Today we did something that Marshall has wanted to do for many years; climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. This iconic bridge, opened n 1932, took 8.5 years to complete at a cost of $6.25M AUD. But before we talk about our experience, we’ll get you up to speed on the cruise. We boarded 585 new passengers in Sydney, and several hundred new crew members too. We were fortunate to have the primary birthing spot in Sydney, Berth 1 at the Overseas Passenger Terminal and zipped through immigration there at 7:30am.

With a population of 5.5M, Sydney is the largest city in Australia and is the capital of the state of New South Wales. Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Sydney frequently ranks in the top ten most livable cities. There are engravings and cultural evidence of native persons inhabiting the area going back 30,000 years. James Cook was the first European to explore the area in 1770, and the first shipment of convicts were sent to Australia in 1787, used by the British as a penal colony.

Back to the bridge climb, this undertaking was not without some trepidation by Sharon. The full climb takes nearly 3 hours and involves 1332 steps, including vertical ladders spanning 200 steps. Marshall, ever Sharon’s cheerleader, was convinced her new knees could do it and so we arrived at 9am to start our 45-minute orientation before starting the climb. The BridgeClimb is about a 10-minute walk from the cruise terminal.

The orientation is very thorough. First you take off everything and put into lockers, as they don’t want anything falling from the top of the bridge down on pedestrians and cars. This includes earrings, hats, scarves, watches, and phones. Next, you get down to your skivvies, as they provide a jumpsuit and the temp outside was 80F and humid. You get fitted for a harness, and they show you how to hook yourself to the cable system. Next, they have you “practice”, we really think it was a tryout, climbing and transferring on the vertical ladders. If you can’t do this, you will be in big trouble. We were outfitted with souvenir caps, tethered to our suits, and headphones. Any eyewear was also tethered to the suit.

Finally, we were stepping out on the pylons and making our way to the trusses. You walk about 10 minutes on very uneven planks until you reach the first set of ladders. There were 4 sections of 25 rungs each (Sharon counted) before reaching a platform. Each person in our 14-person team had to clear the ladder sections before the next person could start. Eventually, we were on top of the trusses, starting the climb to the pinnacle.

Our guide Pete took well positioned breaks, allowing us to stop, catch our breath and take in the sights. The closer to the top you got, the flatter the climb. We had occasional water breaks, from small water fountains stationed on the route. Pete encouraged us to drink a lot, and told us not to worry about needing to use the restroom (as there were none). As we climbed, he narrated the history of the bridge and certain physical characteristics. He told us about the flags that fly over the bridge; one being the Australian national flag and the other being the Australian native people’s flag.

At the top, the views of the greater Sydney metropolis are amazing and you can see all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Sharon remembers how sweet the air smelled and there was minimal sound from the 8 lanes of traffic below. Only the occasional tram passing below caught your attention. Eventually, we started the descent and both of us actually thought this was harder than going up. The stair treads are spaced pretty far apart so you really had to pay attention to not turn your ankle.

By the time we got to the ladders, our legs were shaking. Our guide Pete does this climb twice a day, and has been doing it for 23 years, and he said his legs were shaking too. After a good 5-minute break, we slowly descended the ladders and we were soon doing our 10-minute walk back across the pylon planks. Pete told us about the 16 persons that lost their lives building the bridge, and about a lucky chap named Kelly that actually fell from the trusses into the harbor but survived with only 4 broken ribs.

Back in the BridgeClimb facility, we returned all of our gear, got back into our clothes and received our photos. We walked back to the ship, through the The Rocks district and had a great lunch at El Camino Cantina.

The BridgeClimb was a great experience, and we’re super glad we did it. And while it was 80 degrees, we couldn’t imagine doing this when it was any hotter. Last year, they shut the climb down twice when the temps got above 110F. We also could not imagine doing this in the rain, though they provide rain gear, as the surfaces would be slippery. We consider ourselves lucky that we had the conditions that we had.

Tomorrow: Sea Day