Tasmania to Tokyo – In Transit / Sydney – Day 2 can be found here.
There was a moment last night when one of the harbour’s party boats drifted past, blaring dance music. The interruption was mercifully brief. Since then it’s been ghostly silent, but for the whir of the fridge and the air conditioner.
Up just before 6 am today – 6:30 if you count an extended laze-about in bed before I manage to make myself vertical. Combined with yesterday’s late nap, it’s enough to cobble together a full night’s sleep. Given the 8 hours of timezone difference, I’m simply glad to not have woken at 3 am.
Everyone else is still asleep, however, so I head down to breakfast and grab a coffee. We booked breakfast at the hotel for the first night, so the staff kindly offers to make me a complimentary cappucino as part of that.
They’ve also decided on appropriate compensation for our missed airport transfer – they will be covering the cost of our Uber and offering a complimentary shuttle back to the airport. That’s worth more than AUD$300 combined. I would have been happy with a AUD$50 food and beverage credit! We’ll leave Pier One Sydney a nice review. It’s well deserved.
I happily look at the harbour and tap out replies to the many comments so helpfully offered by our friends at CruiseCritic. We’re continuing to flesh out our plans for Tasmania, but it looks like we now have some good options for hikes – and for spotting fairy penguins.
Back to the room to drop off my laptop, and then off for breakfast. There’s a slight misunderstanding about the cost – we prepayed for a single breakfast, thinking that it would be AUD$30 per adult, $20 for our son and free for our daughter. In reality, it would be AUD$30 for myself, my wife, and our son and $20 for our daughter. They immediatelly offer to charge us AUD$20 each for the kids. Good enough!
In addition to its thorough buffet, Pier One also allows guests to order omelettes and fried eggs. My wife and I each request a pair of fried eggs via an app, while the kids are content with the buffet offerings. I also get another of their fantastic cappucinos.
Back to the room for some writing and homework time, and to try out my new “walking around” lens, a 28 mm f1.7 DX. Translating that alphabet soup into plain English – it takes in a lot of scenery, it doesn’t zoom in or out, and it lets in a lot of light. It’s also built for a crop sensor versus a full-frame camera (like the Z7ii) so I lose some megapixels, but it’s much lighter and less expensive than its full-frame counterpart.
More importantly, I like the photos it takes:
The restaurant
Lobby bar
Patio
And back to the bar
We then head to the ferry – we’re off to Neutral Bay to meet up with some friends of ours from our very first Silversea cruise in the UK who have graciously offered to host us for lunch.
Getting there is easy. We simply head down to Circular Quay, roughly a 15 minute walk away.
And what a walk it is:
We check the screen, and note that our ferry is departing from Wharf 4. They have automated ticket terminals where you can purchase one-way tickets. We enter our start and end point, pay the AUD$20ish for four tickets, and then walk on through to the waiting area.
It’s roughly a 20 minute ferry ride, with some lovely views along the way:
We’re met at the Neutral Bay ferry terminal, and our friends walk us over to their apartment where we are treated to some lovely Australian prawns and lamb chops, as well as their absolutely stellar view:
I reluctantly decline a second glass of wine. We’re off to BridgeClimb Syndey later today, which actually breathalizes people to ensure that you’re not attempting to climb while inebriated. And even two standard drinks can get someone my size to 0.05 during a single meal.
We had considered going for a swim, but unfortunately the recent run-off means that Beach Watch is rating all of the harbours as “red”. It’s not just the sea state – there’s also quite a lot of run off from the city itself. Plus there was a shark attack yesterday afternoon. So better to skip it, this time around.
After, we wander thorugh the Cremorne Reserve to the Cremorne Point ferry terminal. The photographers slow the process, as always. But look at these views!
We still make it with at least a minute to spare. We bid our fond farewells, and then it’s back to Circular Quay:
Then back to hotel to drop off extra gear.
I won’t need my camera as you are very limited in what you can take up with you on the bridge climb.
Time is short, so we stop at a Ribs and Burgers for a light dinner – we’re still stuffed from lunch, but the climb won’t end until after 9 pm so it’s now or never.
We all order the chicken fingers:
Then off to BridgeClimb Sydney. The kids are mesmerized by the number of celebrities who have done the bridge climb – Hugh Jackman, Oprah, Sydney Sweeney, Ben Stiller, Matt Damon, Jamie Oliver and more.
We collect our tickets, and are told to show up at the waiting area on the upper level roughly 5 minutes before our tour departs. In the meantime, there’s a games area where the kids can play air hockey, arcade basketball, Mario Kart, etc.. There’s also some placards to read through.
Annoyingly, some of the arcade games block the historical placards. But I’d wager most kids are more interested in the games than the history.
But we take some time to study up – the bridge is the second largest steel arch bridge in the world, and took more than 8 years to complete. Its final construction took place during the Great Depression, when it was nicknamed the “Iron Lung” due to its vital role in keeping workers employed and the economy functional. Its weight is equivalent to 7 Eiffel towers, and it’s designed to expand and contract 18 cm depending on temperature.
Time to head to the waiting area. One group after the next is shuffled into the briefing rooms in an orderly fashion. We are given a breathalyzer test, and then watch a brief safety video. Then into the next room to collect our stylish jumpsuits, and introduce ourselves. Apart from one gentleman who did the climb some 18 years ago, we are all newbies. It’s a bucket-list activity for several of today’s climbers.
Onward to a changing room where we can put on our jumpsuits. There’s also one last bathroom stop. I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that the lockers hold my massive backpack. I decline to bring my raincoat – the jumpsuit will be warm enough.
It’s around this point that my wife notices that we are down to 12 guests from the original 14. We later find out that 2 of the guests did not pass their breathalyzer. They will instead be able to rebook at a later date. Kudos to BridgeClimb Sydney for shuffling them out so delicately that few of us even noticed.
We’re introduced to our climb leader – Emily – and then pass through a final metal detector before we carry on to get kitted out. (Or as Emily puts it, “Turned into human-sized Pandora charm bracelets.”) They really don’t want you bringing anything other than BridgeClimb-provided equipment. I’d love to have brought my camera, but I understand the reasoning behind the rules.
We’re told to cover off in front of colour-coded harnesses, and then we are indeed kitted out like Pandora charm bracelets. Every climber gets a harness, a handkerchief, a hat, glasses or sunglasses strap if needed, a rain coat, a flashlight, and a one-way radio. All of this is tightly secured via safety straps – even if you were to lose your grip, nothing would not fall on the traffic below.
Emily instructs us on the correct protocol for climbing up and down some of the steeper ladders – always face toward the ladder, maintain three points of contact, and wait for the person ahead of you to clear the section before you proceed. We loudly “boo” Emily as she breaks each of these rules in turn, and we have the chance to practice on a series of training ladders.
We’re reminded to consider the climbing order before we set out, as that will determine our order for photographs. We then take one last sip of water, latch on to the safety lines and are underway.
The BridgeClimb experience is both fascinating and exhilarating – fascinating as you get to see this engineering marvel from within, and exhilarating as you take in all manner of views from great heights. There are thankfully few moments in which you are looking through a metal grate onto the ground (or traffic).
There are a few photo stops along the way, which slow the process down – but which also give you more time to take in the stunning views:
And soon its our turn to get photographed:
We opted for the twilight climb, which gave us some sunset views and some views of the city after dark.
Sydney’s lights wink on one by one as the sun sets beneath the horizon, until the whole city is aglow.
It’s too cloudy to much get much in the way of a sunset – and the rain blows through at one point – but we’re grateful for minimal wind and the absence of torrential downpour. (Not to mention the absence of snow – school buses are yet again cancelled back home due to an incoming blizzard.)
Emily passes along some interesting facts and anecdotes – yes, BridgeClimb will help you to propose. Please do tell them in advance because they hate when people bring up their own rings and do it by surprise. The climb guides have a special device they can use to eliminate the risk of rings falling down to traffic below – which obviously they can’t use if it’s done by surprise. And yes, rings have fallen into traffic from the unprepared.
Usually the proposee says ‘yes’, but sometimes it’s a ‘no’ – which makes for an awkward hour-long climb back down. (More often the refusal is given once they are back on solid earth.)
You can also bring up ashes as a way of honouring the deceased, though obviously you are not allowed to scatter them!
There was apparently a list of 175 safety measures that needed to be taken before Bridgeclimb could open. The founder met every single one of them, and the company has been a huge success. They run pretty much around the clock during peak season. Much less so during winter, though they do operate year round – with the exception of the two days in advance of the New Years fireworks display.
I particularly enjoyed the descent back down – the city’s lights ahead of us, and the feeling of trains going past as we descended the ladders. We were encouraged to make a wish if that happened, which we did.
We returned to BridgeClimb HQ around 9:20 pm, or roughly three hours we left. We then de-Pandoraed ourselves, collected our photos, and then went back to the hotel.
Another late night. Off to the botanical gardens tomorrow, but first – a proper sleep-in.