Before this trip, I've never heard about climbing Harbour Bridge. I simply didn't know there is such event. On the day of our climb, the weather was beautiful at around 25C. It was drizzling the day before and raining day after. We enjoyed the view, the good weather and the experience! The safety precaution briefing, climb prep and the climb itself took 3.5 hours, you just couldn't feel time has passed. I was personally so impressed with the safety preparation that no wonder it costed us a fortune for the climb. On the wall in the Climb Center, there were pictures of celebrities all around the world posted, who did the climb - Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Matt Damon, 007, Pat Rafter, Nikki Webster and Kylie Minogue etc.
We had a funny climb leader, well, I think all of them are funny and nice. All the visitors in our group were made to stand in a circle to introduce each other and mingle around as the climb leader prepared our costumes. There were people from UK, Queensland and only 1 Sydneysider. The climb leader gave a thorough history of the bridge construction as well as geography lesson. Too bad no camera is allowed so we only had a few shots taken by the climb leader, which again costs us $30 for 4 4R photos. History of the bridge can be found in the Pylon Lookout, which also features a short b+w film showing the enormous job. The bridge was completed in 1932 after 8 years, the toughest part being erecting the arch. There was no OH&S at that time, technology was not advanced, no computer simulation, it is hard to believe by paper calculation, the two arches from north and south shores successfully joined. It is noteworthy that out of 16 fatalities, there was only 1 or 2 due to falling off the bridge.
As opposed to what my father said, no one paints the bridge. Dad told me there will be people ever painting it because it will take the person a whole year to paint from 1 end to another, but our climb leader has never seen anyone painting the steel during his tenure there. Well, I might have misunderstood my father's statement, as always.
So that was the highlight of our trip to Sydney. I must say that the climb itself was easy.
1 comment:
I still have fond memory of the Sydney Harbour Bridge: Car broken down right on it and did not know what to do and HAVE TO FIGURE OUT A QUICK SOLUTION BEFORE THE LONG QUEUE BUILT UP;carried out routine maintenance inspection as a student Engineer- actually just chit chating with the boys and laid down under the cool breezy shadow of the Bridge and passed my time; re visiting it just before they constructed the Tunnel nearby by the local Italian contractor; took the Harbour cruise.
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