WOW!!

Have just come back from doing the Harbour Bridge Climb that I got as my leaving present from E3. It was just AMAZING! Honestly, I'm really not good at heights and even though I knew it was gonna be fab I was just pretty scared about the whole thing. Spoke to one of Adey & Lara's friends on NYE who did it and he told me the worst bit was crossing over from one arch to the other which didn't make me feel any easier. But he couldn't have been more wrong in my opinion - the worst bit was the beginning. I was doing it on my own and everyone else was in 3's or 4's so I sandwiched myself between 2 couples from Fernback, Oz and a family from the US. Luckily for me the guy behind me was as scared as I was and we kept just wittering on to one another in the hope that we'd forget that we actually suspended in mid air with just a harness holding us on to the bridge! I actually got to the point where my feet wouldn't actually move cos I was so scared but I just looked ahead and carried on as there's no turning back (well actually there is as the last guy in our group decided he couldn't do it and had to go back - pah!) .

When we actually got onto the arch of the bridge itself, after climbing up 4 sets of ladders, it was all just absolutely fine and I felt great. Suddenly being able to look out around the whole of Sydney was just fantastic and we were soooooo lucky that we'd had the most perfectly clear day (and I know that cos I spent the day at the beach !) as you could see EVERYTHING - the Blue Mountains were to the left, the opera house, Bondi and Manly were to the right, the CBD behind and Luna Park ahead.

It seemed to go really quickly and I almost felt as if I could run and jump at this point I felt so relaxed! All the way up you stop every now and then for either some photos to be taken or just some general info from the guides. You're not allowed to take anything up with you - I even had to take out my hairgrips - in case it falls down onto the traffic below but they take loads and loads of photos so that's not a problem.

After about 3/4 hour I guess we got to the top and it was timed superbly with the actual sunset so we turned round to watch that which was pretty spectacular. Then had to walk across to the other side, which if you remember me saying, was meant to be pretty scary again but I was so high on adrenalin that I really didn't care at all - just loved every second of it! Across on the other side it was more of watching the city come to life with all its lights. The coathanger light was still up from new years eve which was cool too and cos that's on they don't have the normal bridge lights on which meant it was darker than normal so we had to put on our little headlamps! Felt like I should've been singing a song from my Welsh roots and been going down a mine ha ha (sorry mum !!) There's groups going up and down all the time, one right behind one another and as we watched another group just getting to the top on the side we'd just climbed up we suddenly realised that the couple at the end of the group were getting cheered by everyone in their group and were having a great big hug and kiss so realised there was a little proposal going on there which was quite cute (although very cunning of the guy I guess - no way she could say no up there!)

Going down the bridge was really great too as it was getting really dark and if you looked back to where we'd come down from you could see the massive full moon in the background as it was so clear. The final bit on the really narrow bits directly above the water wasn't too bad this time round and even though I felt quite relieved to be on firm ground again I loved every minute of that whole climb and would recommend it to anyone!!!

Thanks E3 xxxxxxxxx