It's A Long Way To The Top...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Sydney, Australia
The view from the harbour side of the building is almost unbeatable but Hotel Ibis is not a five star venue. Light on with extras (such as wireless internet, spare pillows and a bar fridge with a freezer to freeze drinks overnight) but ideal if you plan to be out all day and well priced for families. It is certainly clean with very comfortable beds and a great location.

But the walls are paper-thin and the LOUD Englishman in the next room woke us both at 6am as he remonstrated with his wife . Had Brenda and her tooth not been dozing, I swear I would have thumped that wall.

Buffet breakfast again and then off to find the Hop-On Hop-Off bus that I now excel at. Sydney has two companies, one with the familiar double decker variety of New York, London, Paris and Rome. Both companies have an interconnecting route to Bondi as well. We travelled around on the city loop as far as Central Station where we went in search of glass galleries in Surry Hills. Brenda was impressed with what she found but none suited her objective of an outlet for her glass bracelets. The 2-hour loop around Bondi passed quickly and we reconnected with the main loop to reach The Rocks area - the location for the start of our Bridge Climb.

23 degrees, 20mph winds and 71% humidity...

The BridgeClimb operation was extremely well organised. Our party consisted of eight Italian uni. students and we two. We were kitted out in our very sexy grey overalls, radio and earphones and wet weather coat in a clip-on pack . In fact, everything was clipped on - sunnies, baseball hats, even hankies on elastic around our wrists! No watches, hair combs or pins and of course, unfortunately, no cameras. Dean, our climb leader, took us through a mock climb with our 'umbilical cords' hooked onto guidewires on a practice set of steps before heading off down the street.

Our BridgeClimb was the recently opened 'Discovery Route' - through the metal structures of the lower arch. Up the east side and down the west. Past the lights set up in readiness for the NYE display. Over 6 lanes of traffic at peak hour and under two train lines. A bit narrow in parts, quite a number of ledges to climb over and a long way down. And over 1000 stairs plus ramps! But the pace was gentle - we could only go as fast as Brenda in the lead - and Dean stopped every couple of flights for a check and a story.

We reached the top somewhere around 6.30pm, stayed for about 10 minutes while Dean told more stories (42 proposals on his climbs, 1 rejection, ring attachmed-up-the-sleeve system devised) and the students all sang the Italian national anthem in celebration! We could see thunderstorms slowly approaching from the west - the only reason to cancel climbs so descent began. Apparently these climbs otherwise go day and night, sunny or raining - 24 hours per day over summer, such is the demand! Yes, people climb at 2am to watch the sun rise.

Won't find me there...

However, the views were spectacular and we agreed that it had been a good choice of timeslot. Very tiring after a day of walking round hilly Surrey Hills though. Counter tea in town, slow meander home, a blog and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

That Pom better be careful tomorrow. We have him marked...

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