What a glorious sunny day we had today, the only sunny day forecast this week and thankfully it came on the day we scaled the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge was opened in 1932 and cost 20 million dollars (a debt which took 60 years for the city to pay off!). Today we walked up the arches to reach the top point on the bridge (134 metres above sea level). The 360 degree views of the harbour were fantastic and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We all wore protective overalls and were attached to wires that ran up and over the bridge, for added safety. When the bridge was being built though, the 1500 engineers had no harnesses at all and had over 2 million hot rivets to hammer into the great structure. Amazingly only 15 men lost their lives during the building of the bridge. The climb was a great experience and a good investment of 3.5 hours.
The second highlight of the day was a tour around the Sydney Opera House. Designed by a previously unknown Danish Architect, Jorn Utzon, the Opera House cost 104 million dollars to build when the original estimate was only 7 million. Inside it has 4 main auditoriums and many smaller workshops. We sat in the main auditorium which has a huge organ at the far end with over 1500 pipes. The most remarkable aspect of the Opera house for me is the way in which the magnificent 180 degree view of the harbour has been brought into the building by the use of giant sheets of glass. We saw it just as the sun was setting and it was truly beautiful. We both agreed that we would love to return to Sydney and see a concert here in the main auditorium.
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