Sydney - Part 2

After I got off the phone with my parents and checked with the guy behind the desk one more time to confirm my directions I set off for the train station. I caught a 6am train across the Harbor Bridge and over to the North side of Sydney and after a short walk found myself at Lavender Bay where I was launching from for kayaking. The sun was just rising over the harbor and I was early so I was able to snap a few pictures of the bridge before Patrick (the kayaking tour guide) arrived.

Kayaking in Sydney Harbor was absolutely amazing, one of my favorite experiences since I've been in Australia. We covered over 16 km and were on the water for around 3 hours. Patrick was incredibly knowledgeable about the bridge and the Opera House, but also about the various historical buildings along the water and numerous yachts we paddled past.  

After such an early and exciting morning I was quite tired out but by the time I made it back to the hostel it was time to grab lunch and get ready for our next adventure: climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge! We were scheduled for the "Twilight" climb which would have had us starting toward the end of the sunset but through some confusion of scheduling we ended up going a bit later and it was already dark when we began. At first I was a bit bummed, I had been hoping to see the sun setting from that point of view, but I quickly cheered up. One from the adrenaline that hit me as we started climbing the first series of ladders, and two from seeing the city completely lit up as we started. It was beautiful. 

I had been nervous about the climb seeing as I am afraid of heights but had no trouble. You are very secure (there's railings and they literally attach you to a line attached to the bridge) and there is a lot of structure around where you are climbing, you're not looking down, you're looking out. Out across the water to the Opera House and to the main part of the city. The Bridge Climb was quickly added to the list of my favorite things I've done abroad as well. 

Leah, Me, Eric & Jillian about halfway up

Group Photo at the top of the bridge

One of the coolest parts about the bridge climb, beyond the amazing views, was getting to the top and standing under the Australian flag and seeing the Southern Cross in the sky. If you're unfamiliar with the Australian flag it has the constellation displayed on it, making it extremely cool to me that we were standing at the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, underneath a large Australian flag, while looking up at the constellation. 

So to conclude, that day was both exhausted and absolutely amazing. I'll wrap up the rest of our Sydney trip in the next blog post then add one about Port Douglas/The Great Barrier Reef to wrap up the telling of my adventures from Easter break!