Climb the Harbour Bridge, of course. At least, that’s what I did.
The weather was absolutely awful – cold and very wet. What would you expect in the middle of winter? Well, it could have been fine, but it wasn’t. Everyone else thought it would be cancelled (or I’d chicken out), but they climb in all conditions except very high winds.
I had to invoke one of my travel rules: You can’t change the weather. If you really want to do something, you’ll do it in the rain.
You can’t take anything of your own on the climb as everything has to be attached to your less than sexy climb suit. Everything is provided, right down to a hanky attached to your wrist. On a cold, wet day this included beanie, cap, rain jacket, gloves, waterproof pants and a fleecy jacket. There’s also a safety belt that attaches to a cable and you stay attached all the way around. They give you a bit of practice on some ladders before attacking the real thing.
The climb itself was fantastic. Not too strenuous. I’d chosen a Twilight climb so also had the pleasure of seeing Sydney light up.
Despite the weather the views were great - we waved to the passengers on the departing Pacific Jewel as it went under the bridge and of course there was the Opera House. As well as pointing out many well known landmarks and features our guide had lots of entertaining stories about the building of the bridge.
But the best thing was standing at the top of this famous bridge and the feeling of defeating my fear of heights.
If you have the chance, do it - even if you’re scared of heights or your legs go wobbly (like mine) at the thought of ladders.
