Written by Alex
Today started with a quiet breakfast at our studio apartment before heading out to ride the double decker Big Bus, which is a hop on, hop off tour of Sydney. We did most of the City Loop, which gave us an idea of the lay of the land, cool sights we would never have seen and interesting historical tidbits along the way.
Once we got near the Sydney Harbor bridge, we hopped off and took a nice walk around the harbor at Circular Quay (that’s pronounced “key”). 
Rhapsody of the Seas was boarding today
We looked for something simple for lunch and found it with a small place, Zia Pina Pizzeria. Pizza in Sydney seemed a bit adventurous as we just love some of the pizza in the NY metropolitan region, but what the heck? Ordered it with sausage, onion and mushroom. The pizza looked pretty good but the crust was seriously lacking. It didn’t stop us from gobbling it down though – we had things to do and needed our energy!
Our next stop was a tour of the Sydney Opera House. They hook you up with headphones so you can always hear your tour guide which I find brilliant. Sueanne was our guide and she has obviously been doing tours there for a long time. She was very familiar with the history of the Opera House and even knew technicians doing work in some of the halls that were doing prep work for new shows.
Our first stop was the Studio, a small theater that is very flexible and typically has unique shows like comedy troupes, Cirque du Soleil style shows, etc. Next was the largest hall, the Concert Hall. We weren’t allowed to take photos in any of the venues because of work being done for upcoming shows. At the Concert Hall they were preparing for world renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma tonight. Apparently the concert hall is about to be closed in January for two years of renovations. She said most of the renovations will be to help acoustics which is good, because the hall itself is very pretty and doesn’t need updating. The last Hall we saw was the Joan Sutherland theater, which is where they do the ballet and opera shows. They were preparing for an upcoming ballet in there, Sylvia.
We also went outside where we could see the surface of the “sails”, which is actually covered with tens of thousands of individual tiles. The tiles aren’t all white but a blend of off-white and white. This was done so it wasn’t too bright to look at. The structure beneath the tiles is post-stressed concrete ribs and is amazing. Post-tensioning is where cables run inside the concrete and the tension of the cables pulls the concrete to make it stronger. I did a post tensioned bridge in Sandy Hook, NJ and it was the only one I did in my career. This structure was designed and built in the 60s and 70s and might be one of the first post-tensioned structures in the world. We also learned how the original architect from Denmark, Jørn Utzon, was forced to resign after the outside “shell” was completed. He never saw the completed product as he went back home and even though apologized to by Australia later in life, he was too old to travel to see it. His son is also an architect and is now a consultant concerning future uses of the halls.
After the tour we needed a snack to prepare for the biggest event of the day, the climb of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. So we had ice cream. 🤣🍦
Our climb of the bridge was scheduled for 5:35 pm, which meant we would get pictures during daylight with the Opera House, during the sunset and also at night with the lit skyline.
It took nearly an hour just to prepare for the climb. They put you in a jumpsuit that has a lot of places to clip accessories on. The only thing we were allowed to bring were sunglasses, which they attached to our suit. Next was the harness system which had a lanyard that slid along a cable the entire length of the climb. Then they attached all sorts of other gear to us, a hat, pouches with rain gear and a jacket, a headphone system so we could hear the guide.
They had some practice steps for us to go up and down, it was pretty easy but was good to get a feel of what those would be like.
Once we got clearance we were heading out – first part of the climb is a horizontal walkway below the road deck that takes you out just past the concrete pier. Then there are the steps. This is where our practice came in – you have to go up pretty steep steps with railings – four sets of the them. I could tell Kim was not comfy here and tried to keep her calm. She did great though! We got to the top of the steps and then walked out onto the arch and long ascent to the top. The arch itself had steps on it and was nice and wide. Even though we were up high, you never really feel near an edge. We then got to the top and crossed over to the opposite side on a walkway from arch to arch. We then had to make our way down in the dark. We had headlamps with us to help see our steps, especially those vertical stairs. Kim was nervous here again but she killed it! About halfway down some lightning started to appear in the distance – and they called all groups off of the bridge until it cleared. This freaked Kim out a bit more, but she hung in there and we never even saw any rain. Since we were already on our way down it had little effect on our tour.
The only photo I have for now is a picture of the group photo. All of our other photos of us are on a flash drive and we have no means to pull them off of it right now. When we get home we will have an additional post with those photos.
After the climb we were starving, so we found a German beer garden (Munich Brauhaus) in the Rocks district and had some beer and schnitzel. Prost!!
Tomorrow will be our final full day in Australia! We don’t have much planned but we have our hop on, hop off tickets that are good for two days. So we will probably go down to see Bondi Beach and then maybe back up to the Harbour for a ferry ride. Until then, cheers!
