Bridge Climb Bliss

            The group who joined us when hiking the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
                                                               The view from the top. 
                                                    The Bridge museum before the climb.
                                     
Our last day in Sydney was one of my favorites. This is mostly due to the fact that it was perfectly relaxed. After an entire afternoon sightseeing the previous day, we spent our final hours blissfully whiling away the times and taking in the view from the vantage point of the Rocks. Previously, the Rocks was a seedy subsection of Sydney filled with brothels and illegal liquor refineries. It was the location sailors frequented. However, now it has been reformed into a beautiful vintage shopping mecca filled with antiques and cafes. We were content perusing the street and found a hidden gem. Beneath the city commerce structure ... in fact in the basement ... was Australia's last marinet shop. Hand made, hand crafted and beautiful these little dolls were a perfect addition to our niece's goody bag!

After our exploration of the Rocks - we had an appointment on the harbour bridge. B's family was kind enough to purchase pricey tickets for us to hike it. It was AMAZING! The Sydney Harbor bridge might be my favorite landmark citywide. It was built during Sydney's depression and the men who created were just content to have jobs. An interesting fun fact about the bridge is that it's held together by 6 million rivets. However, 6 million 200,000 rivets were actually created for the project. The architect responsible for the job was meticulous and therefore - if a rivet was the wrong size, weight, look or feel - he would make the craftsmen chuck it ... INTO THE RIVER! By the time the project was finished, clever Aussies commented that there was no longer a need for the bridge ... they could walk across the water on discarded rivets! Another truly amazing fact is that only 16 men died while building the bridge. And only 4 of those were from the fall. The majority worked as ironsmiths. During a time when no safety regulations were enforced, this is truly a mircle.

We were suited up for our climb at 6 and it took until 9. Afterwards we were wiped out.