Weeks prior to visiting Sydney we were told by our well traveled friends, that seeing the city of Sydney doesn’t count unless you view it from the top of the Harbour Bridge. Ideally during the evening hours when the sun goes down. Bearing this in mind, we googled up and booked our twilight Harbour Bridge climb many days in advance. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon headed to the part of town called the Rocks to face the 3h excursion into the sunset. We spent about an hour being briefed and prepared, rehearsing walking up and down the steep ladders inside the actual room which was actually really exciting. We were given harnesses to wear and hooked to the railing and then asked to hook ourselves to many different items of clothing. Including a handkerchief and a warm hat 🙂
The first few steps were pretty scary. We were on a tiny footpath behind a low railing and looking at the green grass directly below our feet, some 30m down. The real climb started soon after and the round trip took about 1,5h. The arch has a span of 504 m (1,654 ft) and its summit is 134 m (440 ft) above mean sea level. We stopped every once in a while to listen to our guide who was sharing so many interesting facts about the build and architecture of not only the bridge but also other landmarks. We tried to take in all the information as well as the incredible views. The planes and helicopters seemed much closer and the sky seems to have changed it’s colour many times within an hour. Before we knew it it was time to walk back.
Did it feel like an achievement? More like a relaxing walk in the park only 134m above the water. The air was fresh and we felt pleasingly tired but it actually wasn’t half as dramatic as we experienced. It is definitely something worth doing once in your lifetime. Even just to brag about climbing an actual bridge and to take a great photo 🙂 <3