Day 2 - Tuesday, March 17 - Bridge Climb and Bondi and more!

Hello Friends and Family:
Another GLORIOUS day in beautiful Sydney. God has blessed us with perfect weather - 70's, breezy, brilliant sunshine. This morning I got up early and enjoyed my coffee while reading the Sydney Morning Herald. The front page news of the day surrounds a female candidate in an upcoming the Queensland election, Pauline Hanson, where the Herald published photos of "what they SAID" was Ms. Hanson in her younger years semi-naked and posing with a belly button ring. Ms. Hanson, outraged, said "Those are not photos of me, and to prove it I will show you my belly button if need be. Those photos reveal an "outie" and I have an "inny" . Breaking news on TV later in the day - the Herald confirms indeed they are NOT photos of Pauline, but another lady altogether (this admission was buried in next day's Herald on 15). The candidate is suing. Politics the world over is dirty business.

Willie and I climbed the Sydney Bridge this morning, We were assembled into a group of 10 tourists, and we had to don these spaceman-like outfits, and had a metal chain attached to our waist that was attached to a wire that ran along the bridge, to ensure that none of us may accidentally fall overboard! (by the way, it takes 4 1/2 seconds to land in the water below should you decide to jump). The bridge is just over 75 years old, and is the world's largest & widest (but not longest - that title goes to the Bayonne Bridge in NJ) steel, single span, arched bridge. It's nickname is "The Old Coathanger" . Paul Hogan, of Crockodile Dundee and "Throw Another Shrimp on the Barbie" fame, was one of the many riveters who installed the over 6 million rivets. Over 300 families were displaced without compensation when the bridge was being built. 16 deaths occured during it's construction, but only 2 of those were due to men falling overboard.

Construction began in 1924, however it was not fully paid for until
1988 - nearly 60 years later!! Because of the weather, the climb made for spectacular viewing of all of Sydney and the harbor in all it's glory. You will see I attached a photo of climbers which I took the day before from our hotel - we were not allowed to bring a camera in case we dropped it and cause harm to pedestrians below (probably a better explanation is that they take photos of you during the climb which you can PURCHASE afterwards...which I did!)

Following our Bridge Climb, with wobbly legs, we jumped in a taxi and headed over to Bondi Beach which is a beautiful, clean, and "cosmopolitan" beach - made more so by the fact that topless is common! (amazingly, Willie did not seem to notice!)

The waves were up, and there were surfers and boogie boarders galore. Afterwards we had pizza at Bondi Pizza, and headed home for bed. Between the climb and the sun, we were worn out but very happy! Stay tuned!