Sydney Wins

April 10, 2002-Zoo Day
(photo:Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb)

I still like Sydney way better than Melbourne. It’s so much more vibrant, visually appealing, & frenetic. They now even have those crazy painted cows like the ones that were in Chicago a few years back. Life-sized cow statues were decorated by artists, displayed around town, & auctioned for scads of money that went to charity.

Last night we walked to the Rocks to look for a place for dinner. The Rocks are an historic section of first settlement that has been preserved & now incorporates shops, restaurants, hotels, & living quarters. We chose to eat at a café on Circular Quay where the ferries dock. A couple was finishing their meal next to us, paid their bill, & hurried off. We took no notice until our server seated two people at that same neighboring table & asked them if they hadn’t just been there. It was the same couple. They missed their ferry & returned to the restaurant for dessert. They lived in Manly, a suburb, & had ferried in for the evening to enjoy their daughter’s quite successful art show.

We started today with breakfast at our hotel. Our table overlooked the street where we saw an incredible number of dark suited people entering office buildings. It was a rather depressing sight & we took pity on them. At the same time, we felt grateful that we would never have to do that again.

We walked back to Circular Quay & caught the ferry for the Taronga Zoo. It was only a 12-minute ride across the harbor, but the ticket included a sky rail ride up to the top of the zoo. I’ve been to many zoos around the world & always hold my breath. I find they can be daunting if the animals aren’t well cared for. That wasn’t a problem here. I can now say I will not leave Australia without having seen a platypus. It was a baby & adorable. From its little beaver tail to its tiny duck feet & bill, it won my heart.

I must say I’ve been to more exciting zoos. I can also say I’ve never been to a zoo in a more fantastic location. It would have been worth the ride if there were no animals to see. Starting at the top of the hill, we walked through the zoo & back down to the ferry landing. Breathtaking views were the rule. Around every bend was another view of the harbor, the opera house, the sailboats, & the ever-looming bridge.

Playing The Bridge

This afternoon I tackled the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a spectacular climb & the timing was perfect. My group of ten started gearing up at 3:25 PM for our three-hour experience. Because of the timing, we got to see the view in daylight, sunset, & dark. There were three singles in our group. I was alone because David doesn’t do heights well. The man in front of me had a wife who couldn’t come because she had sudden & urgent needs to use the toilet. The man behind me had a wife who had a hip replacement a year ago & didn’t want to test it. He was 75 years old. We introduced ourselves, said where we were from, & why we wanted to climb the bridge. I was the only one who said I wanted to climb so I could take the breathalyzer test. I’d never done that.

The first forty-five minutes is spent getting outfitted in a grayish lavender jumpsuit, climbing belt with a rolling clamp that secures to a cable, a radio with earphone so that you can hear the guide, a handkerchief with elastic band around your wrist, a fanny pack with rain gear, eyeglass tethers, a black knit cap, & miner’s head lamp. All of this is hooked, snapped, looped, & clamped to your belt, or jumpsuit so that we all appeared to be ready for either a space walk or to become part of a Disney film about a young damsel & tiny men. In fact, we started singing “Hi Ho, Hi Ho,” as we stepped off onto our first catwalk.

There were curtained areas where we could remove excess clothing & don our jumpsuits. There were secure lockers (the key was worn around the neck under the jumpsuit) where we had to store anything that wasn’t permitted on the climb. That included watches, hanging earrings (clip-on or pierced), hair ornaments, photographic equipment, binoculars, & basically anything that might fall or be dropped on the traffic on the bridge. We practiced on a mock-up of ladders & a catwalk until we were able to move along & handle our safety belt & ourselves with ease.
There were cautions from the guide that we should be quiet as we walked near apartments that overlooked the climb area. There had been issues in getting permits for the climb that involved excess noise from climbers. We walked through a short tunnel & there it was. We were on the bridge. We negotiated a long two-plank wide catwalk, ducked around some girders, & started our climb up a series of four long ladders. We had to wait until the person in front of us cleared the top of a ladder before we could start up. To insure there were no over-eager climbers, guards were stationed there.

There were open grillwork catwalks through which you could see the water & traffic below. There was a double set of steel railings on each side of the walkways. I’m happy to report that at several points duct tape was in use on those railings. The climb up the arch to the top was at a leisurely pace. Although the arch of the bridge was steep, they had built steel steps into it to ease the angle. Those of us who had climbed the Great Wall of China agreed that the Harbour Bridge was a piece of cake compared to that. There were several stops along the way when the guide pointed out the sights, gave an historic background, or took photos. I think there were five photo ops. The group photo was included in the price, but individual shots were available at an additional charge.

One of the questions they asked on the “disclaimer” form was whether you suffered from depression. It would be really hard to jump from the bridge even if you were determined. What I didn’t realize was that a covered electric rail ran along the side & up the arch. It was clearly marked &, although it might have been a challenge, it could have been tempting.

The entire experience was gloriously & spectacularly beautiful, but so structured & sterile that it was a bit disappointing. They even had a circular sink & wash area at the end of the climb so we could get the grime off our hands before we changed into our own clothing. The bridge didn’t sway as I thought it would. It vibrated when we were on the lower level & a train went by, but I must say it’s a very sturdy bridge. The ladder climb to the top of the rainforest at O’Reilly’s Plateau was scarier. There you got a sense of the movement of the ladder, the tree, & the platforms. I guess what I’m saying is that once the climb began there was no thrill & no sense of adventure. The awesomeness of the height was more compelling from ground level. Once I was on top of the arch, it didn’t seem so high. The pacing was so slow that by the time we were on our way down & some of the aromas of the restaurants below were wafting up, I was thinking more of food than the view.

David’s Adventure

David had his own adventure while I was climbing. In fact, I think he got more exercise walking up & down the hills of Sydney than I got climbing the bridge. His mission was to get our open airline tickets changed to the dates that were now booked. He went from the bridge to our hotel & then to the KLM office. He was able to get all but one flight taken care of. It’s a good thing he’s compulsive about things like this & that we didn’t just rely on the fact that the changes were in the database of the airlines. As it turned out, KLM didn’t have one leg of our flight in their computer so he had to go to the South African Airlines office as well. He then went back to the hotel so he could try to look at the bridge climbers & see me. What he saw looked like small ants without the binoculars & large ants with them. He then hiked back down to the bridge where he met a very hungry me. I wasn’t so hungry that I resisted buying a solo photo of myself & a t-shirt.

Toby