Robot Claw

Yesterday Sue an I woke early like roosters, and decided to walk over the same bridge that we had climbed the day prior! We wanted to do it for its own sake, and to visit a secret garden hidden just over the other side.

To get there we walked along the harbour walk that winds past Barangaroo, the new casino-that-isn’t-yet-a-casino. The weather was lovely and the new foreshore development was great and I’ll almost certainly do this walk almost every time I visit from now on. It led right to the bridge, over which we then strolled!

That’s the view looking back from the northwest side, and you can see Luna Park on the left. It may look cold and menacing, but it was actually quite comfortable. Right behind us from where this photo was taken was Wendy’s Secret Garden, which is an eccentric fairytale garden designed and built over many years by a Sydney artist.

After the return to the CBD and lunch it was time to head to Newcastle and mum’s, and the long-awaited reunion:

Dinner was meat pies followed by a Toobs binge:

You can bet this won’t be the first bag of Toobs I’ll be inhaling this trip 🙂

Sue came down to Sydney today and surprised me with a belated birthday gift: we were climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

The entire endeavour took just over 3.5 hours including about an hour of setup and safety training. We had to strip to our underwear before donning full body climb suits, a safety harness, two hats, a radio, rain pants and a rain coat. We were part of a group of 14, and by request we were at the front of the line (since I knew I’d have a lot of questions).

We couldn’t bring anything with us which meant no phone, so I grabbed the above pic from the internet just to show scale. At all times you are connected to a rail that would catch you if you fell, and every action is rehearsed in a ‘simulator’ even before you start the climb.

The views from the very top were of course breathtaking (that’s another pic from the net above) but even underneath (the road) or inside the main structure there was lots to see including the harbour about 450 feet below.

There’s me at the top to prove I did it! I loved everything about the climb and highly recommend it if you’re ever in town.

I flew to Australia today, and yesterday. The trip took me 33 hours and was a living hell.

I dutifully followed Covid regulations and advice, and wore a mask virtually nonstop the entire time. Few others did.

That’s a photo of Jack, a service dog that sat in the footwell of my seat-neighbor on one of the domestic flights. Once his owner fell asleep he scooted over and used my feet as his pillow for almost the entire 4 hour flight. I didn’t want to wake him since he was cute 🙂

I walked around Atlanta airport for 3 hours and didn’t come close to visiting all 192 gates. I did stumble upon a nifty display of collectible licensed lunchboxes though!

By the time I got to LA I was ruined both in body and soul. It was with a heavy heart I staggered onto the ‘big flight’ which then progressed in the usual way: seemingly endless tedium. But I made it in the end, and 33 hours after leaving home I made it to my Sydney hotel.

Of course the jetlag is intense, but this time since I was loathe to remove my mask I suspect I was dehydrated and famished as well when I got here. Happily that’s been remedied, but I think it will take a few days for the blisters at the top of my ears (from 30+ hours of mask wearing to go away).