Well, today was the day. The pinnacle of the trip. Today Larry, Michael, Jeff and I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We climbed 1332 steps up to the summit of the bridge. It was breathtaking.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel arch bridge opened in 1932. The bridge carries cars, trains, pedestrians and bicycles. It is 3770 feet long and 440 feet high.

We started out in a room where we watched a video and we were all breathalyzed. We then went into a large locker room, received climbing suits and changed out of our clothes and into the suits. We were taken to another area where we put on harnesses, had our glasses attached to our suits as well as a rain jacket if need be, a schmata for sweat or tears… and they gave us a cap to wear that says “Bridge Climb Sydney.” We were also given headsets and a cable hook.

Once ready, we took a group photo and we had to practice walking up these ladders we would soon encounter, with instructions each step of the way. , Our guide then attached us to the cable. We stayed attached for the next two hours until the climb was complete. We walked through a very long plank on the inside of the bridge. It was quite narrow and we had to duck under a few spots to get around the steel girders. We then reached the first of four very straight ladders with 30-40 steps. We climbed straight up to the next one. These took us up to the upper arch of the Bridge where we would climb up to the summit.

There were 13 people in our climb and we were all connected to a cable. We could climb as fast or slow as we needed to and we took breaks along the way to hear some history, take some pictures and gaze out at the view. When we reached the top, we saw amazing views of Sydney. After spending some time up there, our guide taking pictures and giving us more information about the bridge, we turned walked across to the other side and started our hike down. It was an easier walk down of course but we basically followed the same path, just on the opposite side of the bridge.

By the time we got down and back to our lockers, we were filled with pride. It was truly an accomplishment.

We headed back to our hotel, met up with Lori and Allison, lunched, shopped and rested. Today was our last day and we had to get packed up and ready to leave in the morning.

Our group leader Sandy, who did a great job with our group, arranged a beautiful final dinner at a nice restaurant on the Harbour at Q Dining in the Pullman hotel. We sat around a big table and said our goodbyes. It truly was a wonderful group of people who were easy to travel with. Traveling with Globus was a definitely a good decision. They planned many of our days, arranged our inner Country flights (x 3), arranged a couple of lunches and three dinners and transported us on a nice coach bus when we were doing group activities. I highly recommend that you take a look at their itineraries if you are doing a land trip somewhere. (No not a commercial, just want to give credit where credit is due.)

We are leaving Australia tomorrow, Sunday and will be back in the states on Sunday too. We have been 16 hours ahead of Michigan time and it’s a little weird to think we will leave Sydney at 11:50 am and arrive in Michigan at 5p.m. but it’s really 9 a.m. Sydney time so we arrive home 2 hours before we leave Australia. Weird? I think so.

Anyway, we are homeward bound. Thanks to all who kept up with us. I hope you enjoyed the blog and look forward to the next one.

Thank you to the Michigan 6 for going on this adventure with me. You were easy to travel with, you are great friends and I cannot wait for to experience a new destination with you.

Larry, I am so glad you were able to knock this off your bucket list and I am so glad we did it together. Xoxo.

Cici at Sea flying home and signing off……til the next adventure.