Satellite
  • Day 46

    Bridgeclimb, (last) jet boat and Opera

    August 24, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The focus this morning was on the Bridgeclimb for me and Tash. Ed was annoyed he couldn't do it (you had to be over 10) and Sam didn't want to do it. I skipped breakfast as whilst I have no fear of heights, too much coffee before the climvb with about a 3 hour gap between loo breaks did have me a tad concerned!

    We walked tp Bridgeclimb headquarters, only about 10 minutes or so from our hotel and checked ourselves in for the 9.55 climb. After a few minutes wait we were called through into the first holding room. Here we were breathalysed (including Tash) and jd to fill in the usual waiver form and also a form where you coloured in blobs corresponding to the letters of you name so they could be read by a machine to print our certificates. Certainly the first indication that this is a well oiled climbing machine (groups go out every 15 minutes or so - well oiled and money making).

    We passed the breathalyser and moved into the changing area to get our onesie/jumpsuits on, after emptyng everything from our pockets and taking off all loose items. Once we passed through the metal detector ok, time for last trip to the loo then we were through to the harness room. We stood round in a circle while Dan, our guide for the day handed out the harnesses. Tash was the only child in the group, so Dan chose her to demo how to put on the harness - as he put it "you're bound to trust me now I have a child assistant". Once into the harness we had to clip rain jackets and fleeces onto the back, put on our caps, a handkerchief on elastic around the wrist (just in case you needed a hankie apparently - seemed a bit weird but I guess if you had a cold would be helpful). Everything was attached to us by clips so nothing could fall off the bridge.
    Next was ladder training on a specially built unit - this again seemed a bit overkill but I guess it made sure everyone was comfortable with the steepest parts of the climb on the ladders between the below deck walkways and the bridge archways. We all passed the test and then got fitted with our headsets that enebaled Dan to talk to all of us while we were climbing. One lady had a bit of a height fear so went behind Dan with her friend, then Natasha and me, with the rest of the group behind - there were 13 of us altogether..

    Our clip was attached to the cable at the door tot eh walkway - the cable ran all around the bridge walk until it arrived back at the doorway in about 2 climbing hours time. The initial walk was under the roadway to get us out to the main archway of the bridge. Some sections were quite narrow and had low head height but it wasn't challenging and was probably about three or four floors above ground level. Dan's commentary was very funny throughout - our first stop was to hear about the stones cladding the concrete pillars and how each had been carved by a separate mason and signed by them. Then we were out onto the eastern catwalk which was a see through walkway and apparently the place where if people aregoing to have to turn back it will happen here - our group were all fine. Then we it the ladder part we had "trained" for. There were 4 or 5 ladders, going up maybe 40 feet or so which put us on the roadway level. After this Dan reckoned everyone measured height versus the road rather than the ground so people were never that afraid. We had a quick photo here before starting the climb up the iconic arches.

    The arches had steps on them and we walked about 50 steps up and awaited the rest of the group. Turning around we saw Sam and Ed at the top of the concrete pillar behind us. They had gone to the Pylon Lookout, an exhibition on the bridge and a viewpoint on the top. We waved madly, then climbed a bit further up, stopping for some tales from Dan and waving again. The third walk took us almost to the top and another photo spot, with Opera House and City in the background. We then had to cross to the other side of the bridge as the normal route was closed for a couple of months due to bridge painting. From here we walked the last stretch to the crown of the arch - 134m above the water. The NSW and Australian flags were just above us. We learnt from Dan that the fireworks for NYE are put on a couple of days before and the climbs cease during that time. The NSW flag is also often chnaged for other relevant flags eg visiting sports teams, dignitaries etc. Crossing to the other side again we had our big group photo, then had a video taken. Tash had one on her own, then I said a few things with Tash just waving madly into the camera.

    By this time it had started raining again and we put our rain jackets on. A bit more criss crossing over the bridge, including the raven's nest area at the top middle, where special events can be held eg karaoke, disco dancing (for a price). The rain was getting worse but luckily we were heading down. As we neared the down ladders there was a flash of lightning and thunder. This caused an evacuation of other groups on their climbs - fortunately we were on our way down and just carried on unaffected. Back down the ladders and under the walkway (mandatory to wave madly at passing trains as you climbed down the ladders), then we were back inside.

    Was a great experience with super views and not scary at all. We reversed the process of taking off all the harnesses, handkerchiefs etc. I got my overalls stuck on my boots and had trouble getting them off. We did surveys praising the experience and particularly our guide Dan then collected our photos and videos and we were done.

    Tash got a t shirt and we popped back to the hotel to drop stuff off before meeting Sam and Ed on the other side of Circular Quay near te jet boat landing station.

    We checked in for the Ozjet and were advised to leave all valuables behind and some folks told to take their shoes off as they would likely get very wet. We kept with our hiking boots as being pretty robust and waterproof. The boat was almost full, with a large group of 10 and a few others. We donned ponchos (which were a bit wet) and got in - we were put in the secodn row behind the driver.

    The ride started slowly in the reduced speed zone then speeded up a bit, though nowhere near as fast as others we had done. Our driver fishtailed the back end around and we bounced across the wash from other boats and did plenty of fast Hamilton spins. New for this boat was a power stop - the engines slammed into reverse causing the front end to dip and a tidal wave of water to engulf the boat. A couple of early ones got us quite wet but a big one near the end soaked us (the driver was trying to get the folks at the back wet) Ed wasn't too happy, but it was certainly another different ride. We cruised back into the hrbour with a selfie stick passed around. Despite ponchose and coats the water had found a way in and Tash and Ed were very wet in the bottom half (I was quite wet but my trousers dry quickly). I waited for the video to be trasnferred to USB whilst they headed to nearby FCUK to buy new trousers/leggings. By the time we had managed to reunite ourselves, we had ro head to the Opera House guided tour meeting point.

    Our guide was a french lady who's manner was quite endearing (she was quite stern but informative and her accent added colour). Sam and I had doen the tour before but this time we all got radio headset so we could hear what the guide was saying easily. Tash and Ed had thought the tour might nee boring (esp Ed), but they really enjoyed it and wanted to see an opera in there by the end, We watched a couple of videos on the design and build. Quite a sad story as the architect was sacked over the time and cost overruns (it cost over $100m versus initial estimate of about $3m) and never actually came back to Australia to see the finished article, though he was reconciled later in life and produced schematics for the build and his son became the consultant architect on the site.

    We went into three of the five theatres, a small studio and the two largest ones, the opera house (where we had seen Carmen years ago, Louis de Bernieres was giving a talk that night) and the concert hall.

    Our guide explained lots about the acoustics of the halls, the wood panelling and how the inside of the theatres was separated from the outer shell. The outer tiles were self cleaning by the rain. The tour was only an hour long and gave just a brief taster of the Opera House. We went to the gift shop and Ed got a Lego model of the Opera House to make up when we got home.

    The rain was coming harder now and we walked back via the hote room to drop off more stuff then headed to the Australian Hotel in the Rocks. Our climb guide Dan had mentioned this earlier as a good place to go, one of the oldest hotels in Syndey with a huge range of beers and pizzas including Emu and Kangaroo and Salt Water Crocodile. Sam had the former without cheese and I had the latter, the kids played safer with chicken burgers. The pizzas were very tasty, especially the emu which was avery tender gamer kind of flavour. The house lager also went down well.

    Back in the hotel room we wtched a huge thunderstorm come across. The lightning was flashing every few seconds almost liek a strobe and the rain lashing the windows - we couldn't see the bridge or the Opera House through the rain. Next morning the news was full of stories of the flash flooding in the outer suburbs. The centre survived better and fortunately it was dry, fine and sunny on Tuesday morning.
    Read more