Breathtaking views from Sydney Bridge (Sydney Harbour Bridge)

Member Name: emmakate06

Product:	Sydney Harbour Bridge
Date:	21/06/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great experience

Disadvantages: Cannot take your own pictures

I visited Sydney whilst on my honeymoon which had been booked through the tour operator Kuoni. When booking the trip we were given the option of adding attraction visits and paying for them beforehand which we thought was a good idea. We had already decided that the Bridge Climb was something that we definitely wanted to do so we didnt need to think twice when the tour operator asked us if we wished to add it to our trip. The climb was prebooked as a morning visit to take place on one of the days during our stay, the lady explained that we would be given a voucher which we would then need to take to the Bridge Climb office to book our exact slot and day for the climb to take place. This was quick and easy enough to do and we decided to come back the following day at 10am for our climb. Very excited and couldn't wait!

When we came back the next day we handed over our pre paid voucher and were guided into a room where we were given some health and safety rules which needed to be followed and had to fill out a form. There is a big wall display of celebrities who have climbed the bridge so we enjoyed looking at all the pictures whilst we were waiting for our turn. Once all the form filling had been completed we were provided with our climbing suits we went over our clothes. You are adivsed to remove anything loose and to leave behind anything such as cameras and mobile phones. You are allowed to take sunglasses but these need to be attached to a piece of material around your neck to stop them from falling. You are also provided with elastic bands if need be to tie your hair back as it can get very windy at the top.

You are then taken into the practice room along with other climbers, from memory I think there is about 15 in a group give or take a few. You have a quick ice breaker session where you introduce yourself to other members of your group and tell them a little about yourself and state an interesting fact. I personally hate these kind of things, but it is over and done with quite quickly and you then move on to get the rest of your equipment to attach to your climbing suit which is just like a dark grey boiler suit.

Once you have collected all the equipment require for your climb, you are taken to a small section of assembled bridge where you are shown how to attach yourself to the bridge. You are connected at all points on top of the bridge to prevent you from falling but it is important how to understand how to move it from one section of the bridge to the next without any difficulties, so for this reason you have a couple of attempts at doing this is the main building first before you go out to the bridge.

Your guide will then lead you out to the bridge. You start out underneath the bridge. I actually found this bit to be the scariest as it is still very high and you are walking over grids with holes in them so you can see straight down everytime to take a step and they also felt a bit wobbly. You then climb up several ladders alongside all the cars whizzing past until you get the start of the actually bridge walk on the top. Your guide will tell you some of the history about the bridge during your walk and some interesting facts. You dont walk over the entire bridge, you walk up to the halfway point and then cross over the middle and then walk down again on the opposite side.

The view is amazing and is really breathtaking. Unfortunately they dont allow you to take your own pictures for safety reasons, however I expect that this is actually more to do with the fact that they stop at four points throughout the walk to take souvenir pictures to sell you at the end of your walk. Given that this is probably a once in a lifetime experience for most people the chances of you splashing the cash to buy these photos is very high as you obviously want a memento of your experience. From memory I dont think these were too expensive, but it still annoys me.

At the end of your walk you return all your equipment and are shown the exit out of the walk area, of course this leads you straight into a shop where you can purchase numerous items of memoribilia.

The cost of this trip is about £50-60 for a normal day time walk. I believe that you can also do night walks to see the city at night and if you want it to be a more private experience you can pay a premium to go in a smaller group.

Overall it is a great experience, quite pricey, but a must do visit when in Sydney.

Summary: Great must do activity when visiting Sydney