Day 10b-Auckland: Harbour Bridge Climb

This was one day on the cruise I was looking forward to. I had committed to do the Harbour Bridge Climb since January, having finally booked the climb in August. I have done Sydney Harbour and the Storey Bridges, so I was going to do this one as well.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge is the 3rd official bridge climb in the Southern Hemisphere, and the last one to tick off my list.
After leaving the girls at the Skytower, I walked the 3.5km along the harbour to the AJ Hackett Bungy. I was early and sat around for about 45 mins waiting for my climb. While waiting I got wind of a family group on my cruise lining up to do the Bungy Jump... the whole family. They can have that one!
There were 3 in my group for the climb; a father and daughter from the UK and myself. We suited up and headed out.
The bridge was built from 1955-1958 to link the 2 sides of the harbour otherwise it was a drive of over an hour to get from one side to the other, or you had to take a ferry, which could take a great deal longer. In the first few months of the bridge being open, over a million cars used the 4 lane bridge, which was unexpected, so they had to expand the bridge, adding on 4 more lanes (2 on either side) to the bridge to make it 8 lanes total from 1967-1969. They called this the "nip-on clip-on" addition. It uses a very different construction technique to the original bridge; the original is riveted and bolted, like Sydney Harbour bridge, but the new section is bolted and welded. We were also able to feel the bridge flex under the weight of the traffic using the bridge, and it is completely hollow!
The climb took a comfortable 90 mins, and we got to the top for some awesome views of the city.
After the climb I headed back to the cruise ship (another 3.5km walk), getting back with plenty of time before dinner at the Ketchikan restaurant.
After dinner, a show by Chantelle Delaney of many country and Australian classics and then to bed. It had been a huge day of walking and exercise.Read more