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Up at 9am and checked out by 10, we grabbed some vegemite on toast for our train journey to Luna Park.
We decided it was far too hot to walk, talk, and eat all at the same time so we sat down in a park looking over the Harbour, with a view of the Opera House. It was here that we noticed one of my favourite things I've seen so far; a guy paddle-boarding to an unknown location, with a backpack and fully dressed. For all we know, he might still be going.
Walking around Luna Park (and by 'around', I mean in a straight line, as it stupidly doesn't loop around) we observed that we were still too old for it, but appreciated the creepy design.
On the way to my Bridge climb we walked through The Rocks (the historic sector), feeling like we had been transported out of Sydney and into the backstreets of some European city.
Mikaela dropped me off at the Bridge Climb and returned to the hostel to make sandwiches, like a good mum, leaving me in the company of a guy who I am still pretty certain is a Hemsworth brother.
After what felt like hours of preparation including being breathalysed and putting on suits, harnesses, hats, and radios, I finally started my climb - only just realising it was Friday 13t, making me consider whether this was the best day to climb a bridge.
The first part of the climb consisted of something they called 'the catwalk', which was a narrow metal walkway where you could look down on the traffic and harbour below.
Overall it took about three and a half hours and was made up of numerous photo stops and stories from our leader. She told us one story about a guy who fell 50 feet from the Bridge during construction but entered the water like a pencil and managed to only break two ribs, and was back at work 17 days later. There was another story about a guy who fell from a slightly higher point and entered the water the same way, however the shallowness of the harbour meant he sunk straight to the bottom and his legs got stuck in the sand. They believed that he survived the fall but drowned because he wasn't able to escape.
The climb itself gave me spectacular views of Sydney, making me fall completely in love with the city and never want to leave.
After I came back down I met back up with Mikaela and we went to Circular Quay for fish and chips. By this time we were absolutely shattered and just about managed to collapse onto the steps of the Opera House for lunch, at 4 pm.
It turns out that the seagulls also wanted lunch, and they decided to terrorise me and wouldn't leave us alone until we escaped into the Botanic Gardens.
We tried to appreciate the beauty of the Gardens but lack of sleep and too many hills meant that we headed back to the hostel to change and chill out before our bus to Byron Bay that evening.
Absolutely gutted to be leaving my favourite place so far, it was a small comfort to see the heavens open as the city's farewell to us.
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