some reason I booked the earliest climb of the day on a Saturday which means last night got cut short and I didn't get to sleep in today. But looking back Im glad I did because I was the first civilian on the top of the bridge today, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
In order for this company to do this walk they had to take extreme caution that no one or nothing fell. We were fitted with jumpers and were asked to take everything off of our bodies (watches, cameras, wallets etc.) so nothing would fall over and into the harbor. Also so any pictures taken would be paid for (smart brothers they are!).
So we get all hitched up and taught how everything works. They have about half inch thick wire that runs the length of the tour, under the catwalks and up to the top of the bridge. Our belts came with a mechanism on them that once connected to the wire, you weren't going anywhere but where the wire went. It was pretty cool as at no time were you in real danger because this cable had you even if you didnt have a hold of the rails.
We got the last of the brief and started our treck. I was first, of course, as stated earlier. We maneuvered through the underbelly of the bridge and climbed up to the arches. I was probably the youngest (by a ways) so we had to move slow and stop often, not that I minded. The views were great and the sun hadn't heated up the weather yet so there was a nice chill to the air. We get to the top, the tour guide takes our photos (to be purchased later) and we get about 20 minutes on the top before we headed back down.
posted by Nickolaus Kersting at 10:19 AM
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