Early June, 2024 – Trip Preparation; Sydney, Australia

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Background

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House

Since December of 2022 we have been considering hiking to basecamp of Mount Everest, not the peak, basecamp.  Basecamp in itself is quite a trek.  But digging into it more and more we decided to put that trip on hold, possibly indefinitely.  About that time Gary Hart, landscape photographer from CA, announced his new photography workshops for 2024.  Among them is ‘2024 New Zealand Winter’, a 10-day workshop on New Zealand’s South Island.  Usually when I see the listing it is already filled, with a waiting list.  Not this time.  Nicida and I talk it over, then decide to send off a check for the deposit.  We are in.

Preparation

Darling Harbour

Now the hard part…  What else are we going to see.  Preliminary research tells me that the flight between Los Angeles and Sydney is 15 hours, it's only 12+ hours returning from Auckland.  Flight details fresh in my mind, this may be our only trip to this part of the world.  I dive into the internet looking for things to see and do in Australia and New Zealand.  I find out that Australia is 1.2% larger than the contiguous 48 states.  Its 2024 population is just short of 27 million whereas the US population is just under 342 million.  Good on the population part, not so much on the travel from one place to another part.

Further research comes up with many locations but only a few interest us, and fit into our schedule.  Sydney, with a short trip to the Blue Mountains; Cairns, for a day of snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef and another day in the Daintree Rainforest; Uluru (Ayers Rock); and Melbourne with a photography trip on the Great Ocean Road.  Flying between each of our major destinations are 2 – 3-hour flights.  I make reservations for some tours, winging it on others.

June/July in Australia and New Zealand means winter.  Average high temperatures go from 79 in Cairns, in the north to mid-60’s in Uluru and Sydney, upper 50’s in Melbourne and mid 40’s in Queenstown, NZ. Overnight temperatures are considerably lower.  This means packing three-season clothing; swimsuits to thermal underwear, rain gear, hiking gear, and ice crampons for glacier trekking.  In addition, we have our camera gear with tripods.  Thankfully, our images fit on to XD cards, not dozens of rolls of film.  We will be on the road for 37 days, remember, we are only doing this once.  Our challenge is to fit all this into two checked suitcases and two carry-ons.  We are also bringing laptops.  Believe it or not, we fit everything into our allotted bags.  We have a small scale from a previous trip so we can see how we are doing on weight.  Each night before our next flight we weigh our checked luggage, hoping they will be under the 50-lb limit.  More than once, we swap items between suitcases to keep both under the limit.

Downtown Sydney

We go with a travel agency for the big-city hotels, local flights, and transfers between locations.  We end up making the hotel and flight selections from a list they sent us.  I continue my research into organized tours and other things of interest.  Overall we are happy with the hotels, which saves me time from having to find them myself.  We also receive insight on Visas to enter Australia and New Zealand.

All of a sudden time compresses.  What seemed like months away is suddenly only a week away.  Yet again, I review our itinerary; places to go and when, people to contact, planes to catch, forms to submit.  Being old school, I print out the 56 pages of details, jamming them into a carry-on so I can access them at a moment’s notice.  I don’t have to worry about dead batteries with paper.

On our way

We take a shuttle to the airport.  Arriving at the airport 2+ hours early, we prepare for the long travel day ahead.  A 3+ hour flight to LAX, 4-hour layover, then a 15-hour flight to Sydney.  We upgraded our seats with Delta, they are a little better, but not as comfortable as we had hoped for.  Most of the Sydney flight is smooth, it resembles driving down a pothole filled street, not really bad, just consistent intermittent bouncing.

We make ourselves as comfortable as possible, eat, then settle in for the long flight.  I sleep on and off, waking to find out we still have another 10 hours to go.  After another nap we are down to only 5 more hours to Sydney.  Nicida sleeps even less.  During the night we discover the calendar has magically changed from June 3 to June 5.  Passing through immigration goes smoothly, the only thing we declare is our tea, which it turns out is nothing to worry about.

Sydney

We arrive at the hotel around 8AM, and are able to check in.  Feeling pretty good, we find our first tour, a Hop-on Hop-off Bus tour of Sydney.  It’s cool, 50’s and cloudy.  Quite a change from the low 90’s at home.

What's wrong with this picture?

Being bought up in the 60’s I was taught to look both ways when crossing the street.  I am so glad I listened; I still look both ways.  Our first steps toward the street warns us to look right for oncoming traffic.  A car from the right, whizzes past us as we were waiting for the walk light to turn green.  A real wake-up call.

We are taking it easy today, we just ride the bus around the city, planning tomorrow’s stops and getting the lay of the land.  We learn Sydney has a wonderful mix of old and new buildings, and a great mass transit system.   

The next morning, we hit the breakfast buffet.  There are many selections; cold cereal, hot cereal, meats, cheeses, fruits, pastries, eggs made to order, they even have a juicer – drop a vegetable or piece of fruit into the chute and out comes juice.  It is very refreshing.  We learn that Nutella is quite popular, finding container of it the size of ketchup dispensers at McDonald’s in the States.  I also try the Vegemite; I can say I tried it but won’t rush back to have it again. 

Sitting by the window see a parade of well-dressed people heading to work, kids in uniforms heading to school, and random people in no particular rush.  The waves of people never end during the 30 minutes we enjoy breakfast.

Bondi surfers

We catch the bus for the second day of our tour.  Sydney has two separate routes, today we start on the ‘Blue’ route visiting the outskirts of town, including the Bondi Beach, well known for surfing.  Even in the rainy, 50-degree conditions, surfers are still surfing.

Returning to town, we stop at the Australia Museum to take in dinosaur, indigenous peoples, and local bird exhibits.  The dinosaur exhibit has T-Rex ‘parts’ from a movie ‘performing’ a T-Rex autopsy.  I notice the sign saying a T-Rex has a 2-ton thigh - slightly larger than the usual chicken thigh offered at KFC.

We examine the weaving talent of the Pacific Islanders, clothing, blankets, baskets and ceremonial pieces in the Indigenous exhibits.  We also learn of their canoeing prowess; first hewing their canoes out of tree trunks, then paddling them between the islands in the Pacific; sometimes all the way to South America.  Sadly, we find out this part of the world did not escape slavery.  ‘Blackbirding’ was the term used when native islanders were taken from their homes during the 19^th and early 20^th century to Australia to work the cotton and sugar plantations.

With rain continuing we find a restaurant for dinner then return to our room shortly after 6.  Being winter, we experience 645 AM sunrises and 455 PM sunsets. Tomorrow the Sydney opera house.

Sydney Opera House

We are up at 6 for breakfast then a taxi to the Opera house.  We are not certain if we can make the 9AM tour but arrive with 5 minutes to spare.  There are 5 of us.  It is raining again.  The interior of the opera house is a mix of different woods. The exterior walls are concrete with what resemble ribs reinforcing the structure.  We are able to sit inside the main concert hall taking in the scene as our guide explains what we are seeing.

Interior wall

  We learn that two types of wood are used here for their acoustic qualities enhancing the sound.  As we pass between buildings, I recall that I have seen a number of videos and movies using the Sydney Opera House as a backdrop.

I always thought the outside was a concrete shell.

Exterior tiles

  It is not, a closer view reveals the exterior is a series of over a million ceramic tiles. As we finish our tour the rain stops, and the skies clear.  We take in the sites, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is a short distance away, our next tour later this afternoon.  We walk back to our hotel to rest and get ready for our tour.

More interior walls

Before our climb we take an Uber to The Rocks, a neighborhood near the harbor bridge.  We find the Rocks Café, enjoying the outdoor seating.  We order fish and chips for me and a kangaroo burger for Nicida.  We enjoy each.   The kangaroo is flavorful, (it doesn’t taste like chicken). Kangaroos are grown on ranches for their meat.  We find out that one does not order kangaroo cooked any more than medium rare.  It gets tougher the longer it is cooked.  Satisfied with our meals we walk up the hill to the office of Sydney Bridge Climb.

Sydney Bridge Climb

Harbour Bridge from
the Rocks

We made reservations a month ago, making sure to get on the Summit Twilight tour.  Each tour takes 14 people.  This company has been conducting these tours since October 1, 1998.  Well organized.  Pre-climb checklists, we also fill out a Health and Safety Declaration Form within 7-days of our climb.  No open toe shoes, wear what clothing you need, they supply a full-body jumpsuit with tie points for lanyards.  When on the bridge, we will be hooked to the bridge employing lanyards and a cable system running our entire route. 

Before suiting up each visitor breathes into a breathalyzer checking blood alcohol levels.  Above the driving alcohol level, no climbing.  We are not allowed to take any loose objects on the climb, no watches, large earrings, necklaces.  This includes cameras – sigh.  Secure lockers hold our items until we return.  After putting on the jumpsuits, we step into a fixture holding a climbing harness – pull it up, tighten the straps, flip the remaining straps over our head and we are set.  Other employees help us with the rest.  Everything gets hooked to a lanyard; glasses are hooked to a lanyard, the cap we receive is hooked to a lanyard, communication radio – lanyard, headphones, head lamp, handkerchief – each has its own lanyard.  Once suited up we walk through a metal detector making sure all metal is found and left behind.

Look for the climbers on the
top arch halfway between
the flag and pylon

All geared up, we are taken to a mockup of the ladders we will be climbing.  We hook our lanyard into the mockup, climb the steps; three points of contact at all times, always facing the steps, going up or down.  One person on a given ladder at a time.  Once we have all gone through the mockup we are ready for the bridge.  We feel safe and secure having gone through the questionnaires, watching videos, asking questions, having procedures explained and climbed ladders.  Bring on the Bridge!

Exiting the building, we emerge on a catwalk scores of feet above the ground on which the bridge is standing, but under the multi-lane road carrying 160,000 vehicles daily.  We follow the catwalk to the first pylon where we climb up the first series of ladders to road level.  Our guide intermittently stops, providing information about the bridge and its construction.  We listen through our headphones, amazed at the details.  We ascend yet more ladders to the top layer of one of the arches.  We are astounded at the view of the harbor, opera house, and Sydney skyline.  The views just get better as we keep ascending the arch.  Each of us stop along our climb to the summit for views, and have photos taken by our guide, using the official camera.  The wind is cool, but comfortable.  

440' above the harbour

Arriving at the summit, we are 440’ above the water.  The Opera House is just a small building in the wide panorama of Sydney, far below us.  As we have our pictures made, we catch flashes of light in our vision.  It happens a second, then a third time.  Lightning, off in the distance.  We cannot hear any thunder, but we do see the occasional lightning bolt.  Our guide quickly finishes the photos so we can make our way to a safer location.  Being one of the tallest on our tour, I don’t want to serve as a lightning rod.  We snake our way down the steps built onto the top rail of the arch, down ladders to road level, then down another series of ladders, back to the catwalk under the roadbed.  The views were breath-taking.  We had a 360° view of Sydney from the Harbour Bridge, and an unplanned view of a distant thunderstorm.  It was great.

Arriving back at the tour building we reverse the process of uncoupling from the paraphernalia, climbing harness, and jumpsuit; putting on our regular clothing for a return to the real world.  An Uber ride takes up back to the hotel for dinner so we can prepare for tomorrow’s adventure.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark