now approaching

March 28 – April 3

After traveling around the country a bit, we returned to Sydney for
one last week. Besides doing the Harbor Bridge Climb (see post below),
here are some of the highlights:

• Day at the Taronga Zoo
• Weekend in the Blue Mountains with Carl, Tracy, Peter, and Chantal
  – this trip involved hiking and eating (okay, mostly the latter)
• Revisiting some of our favorite places, like Bondi Beach and the Royal Botanic Gardens
• Drinks at the Opera Bar on our last night in town

We loved our time “down under” and hope we will be back someday. In parting, we’ll share some of our favorite Australianisms:

• “How ya going?” (common greeting)
• “Good on ya!” (compliment, kind of like “way to go”)
• “No worries” (said in response to just about everything)
• “Cracker” or “cracking” (said when something is really great, like “it’s a cracker of a day”)
• The need to abbreviate everything, e.g. “brekky” for breakfast,
  “arvo” for afternoon (yeah, that one didn’t make sense to us either),
  “sunnies” for sunglasses, and “Paddo” for Paddington

So long, Australia! We had a cracking good time.

(By the way, in case anyone is wondering, this trip is going by REALLY FAST.)

View photos from our final week in Sydney

March 29

Today, we donned these attractive gray jumpsuits and climbed to the very top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

The whole Bridge Climb “operation” is almost as impressive as the
view – they’ve got the whole process planned down to every minute
detail. You start out by meeting your climb group, signing waivers, and
taking a breathalyzer test (everyone in our group passed, even the
elderly woman and 12-year-old child). Then, you change into your climb
suit, leaving behind anything that could catch on the bridge or fall on
the road below such as belts, watches, or—unfortunately for Adrian —cameras.
(You are allowed to take sunglasses and hats, but they have to be
attached to you with a cord.) Then, you go through a metal detector,
get your safety harness, go through a climb simulation, get a radio and
headset, and finally, head out to the bridge with your climb leader.
They churn a new group of climbers through this whole process about
every 10 minutes, and it all happens like clockwork.

The climb up the arch is very leisurely and gradual…the promotional
video shows people hugging and cheering when they reach the top as
though they’ve just mounted Everest, but in reality, the climb is not
strenuous at all. And, you can’t beat the view from the top!

P.S. The official summit photo above was taken by our climb leader
(because, again, no cameras are allowed for the rest of us) and
purchased by us at a highway robbery price. Speaking of our climb
leader, he told us he was an “ex-IBMer”, so some people really do
escape the tech industry…