Sunday, May 6, 2012

Harbour Bridge Climb

Saturday morning we headed to "The Rocks" for the Harbour Bridge Climb. Misa and I had been there once before, but didn't end up doing the climb because it was hot and we didn't want to spoil it just because we had the wrong clothes on.

On Sunday I couldn't find the ferry schedule so we took the train to Wynyard station and walked from there.  We got to the Bridge Climb at 11:00 and they had openings for an 11:25 climb.  There were only 7 people in our group, Katka, Misa, me, a mom and son from Tasmania, and a young couple from Ireland. The normal group size is 14, so we felt lucky to be in a smaller group.

The safety and security they have is almost crazy.  First they do a breathalyzer to make sure you haven't had too much to drink, and you have to sign paperwork stating that you are physically fit, not pregnant, haven't had a recent surgery, aren't on any medications, etc. Then you leave all of your belongings in a locker. Other than your clothing, the only thing you're allowed to take on the climb is your glasses or sunglasses, and they give you a strap to hook those on so they don't fall off when you are on the bridge. Then you put on a special grey and blue Bridge Climb jumpsuit, which is a full bodysuit, like the orange jumpsuits convicts wear, just in better colors. Then you go through a metal detector to make sure you didn't "forget" to put everything in your locker. You then get a safety harness and a training session. During the entire bridge climb you are tethered to a steel cable, which keeps you from falling or jumping. The practice session involves climbing up and down two ladders while tethered so you can get the feel for it, and they can make sure you understand about waiting until the person ahead of you is off the ladder before you get on and start climbing or descending.

After the training you go get the rest of your equipment, a fleece jacket in a bag attached to your harness, a walkie-talkie with headphones attached to your harness, a handkerchief with a wrist strap, and optional items such as a hat and gloves, which attach to your jumpsuit.  There is nothing on you that can fall off or blow away, which is important because you are climbing the bridge above cars, trains, pedestrians, and cyclists. After training we headed outside for the climb. The climb follows one of the top arches up to the half-way point, where you cross to the other side and walk back to the starting point. Along the way your guide tells you about the construction of the bridge and interesting bridge facts and stories, and stops periodically to take pictures, available for purchase at the end of the climb. When we got to the very top we took a group photo, and then we sort of spread out, the Tasmanians in front, then our family, and the Irish couple bringing up the rear.  We all stood there admiring the view when there was some commotion behind us. I started to turn around when I heard Katka say, "look, he is proposing!" I turned around and the Irish guy was down on one knee with an engagement ring asking his girlfriend to marry him. It was like something out of a movie.  She said yes and we all cheered.  It must have gotten really dusty because my eyes were watering, I even had to use the handkerchief.

Of course the mood for the rest of the climb was awesome, everyone was happy and chattering about the engagement. I told Misa it was fate, that we didn't make the climb the first time, and that I couldn't find the ferry schedule so we took the train instead, arriving exactly at 11:00, with the next available climb at 11:25 with the cute couple from Ireland.  The bridge climb is pretty spectacular, but now it is one of those special memories that we will have forever.

After the climb we went to a nice German restaurant with live music, the typical polka/waltz band.  Katka commented that she likes it because in Germany they have the same songs as in Czech. So we were enjoying the band with Katka singing along in Czech, when she said, "this is a Czech song." We told her that we know, she told us about the songs being the same, just different languages, when she said, "no, I mean they are singing in Czech." The band was Czech, as were about half of the other employees in the restaurant.

Katka and I went to one of the UTS professor's house for dinner. Bernhard and his wife Maria invited us, one other professor, and Bernhard's uncle and his wife. Misa was invited too but didn't feel up to it after the bridge climb, so she stayed home, which was fine because she had homeschool to do anyway.  The dinner was great, everyone was from Europe originally except for me, and we all had interesting backgrounds or stories.  Unfortunately we had so much fun we stayed until almost midnight, which meant we were all tired on Sunday.

Sunday morning I got up and went to Chatswood to buy some things we needed for our last week here.  When I was there I found a bookstore that had books on sale 75% off.  So when I got back to our apartment I grabbed Misa and we went to Chatswood for lunch, book shopping, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  When we got home Katka was ready to go out, so Katka and I went back to Chatswood for sushi, while Misa stayed home to work on school.  It wasn't the Sunday we had planned originally, but we were all too tired to do much else, and it was a nice relaxing day.