The Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb!

We started planning our trip to Australia a full two years in advance. When we decided that Sydney would be on our itinerary there were two things I wanted to do, see the Sydney Opera House and climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge.Jesse and Mindy were immediately onboard for a tour of the opera house but I felt I had to sell the idea of a family climb up to the top of the bridge. I even sweetened the idea of a bridge climb by offering to take the family out for a celebratory dinner at Bennelong, the famous restaurant located at the Sydney Opera House, after our climb.

Finally, after several phone calls with me expounding about how much fun the climb would be they agreed. We scheduled a full day with the bridge climb in the morning, an opera house tour later in the afternoon and dinner at Bennelong that evening. I was looking forward to the climb, imagining how beautiful the view of Sydney Harbor would be from the top of the bridge. I felt a tingle of anticipation while watching a tv sitcom family climb the bridge in an episode set in Australia. That sitcom family made the climb look fun and so easy to do.

Then, as the time for our trip to Sydney came closer, I began to have doubts. I am a person who always worries about what can go wrong. As long as the bridge climb was somewhere in the distant future I was fine with it, but as the time approached to actually make the climb I began to doubt my ability to do it. Here I was sixty-five years old, shaped like a hobbit, congenitally clumsy, afraid of heights and very afraid of falling.To top things off I also have mild arthritis in one of my knees.

On the day our climb was scheduled Jesse and I got up early and walked around Sydney. I began to try to back out of the climb. One thing to know about our family, we love each other very much. I have their back and they have mine, 24/7 no questions asked.However we also have a tough love that can be brutal at times.

I brought up my advanced age and arthritis – Jesse brought up the fact that an one hundred year old woman had climbed the bridge and that my arthritis never stopped me from working 8 to12 hour days on my feet and walking an average of 7 to 8 miles a day.

I brought up the fact that I might be slow and hold up the group causing Jesse and Mindy embarrassment -Jesse said not to worry, he and Mindy would pretend not to know me.

I brought up my concern that I might be so overcome with fear that I would stop halfway up the bridge afraid to go up or come down, like a cat up a tree – Jesse said no problem, they would just leave me there and I would probably come down when it got dark or started to rain.

I told him that his dad had assured me that if I decided not to do the climb Jesse and Mindy would understand and support my decision – Jesse assured me that my husband must not know him or Mindy very well because if I backed out they would mock me every day of my natural life.Long story short, I decided to make the climb.

Before the climb you have to take a breathalyzer test, climb up a practice ladder and then climb down it backwards. You can’t take a camera with you and everything is strapped to the climbing suit they give you. Your hat, glasses, even the handkerchief they give you is connected to the climbing suit. You can’t wear a watch or jewelry that can fall off and injure someone below. While we were climbing my hat blew off my head but stayed connected to my suit. I just tucked it down into the back of the suit.

Your safety harness has a clip that connects you to a cable that runs along the climb. For me, the scariest part of the climb was the 4 ladders leading up to the climb and coming down from the climb. The climb gets much easier after the ladders, and the view from up top is spectacular!

Our guide, Dash, was a veteran at handling nervous people and putting them at ease. The trick is to put the nervous person up front, close to the guide, so that they stay calm. Guess who got to be at the very front of the line? The climb ended up being one of my favorite memories from our Australian adventures. I think I can say with confidence that if I can do it just about anyone can. I am so glad that Jesse wouldn’t let me back out.