Bridge climb

After a leisurely start to our morning we headed into Sydney for a tour of the Opera House.
After holding a competition for the design, a Dutch architect won and the concept of the Opera House was formed. A budget of $7 million and 3 years to build was determined and work started without ever knowing if it was even possible to forge the sails of the iconic building. Essentially the initial estimates were wrong - as you would expect, and it actually took 14 years and $102 million to build. The original architect was taken off the job before he could finish it as a result of change in government and a project that was running vastly over both time and budget. He never saw his creation finished, however, his son has now been employed to start improvements and renovations on the building itself.
After a tour of the opera house we made our way over to the Bridge and climbed right to the top during twilight and had the most amazing views of the city. Bats were flying over head on our decent and as the rain crept in we didn't even mind.
When the concept for Bridge Climb was forged 12 years ago, there were 46 reasons why the authorities said it could never be done. They clearly overcame these fears. The safety is so stringent and you are harnessed to the bridge at all times. If you were to fall from the top, it would take 5.2 seconds to hit the water and there is a 100% chance you will die. 16 workers on the bridge suffered such fates during it's construction - an English design, built by Australians with 20 % Australian steel and 80% forged in the UK which was then shipped over.
This has to be the highlight of my trip so far!