Hall-Reppens in Singapore: Climbing Sydney Harbor Bridge

Our plan for Thursday was to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Erin was very excited, and I was a bit apprehensive. I have no problem with heights or walking, but I sometimes get a little winded during climbing. Initially, Erin asked to take the quick tour. When the clerk showed us that the participants should jog regularly, I quickly nixed that idea. I have never been a jogger! Time to take the slow tour...

We booked our tickets, and went to get some lunch, as Erin was starving - again. The climb was expensive at $218 per person, but Erin said that being in Sydney and not climbing the bridge would be like being in Orlando and not going to Disney World. Also, I can think of less fun and memorable things for which I've paid more money. For example, my 10 minute ambulance ride after I fractured and dislocated my ankle cost $500. So, it's all relative.

The first order of business was to get into our jumpsuits. As it was a fairly warm day, they recommended that we take our pants off before putting on our suits. I followed their instructions, but Erin didn't - as I run hot and she runs cold. Next, we had to put everything into lockers, including phones, watches, jewelry, bobby pins, etc. All glasses had to have cords attached to them. As I had sunglass clips on my prescription glasses, the used a zip tie to secure them in place. They said that they didn't want to take any chances of things falling off the bridge, but I also think they wanted to make sure that you would buy their photos. We met our guide, and walked through a metal detector.

Our next stop was a hook rail, on which they put our belts. They showed us the proper way to put them on and secure them. It was now time to get our accessories. There was a Bridge Climb baseball cap, with a loop to hook it onto your jumpsuit, which was yours to keep as a memento. There were hair elastics, and kerchiefs on an elastic band. They also hooked a small bag onto our belts. It contained a sweatshirt, in case you got cold during the climb. Now it was time to learn the rules, attach our belt cable to the practice railing, and practice climbing up and down a ladder. With that successfully completed, we were finally ready for our radios and headsets. Once those were tested, and found to be working properly, we were ready to start our climb.

The first part of the "climb" was not a climb at all, but a walk through some fairly tight spaces. There was lots of styrofoam wrap, to insure that heads wouldn't hit metal. Contrary to our practice climb, most of the climbing was done on metal stairs along the bridge. There were a few areas where you had to climb up or down a ladder, but there were additional guides in those locations to insure your safety. We stopped at specified intervals to have our pictures taken. We also tried not to get too close to the group in front of us. There was only stretch of climbing when I began to get winded. I asked our guide if we could rest for a minute, and he said that he was feeling it, too. I believed him, because I could hear it as he was talking. I found out later that we only had a couple more steps to go before our next "Kodak Photo Spot" (ala Disney). Better to be safe than sorry.

Our guide was Tyron, and he did a great job. At every stop, he chatted with each group, asked questions, and made sure that they were enjoying the climb. He imparted little tidbits of knowledge about the bridge and the Opera House along the way.

When we finished the climb, it was time to reverse the preparation process. Unclip all the accessories, and hand in everything except the hat. Wipe down the headsets, and hand them in along with our radios. Take off our belts. Answer a questionnaire about the climb. Gather our belongings from the lockers. Get back into our street clothes. Zip up our jumpsuits, and drop them down the laundry chute. Thank (and tip) your guide, and get into the photo line. It was all very well done and efficient.

Erin and I took quite a bit of time in the photo line. They had many panoramic posters of the bridge at different times. We chose 3; 1 from the Olympics, 1 from New Year's Fireworks of 2000, and 1 from a beautiful time at twilight. We also got all of our pictures from the climb, and 4 bonus pictures. It was a great day, and we would definitely do it again.