Beattys Overseas

We left Jo'burg and arrived nearly 12 hours later in Sydney, Australia.  To the delight of our bloodshot eyes and weary psyches, we immediately went to our hotel, the Sydney Marriott (another priceline.com hookup), checked into our upgraded room (congratulatory honeymoon champagne included!), and went to sleep. 

The next morning, we went to an area of the city called The Rocks and checked into climbing school!  The Harbour Bridge Climb is one of those quintessential things everyone told us we must do when in Sydney.  I had certainly planned to do it (I made our online reservations before we left Cape Town), but I had no idea how popular it was until both our flight attendants and a university pal of John's insisted we do it.  As it turns out, many locals do the climb as well since it truly is spectacular and gives such an amazing vantage point of the city.

The savvy entrepreneurs/climb instructors/marketing geniuses at the Harbour Bridge Climb School have this whole process down to a science.  From the time you check in to the time you leave the building everything is choreographed beautifully (total of a 3.5 hour process).  Groups of 12 climbers begin the climb every 15 minutes; ours left at 11:05am.  Once we check in, we report injuries, sign your life away on a liability form and take breathalyzer tests on us all, since you clearly can't be inebriated for climbing a 167 meter bridge. 
dorky climbing suits

Then we're passed along to another room where we're all given our non-fashionable nor flattering climb suits.  Next is the harnesses and clips and locks, which you'll attach to cables on the bridge, in case of (gasp!) a slip and fall.  We were given headpieces which connected to the microphone of our totally entertaining and enthusiastic guide, Vic.  Once we were out on the bridge, it was a little intimidating, but Vic's commentary about the views were interesting and tips on how to climb certain areas of the bridge were reassuring. 

The climb wasn't very difficult, and at quite a leisurely pace so you have time to really absorb the magnificent views.  Apparently the total number of stairs and steps for the whole climb is around 1,300 and the total climb time on the bridge is 2 hours.  We were so lucky to have blue skies that day at the moment we reached the summit, since it was raining the night before (and tours go out even in the rain--the only exception is electric storms).  The Opera House looked truly amazing from up there, and you could see everything in a 360 range. 

At the end of the climb we each were given cheesy little climber certificates and a complimentary photo.  The other photos, taken by instructor Vic during the time on the bridge, are offered for sale at an enormously inflated rate.  We bought our 5 photos on a CD so we could upload them here, and that cost even more.  Oh well, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and it was worth every Australian penny.

After the Bridge we had lunch with one of our fellow climbers, Norma, a grandmother from 2 hours north who took the climb alone since no one she knew was brave enough to try it.  Norma's a champ, and she got a kick out of meeting two New Yorkers.  Then we walked to Darling Harbour, one of Sydney's top tourist attractions.  Similar to Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, it had a Pier 39 (San Francisco) thing going on.  Overpriced restaurants and a dozen tour company's offering boat cruises, but the main attraction is people watching.  With 80-degree weather and little crowds due to our mid-week visit, we're quite content little campers.