BRIDGE CLIMB!!

Finally, I’m back where my vague dream of climbing the Harbour Bidge turns into a vivid moment and memory of the great adventure. Tyren, our bridge climb instructor, went through the many safety rules and regulations before we even put on our jumper suits. This included checking to make sure blood alcohol was 0.0, filling out paperwork, then we proceeded to get fitted for our jumpers. We learned later the the gray and blue suits were designed and approved by the government because they realized it could be extremely hazardous to have the drivers of the bridge be distracted by bright colors. They said a camouflage version would be much safer, and every climber (even Oprah) has to wear them by law. (Apparently many celebrities get frustrated that they aren’t above the law and can’t chose their own outfit.) I happened to love the look and the feel of the jumper suit, because it was loose, protected from the intense wind, yet stayed cool if it was a hot day. We climbed at noon, and it was forecasted to be 90% chance of rain. Well I wouldn’t have minded either way, but it was a gorgeous blue, summer sky when we got up there. We got all geared up with radios to hear Tyren, hats and rain jackets just in case, and headed out for the practice run across a straight beam that goes 100 meters out. Us four were first out of the 13 climbers in our group. I have never been afraid of heights or thought this could be scary, unlike the 5 people in our group that had a definite anxiety about the situation. I was always so focused on how to get back to Sydney to do the climb that I never realized how I felt about it! The bridge is 134 meters high, 1,149 meters in length and it weighs 52,800 tons of steel with 6 million rivets that hold the steel together. The 100 meter walk was on a wooden ply-board 10 inches across. We walked around 30 meters up from the road below us, then it turned into the water under passing the bridge below our feet. On this very small wooden plank, there was nothing else besides a rail on both sides to guide your hands…at this point, very nervous hands. I didn’t realize how far up it was until I was actually up there. Then we come to the ladders. We are all hooked on to one side of the rail with a gear-like attachment and rope that glides as you walk. We practiced climbing the 5 ladders we would face back in the building, but it was completely different out in the elements. As I approached the ladders, I kept the rules in mind…never start going up a ladder unless the other person is completely done with that ladder and so on. I got to the first ladder and it is just a steel, 15 step ladder that went straight up. As I began to climb I broke rule number one, which is don’t actually look at where you are coming from or out, because through each step you see the water and the distance you actually are from that water. You are hooked on the whole time, but it definitelyl does not feel that way, and my cable kept getting stuck up the ladders so I had to use one hand to yank it up as I climbed. Four more ladders to go. They weren’t just in a straight line going up from one another. They were a few feet the the right or left of each other so every time you finished a ladder you had to maneuver steadily around steel beams to get to the other ladder. I forgot to mention that so far I felt like this bridgeclimb wasn’t meant for people when they first designed it (and it wasn’t), because we had to duck under beams and crawl over gaping spaces and squeeze through very tight walls just to get to the arc. It made it so much more fun and like an obstacle course. Needless to say, I am a little more shaky and unsettled going up the ladders than I imagined I would be.  My heart was beating so fast as I finished that last ladder, and Tyren is such a relaxed guy that he made us feel like nothing ever went wrong in the world. The ultimate of no worries. My favorite part of the climb was walking up the steps to the summit,  and stopping for photo ops more than a few times. Along the walk up, Tyren informed us of some fun things such as why the Opera House is tinted a bit yellow. The designers realized that if it were stark white tiles, it would blind people driving on the bridge when it was sunny out, and it would be hard to actually look at when in summer. Also, the top of the opera house is exactly half as high as the Harbour Bridge purposely in order to give the city the most aesthetically attractive look. We also found out that Tyren himself took up Leonardo DiCaprio a few weeks ago, as well as Tim McGraw last year. Celebrities pay a lot more to do a vip solo climb.  Being a romantic, my favorite fact was that there have been 1,000 proposals on the bridge in the past four years. Tyren has seen a number of these gestures and he said the guy usually gets too excited to wait for the summit, and just proposed at the base of the ladders or as they are walking up. There have been a number of marriages on the summit as well…yes, the bride and groom still have to wear the oh so attractive jumper suits as well. As we reached the summit and took in the view, I just couldn’t get over the fact that in that moment, I was there. The same girl who ten years ago was on a ferry looking up at the tiny distant people on the bridge and saying, “Some day, I’m going to come back and do that.” I realized that making dreams and future desires come true isn’t as hard as it may seem. All it took was an open attitude, patience for the right timing, and an Internet transaction to purchase tickets for the climb. Simple. And simple never felt so good. You can see all of Sydney from the summit, along with Bondi Beach and the ocean in the distance. Absolutely breath-taking. The energetic vibes of the city mixed with the gorgeous sunny sky was a sight I’ll never forget. We stayed up there about an hour and headed down, all the while trying to take in as much as I could. The actual climbing of the bridge wasn’t physically challenging at all. On the way down, the ladders got to me again, because this time we were on the other side, and it was 50 meters down to the road and water underneath. That was a little bit scary because you had to look down to see where you were stepping next. Oh, and then a train passed four feet above my head as I was coming down the last ladder. It was going across the bridge and shook everything in its path, including my already shaky body. What an experience. Absolutely thrilled with the intensity, the serenity and the adrenaline, I was more than satisfied with my dream come true. So much that I actually purchased photos (which is something I never would do) but I realized it’s a constant reminder on how dreams aren’t clichés. They are reality, as long as you believe in them enough and in yourself enough. The unforgettable day came to an end after walking around the Harbour for hours, visiting the Opera House, and having fish at a picturesque restaurant overlooking the Harbour Bridge. After walking to the Harbour, walking around the area until our climb, climbing the bridge, walking around for hours after while waiting for dark to come to see the city lights, and walking back 40 minutes to our hotel, I slept SO well that night.