I see ships

So today was very much a tick the box day. Climbed to the very top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.....a fantastic experience and of course I bought the t shirt.

The pre-climb prep doesn't do a lot to ease any apprehension. They make you take off any watches, bracelets and ear rings; they suit you up and put harnesses on you, prescription glasses and hats are held in place with clips and lanyards and of course you sign your life away.

The climb is both spectacular and a little scary. In some ways going up was easier than coming down; as you climbed you just looked up and concentrated on getting the plastic shuttle that anchored you safety rope to the safety line going all the way up and down on the bridge. The more scary experience was coming back down as you could see through the gaps of the metal honeycombed floors down to the water below.

Our 'Bridge Climb Leader' told us all the facts; x zillion rivets, 15000 people worked on the bridge - 7 fell, six died (some one lived!), the one fact that did register is that if you did fall it would take 4.5 seconds for you to splatter on the concrete or water.

The views from the top were of course just simply amazing. The ships and boats looked so small and our viewpoint was like the kind of shot that you might have for an opening sequence of a big budget movie - a huge panorama of the city within which the slow passage of expensive sailing yachts crossing the bay.

Today has been a very different day to the last couple. A new group of people to break in, none of who at the moment appear to be wildly fun unlike the ex-pats I have been socialising with the last couple of days. Brits who work and live abroad have a very (well the one's I know) tend to have a fantastically funny love/hate relationship with the territories and people in the countries that provide them with a home and a living.

So here I am at 11.15pm at night in a bland hotel lobby bar drinking a dark beer that is far too cold by myself. How sad is that. To be fair however I am also now feeling a little sleepy so as soon as I finish the beer I am off to bed....

Night night everyone.

P
Peter Jackson
Mobile: +44(0)7887 794396

Sent from my BlackBerry from Vodafone- so please excuse the brevity and the typing mistakes!

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