Climbing High

Mia's first request, when moving to Sydney was only a glimmer of possibility, was to climb Sydney's iconic Harbour (translation: Harbor) Bridge.  She'd heard from Katie how cool the bridge was and saw the pictures of it towering over the Harbour.  She knew that getting to the top of it was for her but that you had to be either 10 or 12.  The good news is that the age was lowered to 10 in the last few years, so this week marked her first week of eligibility and found the Bridge Climb at the very, very top of her birthday list.

If you look closely at the picture below (from January), you can see the small specks of people 440 feet (134m) above the harbor at the top of the arch.  Becoming added specks atop the Bridge was Chris and Mia's primary weekend goal.

Before then, however, we decided to do what is seems like many Aussies do when they can't throw something on the barbie (which we don't have, yet) and have a picnic on the beach to welcome the weekend on Friday evening.

Saturday brought beautiful weather for the Bridge Climb, so after Rachel had her stand up paddle boarding lesson down the street taught by the ex-professional snow boarder (hmm, where did they paddle to on those boards), we all headed into Sydney.  The Bridge Climb is a 3 1/2 hour roundtrip journey. They are very serious about process and safety, which is a good thing since you are standing on a scaffold only a few feet wide and hundreds of feet up. Both Mia and Chris passed the zero tolerance breathalyzer test (guess that excludes a few of you from climbing :-)) and got outfitted in their requisite lovely jumpsuits and safety harnesses.  You are latched to the bridge at all times, so it would be a very short three foot bungee jump if you tried it (Mia thinks bungee jumping from that high up sounds awesome...guess New Zealand will need to be on the trip plan).

The 11 member group climbed up the top arch facing the Opera House and enjoyed views from the Blue Mountains in the west well out into the Pacific to the east.  While we may have been 50% higher in our World Tower apartment, the outdoor, unobstructed views in all directions (including down) are pretty hard to beat.

At the top we crossed over to the western arch.  Before coming down that side, the group serenaded Mia with 'Happy Birthday' and we got to have the 'special picture' of us raising the gigantic Australia flag on the the top of the bridge.



Pretty good grip considering the flag is approx 30 ft X 15 ft



Meanwhile Rachel and Sam were having fun of their own exploring the very cool Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour and learning ever more about that favorite Australian topic, sharks!

The key take-away from the exhibit is that it isn't those of us frolicking in Sydney Harbour who need to be afraid, but rather all you who brave the streets and yards of North Carolina.  Americans are 200 (yep, 200) times more likely to be killed by a deer than a shark.  Of course, Australians are more likely to be killed by a whole raft of deadly spiders, snakes, jelly fish, sting rays, angry koalas, etc., but we can talk about that later.

Following that fun, we all met up together for a birthday dinner at Mia's favorite restaurant.  For those of you who've seen Mia put away chocolate chip pancakes at Elmo's, you'll know why it's her favorite.  Australians seem to regularly enjoy ice cream on their pancakes, whether they are for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  At first we wondered why there was such a mound of whipped butter on top, but nope, it's ice cream.  So, at Pancakes on the Rocks, Mia enjoyed chocolate pancakes with chocolate syrup topped with chocolate (and vanilla) ice cream.  Lest you think we indulge our daughter with unhealthy meals, you will notice the abundance of strawberries accompanying the dessert (oops, I mean dinner).



Needless to say, Mia wants to eat here everyday!

All this on top of Mia getting to go sailing in the harbour on a field trip on her actual birthday and see the Queen Elizabeth sail out as well as finding out she gets to represent her school at a swim meet at the Olympic Pool from the 2000 Olympics makes for a pretty special birthday week.  She would have traded it all to spend the day with her friends, but it was a pretty good week for the consolation prize.