Climb of a Lifetime

By Martha Borawski

I have never written about my travels. But, a year ago, my husband and I started planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia for the real Millenium for one month. This was a trip of a lifetime and neither one of us have ever been away for such a long period of time. A lot of our friends could not understand how we could leave while our new house was in the process of being built but we had such great confidence in our builders that that did not become a concern of ours. This was a trip that I planned with great detail. Over the past 32 years, I have sent people all over the world and it is tough to keep up with them, although I do try. My clients who have traveled to such interesting and exotic places are constantly educating me. For this trip, I cut out articles, read a lot and even became an “Aussie expert” through the Australian tourist Commission.

While I was planning a trip for former Northampton Co-Op Bank President, Jack Stedman, I told Jack and his wife about our up-coming trip. Jack reminded me that I had sent them to Australia and New Zealand a few years back and that one of the highlights was that he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He told me we should definitely try this and that it was not hard or scary at all. I completely ignored the fact that his wife Joyce did not participate in this event. I went on with my planning and I even cut out an article that Bud Collins wrote about the climb in the Boston Globe, never really reading it carefully.

Just before we left I learned from some friends that Jack Stedman used to climb mountains in his younger years. This didn’t sit too well with me but then again, it couldn’t be that bad. Right?

Bill and I had a fabulous trip in New Zealand seeing as many sights we could in both the North and South Islands. After 13 days of seeing and experiencing this wonderful country, we took off for Australia and more adventures.

We flew to Melbourne first and stayed for two nights. Melbourne is a beautiful city and very European. Next, our big stay for six days was Sydney. I had researched restaurants and sightseeing for the entire six days. We checked into the fabulous Park Hyatt, which is in the Rocks section of Sydney, and right on the Harbour and yes the Harbour Bridge was right behind the hotel. We discussed the Climb and read Bud Collins’ article again. We decided to do it. I called to make reservations and I could only book something in 3 days. There were three spots left on the 11:00 a.m. climb and plenty of space on the 5:00 a.m. climb. We opted for the 11:00 a.m. Did I mention this costs about $65.00 during the weekdays and more on the evenings and weekends? The night before the climb, I was starting to get cold feet and I didn’t sleep at all. All I could think of was that this was a really stupid idea. On the Big Morning, I explained to Bill that I didn’t think this was such a good idea. Being very diplomatic, he said we should do it as we had talked about it and if everybody else did it (even Matt Lauer and some 100 year old woman) that we could do it too. I awkwardly agreed. We walked from our hotel to the Bridge Climb headquarters. We paid for our tickets and were advised that about 30 minutes before our confirmed time, we should view the video about the CLIMB. I watched this video six times. By 10:30 a.m., I was a wreck. How could we do this? We have children and I wanted to see our grandchildren. We were next taken into a holding room. There, we were instructed to sign a disclaimer stating that we knew what we were doing and we needed to take a Breathalyzer test. Oh My God, What Next! Then we were brought into another room and told to disrobe to our skivvies aswe had to put on space suits that zippered in the back so that there would be no problems getting snagged in our regular clothes. Take off all your jewelry, no cameras and then they gave us lockers to lock everything up.

Next, we were brought into the training room where we hook ourselves up to cables, which are attached to our belts. Now, I am really getting nauseous. They take us through asimulated walk with the same materials we would walk on on the Bridge. Finally, we are ready for the final fitting. We have radios attached to the back of our belts and we have headset olisten to our guide and if we have any emergencies. This is not looking good.

We are ready and I am scared. My face is flushed and we have to introduce ourselves to the rest of the group. This was “the event and a must do” for everyone there. I was really lucky because I had Bill in front of me and a very understanding man from Pittsburgh behind me. His wife was scared of heights and refused to do this with him (Smart woman).

We walked out onto the street toward the entrance of the climb. We walked up some stairs and through a tunnel. Now I could see IT. THE BRIDGE. We had to walk cross 2 wood platforms and we had railings on both sides with our cable attachment on only 1 side. I did not look up or down (the traffic was below us and the trains were running above our heads. I knew by the and of that walk, I should not have done this. Next, we had to climb 4 sets of stairs (mesh wiring only) with tiny platforms to transfer on. I am now shaking and Bill is trying to calm me down. Now, the guide Robin really knows that I shouldn’t be there so he is being extra careful with me. We reach the arch for the next part or the climb, which provides us with more solid walking. IT really wasn’t so bad. I have now learned that I will only look right (toward the Harbor and Opera house). Our guide is trying to explain sights and I am trying to get off this BRIDGE. By now, my hands are constantly wet with perspiration. Bill and the guy behind me are trying to get me thgouth this. We get to the arch of the bridge and it is truly a 360-degree view of the city (but remember I only get a 180-degree view because I only look right). But now, we pose for pictures at the top of the bridge andthen we have to face coming down.

Well, I am almost on terra firma. The guide is explaining that should not look right coming down, as the people living in the apartments on the right don’t like people looking at them. This is a scam. I start looking straight ahead now and not left. The reason he doesn’t was us to look right is that there is no railing on the right only the cable wire. There is a failing on the left side and we back on the 2 wooden platforms or gangplanks and the dreaded sets of stairs (I remind you 4 sets. I am almost there. Now, as I am climbing down the sets of stairs, I am shaking and Bill istold to go ahead and not wait for me. I feel totally alone and sick to my stomach. We get down finally. I emotionally decompose and I have never been so happy to have Bill hug me on the ground.

What an EXPERIENCE! When we went to buy the pictures so we could prove that we climbed this darn thing, the saleswoman could not understand that there were only 2 pictures and not the typical 4 pictures taken on each climb. I told her that there was no way I would pose 2 extra times.

This is quite a tourist attraction. There are tours every 10 minutes in-groups of 12 from 500AM until 10:00PM every day. The climb takes 3 hours. This is where Crocodile Dundee got his start. If you would like to go on line go to www.bridgeclimb.com and there are more details.

We are back and alive and well and we can say we Climbed and Survived the BRIDGE.